God reminds me everyday that it's not me that does the work, it's Him.
The thing is, we can spend so much time worrying about what others think about us, that we have no energy left for what God thinks.
As a believer in Jesus Christ, we MUST remember whose we are on order to behave like we believe. What we should be concerned about is whether or not our actions and attitude are glorifying Him. Am I taking the credit for the work He has done in my life? We need to keep Christ and our reflection of Him at the center of our lives at every moment. The more we do that, the more instinctual it becomes. And instead of being prideful we become humble in His sight.
When we try to exalted ourselves above others, we set ourselves up to be dumped on.
God will use whatever it takes to get our eyes on Him and off ourselves.
Joseph dreamed of having authority and being a great man. However, he was young and impetuous. Joseph's brothers hated him and sold him into slavery. God used the situation as an opportunity to test and train Joseph. He spent thirteen years in prison for something he didn't do, but whatever happened to Joseph during those years definitely equipped him for his God-ordained role in history.
The Lord has to humble us before He can use us.
We have to trade in our self-confidence for God-confidence.
"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up" (James4:10)
My personal challenge is to look at my life not the way a perfect stranger would, but the way a Perfect Savior would.
On certain issues I keep going back and forth between my thoughts & halting those thoughts and praying for a word from God on them. I don't want my emotions to dictate my decisions and opinions but it is very difficult. I don't want my "rights" to dictate either because I know God works in mysterious ways and of course my thoughts (& feelings) are not God's thoughts. I know it isn't all about me, it is about God and what He has for me and for those around me and beyond.
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