Written by Johanna Zabala, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Venezuela
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (Jas 4:10, NIV)
The word humility connects me to the divinity of God. Today, I reflect on the depth of its meaning, which I have sought and seen so many times as I continually strive to live God’s purpose personally and spiritually.
I define humility as an act of the Spirit, which leads me to an attitude of the soul. Using the letters of the word, I break it down into the following characteristics:
Honesty
Unity
Meekness
Intelligence
Loyalty
Inclination (willingness)
Tenderness (love)
You serving the Heavenly Father
Each of the characteristics above has invited me, since the day I met Him, to stay in tune with Christ. By allowing me to be used by God, His beloved Son Jesus, and in the power of His Holy Spirit, I have seen His example of humility under submission, obedience, and continual awareness of putting the Father's will before my own, always with an eye toward the great goal that leads me to keep looking up to reach the prize of eternity.
I am also attentive to Peter’s admonition to “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time” (1Pe 5:6).
Therefore, being humble, in my experience, is a necessary spiritual action that undoubtedly brings me constantly into the presence of the Lord. In every area where I find myself, out there all around me, I require large portions of the Eternal Father's wisdom to be a humble child of God, chosen and called to service.
To be a child of God today, as the Bible says, is the greatest privilege I can have. It is a unique honor that has required in me great self-control.
At the beginning of my Christian life, I was filled with human pride, which counteracted humility in every situation. Many times, without realizing it, I felt self-sufficient, and my trajectory was more and more human than spiritual. I wanted to continue doing everything through my own strength rather than through God's. As time went by, I realized that I had to seek more vigorously at every moment the presence of God in everything, since only He knows and is capable of everything.
My first struggles, and the hardest, were with myself, thinking that I just needed to know that I had God, without the need to continue knowing Him fully. However, in those moments, the inner struggle of faith and humility had to continue to develop in me.
Through emotional trials of anxiety, later physical trials of sickness and loss, scarcity, and many more, and even wanting so many things in my timing and not in God's, He has allowed me to recognize, frontward and backward, the full authority of the Heavenly Father, the One who comes from above, for surely He alone is almighty, and in His infinite, true, and matchless mercy He will give me victory here on earth and there in heaven.
I have been able to experience the humility that God gives me in life through times of silence; in the solitude and peace of knowing Him in me, in wisdom, and in the prompt help that comes from Him. Humility is acknowledging His dominion, power, and glory forever.
So, I continue to fight to live consistently in the humility of God and not in the humility of humanity— to be able to live and make known the power of the Holy Spirit in the society in which I live. In this way, I intend to attain the wisdom of valuable and essential humility to arrive at eternal life with God.
We should not forget the beautiful examples and teachings of Jesus, who, with the power of the Holy Spirit, remained humble and overcame every trial and temptation, and we can also overcome them in His will. Are you humble today? Looking up to the eternal home? Do you radiate the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ here and now?