Humility or Humiliation
I was studying this week about God's promise to Abraham to give him the land of Canaan.
As a believer in Jesus I am an heir of the blessing of Abraham - Galatians 3.
Now I don't believe that God wants me to go live in Israel right now, but He does want me to have my inheritance.
Jesus wrote His last will and testament and He rose from the dead to be the executor of his own will. In His will I receive blessings; even the blessing of Abraham.
I looked up in the Strongs's Dictionary to see what Canaan meant. Its first meaning was "humiliated", so I ignored that because I didn't want to be humiliated. The next part of the definition was "merchant" or "traffic". Well that was easier for me to see a blessing in. If you look at most of the Jews throughout the world you can see that they have an anointing for being merchants and it seems their stores have no lack of traffic. I believe that comes from the blessing of Abraham.
God wants His people to be blessed in business, to be prosperous, that whatever they lay their hand to its blessed.
One problem still stands in the way: the main definition of Canaan is not blessings but humiliation. As I was meditating on this this morning, I believe the Lord directed me to Psalm 37 about all the places in there where it says we will inherit the land.
V. 9 says that "those who wait for the Lord" will inherit the land
V. 11 says "the humble" will inherit the land
V. 22 says "those blessed by Him" will inherit the land
V. 29 says "The righteous" will inherit the land
V. 34 says "Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land;..."
Now just as there were different nations dwelling in the land of Canaan so the Israelites had to go drive them out, so it seems there are things trying to hold back our blessings. We are supposed to inherit Canaan land, which could mean prosperity in the marketplace. But there is something standing in the way, I believe a clue to this problem is in the name "Canaan". The devil wants to humiliate Christians, make us look foolish and not worth anything.
To humiliate means to bring down to the level of dirt.
But God gives us a method that we can slide in right past that humiliation:
The Lord says in 1 Peter 5:6 "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time."
In James 4:6 it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
Now if we exalt ourselves we will be humiliated.
But if we humble ourselves He will exalt us to inherit the land.
Now one way to know for sure that you are not being humble:
If you get up in the morning and skip spending time with the Lord and think, "I'll be OK. I can handle this." That's prideful. We need to spend time with Him. Humble yourself and ask God for help. If things are getting bogged down, it may be that you need to humble yourself and ask God for help.
Humility or Humiliation
Choose humility. You'll like the results.
God bless you
Joe
As a believer in Jesus I am an heir of the blessing of Abraham - Galatians 3.
Now I don't believe that God wants me to go live in Israel right now, but He does want me to have my inheritance.
Jesus wrote His last will and testament and He rose from the dead to be the executor of his own will. In His will I receive blessings; even the blessing of Abraham.
I looked up in the Strongs's Dictionary to see what Canaan meant. Its first meaning was "humiliated", so I ignored that because I didn't want to be humiliated. The next part of the definition was "merchant" or "traffic". Well that was easier for me to see a blessing in. If you look at most of the Jews throughout the world you can see that they have an anointing for being merchants and it seems their stores have no lack of traffic. I believe that comes from the blessing of Abraham.
God wants His people to be blessed in business, to be prosperous, that whatever they lay their hand to its blessed.
One problem still stands in the way: the main definition of Canaan is not blessings but humiliation. As I was meditating on this this morning, I believe the Lord directed me to Psalm 37 about all the places in there where it says we will inherit the land.
V. 9 says that "those who wait for the Lord" will inherit the land
V. 11 says "the humble" will inherit the land
V. 22 says "those blessed by Him" will inherit the land
V. 29 says "The righteous" will inherit the land
V. 34 says "Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land;..."
Now just as there were different nations dwelling in the land of Canaan so the Israelites had to go drive them out, so it seems there are things trying to hold back our blessings. We are supposed to inherit Canaan land, which could mean prosperity in the marketplace. But there is something standing in the way, I believe a clue to this problem is in the name "Canaan". The devil wants to humiliate Christians, make us look foolish and not worth anything.
To humiliate means to bring down to the level of dirt.
But God gives us a method that we can slide in right past that humiliation:
The Lord says in 1 Peter 5:6 "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time."
In James 4:6 it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
Now if we exalt ourselves we will be humiliated.
But if we humble ourselves He will exalt us to inherit the land.
Now one way to know for sure that you are not being humble:
If you get up in the morning and skip spending time with the Lord and think, "I'll be OK. I can handle this." That's prideful. We need to spend time with Him. Humble yourself and ask God for help. If things are getting bogged down, it may be that you need to humble yourself and ask God for help.
Humility or Humiliation
Choose humility. You'll like the results.
God bless you
Joe