The battles of life and all that the enemy tries to throw at us have a way of encumbering and hindering us, but God’s desire is that we would have the faith in Him that would be able to withstand the fiery darts of the enemy. There will always be potential dangers that lie in our paths because we live in a world that is full of evil. It takes faith, hope and love to rise above all this and to give us the ability to navigate through the rough waters of life without suffering shipwreck.
1 Timothy 1:19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck.
We have been given a glimpse of the eternal destination Jesus is preparing for us. The problem is, there are lots of murky waters and storms we must sail through. The world is on a destructive course, of which we must sail through. There is also the possibility of suffering shipwreck and losing all that God has deposited into us. There are potential dangers in this life that come from the enemy that we must sail through without losing our soul or simply being saved by fire. How's your sailing?
In light of everything God has poured into us there are still demonic influences in the world that are trying to destroy the faith of many, including yours. All of the attitudes found in 1 Timothy 3:1-4 are in the world today and are helping to create a stormy environment that affects you and me; and causes the waters around us to be troubled, while we are trying to sail towards our destination. It is faith, hope and love that enables us to sail through these murky waters unharmed by allowing God to steer the ship rather than ourselves.
2 Timothy 3:1-4 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God...
Humility as a way of life:
Watchman Nee has been quoted as saying, “Our spirit is released according to the degree of our brokenness. The one who has accepted the most discipline is the one who can best serve. The more one is broken, the more sensitive he is. The more desire to save ourselves, at that point we are deprived of spiritual sensitivity an supply. Let no one imagine he can be effective and disregard this basic principle.”
Humility begins with a broken and contrite heart before God.
Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite one.
If we haven’t come to the place in our lives where we have either humbled ourselves before God or have been humbled by Him, pride will manifest itself in a myriad of ways in our areas of service in the body of Christ and in our relationships with one another. Humility must be a way of life for us as Christians just as it was for Jesus. Andrew Murray once said, “Humility before God is nothing if not proved in humility before men.”
1 John 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
