Humility, Faith, and Grace: Qualities of the Overcomer

[PoemiaDei]

2 Corinthians 12:9: "And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Humility
Humility is the genuine acknowledgment of one's weakness, limitation, and inability to please God in any way. But while humility is the recognition of one's weak and helpless condition that makes it impossible for one to please God, through humility, one's weakness and helplessness do not have to lead to failure to please God. Instead, genuine humility should lead to one's acknowledgment of one's need for help - help to be able to please God. Hence, humility leads one to seek for help.

David prayed: "But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God" (Psalms 40:17).

Faith
This is where humility leads to faith in God. Faith is one's absolute reliance upon God. By faith, one, humble enough to recognize his need for help, acknowledges God as the only source of help, and thus relies fully on God for help. An acronym for faith is F.A.I.T.H. = Forsaking All I Trust Him.

Genuine faith in God is well expressed in 2 Corinthians 3:4-6: "And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

Grace
It is at this point humility and faith lead to the grace of God. The grace of God is always available because it is unconditional. But by humility and faith we accept the grace of God offered to us. Through pride and self-reliance, we may reject the grace of God. God gives grace to the humble because the humble through faith relies absolutely on God. "But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).

By humility and faith, one receives the grace to help in times of need. We read in Romans 5:1-2: "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

Conclusion
In humility, through one's awareness and acknowledgment of his weakness, one turns to God in faith and accepts the grace which God gives freely to help in time of need. In this way, our weaknesses and infirmities do not have to lead to failure. They lead to failure when rather than exercising humility and faith to turn to God for grace to help, we muster with pride our own self-effort to deal with our challenges. Then we excuse our failures pointing to our weaknesses and infirmities. This is the sort of Christian living that is very popular today.

Paul, however, gives us a practical example of the operation of humility, faith, and grace to bring victory, instead of failure, to a weak Christian buffeted by the devil. Paul does not testify that his weakness and infirmity lead him to failure in the face of his challenges. Paul acknowledges his weakness with a sense of humility and helplessness, and by faith he turns to God for grace to help. He then finds all the grace he needs in Christ to offset his weakness. And he is able to testify of victory in spite of his own weakness.

Paul testifies in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: "And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

[PoemiaDei]

Wonderful, Leigh. If ever you have some time online check out my website at www.gospelofthekingdomonline.com and look up my series of messages entitled Law and Grace. The interesting thing about the subtlety of legalism is the way it has crept into the Christian religion in this day of grace in another form but the same oppression. It saddens me when I hear people distort the Gospel and reduce it to one of methods and know-hows and human wisdom and efforts. Like you said we have to trust the complete provision of God under grace to forgive us and free us from the power of sin. He chose to do it this way and He will do it this way. We must trust Him and let Him.

[PoemiaDei]

Doh tell ma u forgut de recipes, man!

[PoemiaDei]

Deep stuff Leigh - making the distinction between grace, license, and law. The Scripture passage you quoted from in Titus 2:11-14 is to the point on that distinction. Man has always assumed foolishly if only they know, whether from the fruit in the Garden or the Law on Mt Sinai, they will get to the heights of godliness and be like God, and do all that God requires (the promise of the devil to Eve and the response of the crowd at Mt Sinai to Moses). We have seen and experienced enough of that deceit. Let us let God do it in us and through and in the end let us cast our crowns at His feet and give Him the glory due Him because He does and creates all things.

[PoemiaDei]

My copatriot?!! How are you doing? Still praying for you.

[PoemiaDei]

Thanks for your comment. I was just reading in Ephesian 2 how God planned to make grace be the sole means of our salvation and to display it in the end for all to see. Ephesians 2:4-7:
4: But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much,
5: that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!)
6: For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.
7: So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of His grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all He has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

God wants to take over and do it His way in His excellence in our lives.

[Spirit]

"we muster with pride our own self-effort to deal with our challenges. Then we excuse our failures pointing to our weaknesses and infirmities. This is the sort of Christian living that is very popular today."

This is sooo true. Although the entire blog is true. but this is something my husband and i discuss all the time. there are many times i think he tries to handle things through "his" strength and not "HIS" strength. but if we trust God and look to God for everything, no matter how small, HE is always there.

~Stay encouraged.

~First