He Is Able To Humble Daniel 4:34-37 Ezekiel 28:12-19 Psalms 18:27 1 Samuel 2:7-9 Proverbs 3:33-34 Isaiah 57:15 Matthew 23:11-12 Ezekiel 21:26 Deuteronomy 32:4 07.11.18

HE IS ABLE TO HUMBLE

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³⁴ At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
³⁵ All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”  ³⁶ At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before.
³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble. Daniel 4:34-37 (NIV)

¹² Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. ¹³ You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. ¹⁴ You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. ¹⁵ You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. ¹⁶ Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. ¹⁷ Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. ¹⁸ By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. ¹⁹  All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’” Ezekiel 28:12-19 (NIV)

²⁷ You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.  Psalm 18:27 (NIV)

⁷ The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. ⁸ He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s; upon them he has set the world. ⁹ He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. It is not by strength that one prevails.” 1 Samuel 2:7-9

³³ The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.
³⁴ He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.  Proverbs 3:33-34 (NIV)
 

¹⁵ For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”  Isaiah 57:15 (NIV)

¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.   Matthew 23:11-12 (NIV)

²⁶ The lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low.  Ezekiel 21:26 (NIV)

⁴ He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.   Deuteronomy 32:4 (NIV)

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“Pride is as safely the sign of destruction as the change of mercury in the weather-glass is the sign of rain; and far more infallibly so than that.  When men have ridden the high horse, destruction has always overtaken them…God hates high looks, and never fails to bring them down.  All the arrows of God are aimed at proud hearts.”   Charles H. Spurgeon  

“God only despises those who are arrogant and haughty -- those who are proud and are never willing to humble themselves and confess their sins. Those who have made a habit of rationalizing their sin, of explaining away their sin, of justifying their sin, will not experience restoration.  But God loves to forgive and restore a repentant sinner. God loves to use those who are truly brokenhearted and contrite. God loves to use them in a unique way.”   Michael Youssef

“And if you don’t lie prostrate on the ground before that cross, you have never seen it:  if you are not humbled in the presence of Jesus, you don’t know Him.  You were so lost that nothing could save you but the sacrifice of God’s only begotten.  Think of that, and as Jesus lowered Himself for you, bow yourself in lowliness at His feet.  A sense of Christ’s amazing love to us has a greater tendency to humble us than even the conscious awareness of our own guilt……Pride cannot live beneath the cross.”   Charles H. Spurgeon

 “God knew when He made us that we’d never find contentment outside of His perfection.  Only Jesus can satisfy our hearts’ longing for perfection. But it takes a humility that is willing to forsake our pride and its many manifestations. We need a new paradigm for humility. Thankfully, we have one in Jesus.  So, in humility and love, Jesus submitted to history’s greatest injustice when He humbled Himself ‘by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross’ (Philippians 2:8).  Letting go of the ambitions, expectations, and standards my pride had erected hasn’t been easy. The serpent’s hiss is ever present, tempting me to doubt, become discontent, and believe the lie that God is not enough.  While my daily battle with perfectionism seems as far from Eden as my messy bedroom is from Paradise, it’s the very same temptation. Will I trust God and His promises, power, wisdom, and love, or will I proudly turn to my own resources to manage my life? Will I believe He is enough?”   Kim Hyland

“Stoop if you want to climb to heaven. Is it not said of Jesus, ‘He who descended is the one who also ascended’?  So must you. You must grow downwards, that you may grow upwards; for the sweetest fellowship with heaven will be enjoyed by humble souls and by them alone. God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,’ with all its riches and treasures. All of God’s resources will be made available to the soul that is humble enough to be able to receive them without growing proud because of it.  When a man is sincerely humble and never tries to take the credit or the praise, there is scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of all grace and equips us to deal efficiently with our fellows. True humility is a flower that will adorn any garden. This is a sauce that will season every dish of life and improve it in every case. Whether in prayer or praise, whether in work or suffering, the genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess.”  C. H. Spurgeon

“In the Kingdom, there are no great men of God, just humble men whom God has chosen to use greatly.  How do we know when we are humble?  When God speaks, we tremble.  God is looking for a man who trembles at His word.  Such a man will find the Spirit of God resting upon him; he will become a dwelling place for the Almighty.  God asks for nothing but ourselves.”   Francis Frangipane  

“Christ is with the humble, not with those who set themselves up over His flock.”  Clement of Rome

 “Here is the divine antidote against the pride and restless ambition of the men of this world.  Nothing is more sad than to witness a pushing, bustling, forward, self-confident spirit and style in those who profess to be followers of Him who was meek and lowly in heart.  It is such a flagrant contradiction of the spirit and precepts of Christianity, and is a sure accompaniment of an unbroken condition of the soul.  It is utterly impossible for any one to indulge in a boastful, pretentious, self-confident spirit, if ever he has really measured himself in the presence of God.  To be much alone with God is the sovereign remedy for pride and self-complacency.  May we know the reality of this in the secret of our own souls.  May the good Lord keep us truly humble, in all our ways, simply leaning on Himself and his grace…”  C H Macintosh

“O believer, learn to reject pride, seeing that you have no ground for it.  Whatever you are, you have nothing to make you proud.  The more you have, the more you are in debt to God; and you should not be proud of that which renders you a debtor.”    Charles H. Spurgeon 

HEART SAVOR

• ·        God opposes the proud in heart but gives grace giving way to grace to the humble of heart.
• ·        God knows how to bring low the proudest hearts.
• ·        I am to stoop if I desire to climb – I must descend to ascend.