Healing our land begins with humbling ourselves before God.

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits. (Proverbs 16:2)

How can you get your life out of its out-of-whack state?

The Holy Spirit’s instruction to me last year was to make 2007 a year of Sabbath rest. Before the new year began, I prepared a list of simple objectives. One of my goals was to review my spiritual journals for the past few years. Did I do this? No. Gradually, I began over-committing myself and striving harder and harder to provide for my family.

Now it’s time to get back to the basics. But what are they? Living a Christ-centered, spiritual life requires a commitment to Bible reading, prayer, fellowship, and witnessing. Since the secret of my future is hidden in my daily routine, I must firmly establish a healthy daily and weekly routine. To be spiritually healthy, I must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from my life.

The theme verse for the National Day of Prayer in 2007 is 2 Chronicles 7:14 which begins “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray … then I will heal their land.” So even before we begin to pray, we need to humble ourselves before God. One way to do that is to get down on our knees and bow our heads in reverence to Almighty God as we pray. I want to be humble, not stiff-necked. Jesus might be my friend, but He’s also LORD of the universe.

There are numerous scriptures in the Bible stressing the importance of humility and the dangers of pride. Adam and Eve fell because of pride. Last night, I decided on the title of today’s devotional and the theme of humility. This morning, on this 16th day of March, I read Proverbs 16. Here’s what this chapter has to say about pride and humility.

Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD. (Proverbs 16:5)

Pride goes before destruction. (Proverbs 16:18)

Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud. (Proverbs 16:19)

Prayer Power
Father, I’m off track from what You instructed me to do in 2007. This has hardly been a year of Sabbath rest. Forgive me for striving more than abiding. I want to get back to Your basics. Teach me what it means to humble myself and pray. Thank You Jesus for Your patience with me. I bless You.

Link of the Day
Stick With the Basics – by LeRoy Eims (The Navigators)
[www.navigators.org/us/articles/items/Stick%20With%20the%20Basics]

Blessings to humble yourself and pray!