There is a difference between humility of the mind and humility of spirit. God wants us to have both. Some pray and pray and pray, but think way to highly of themselves. Some are humbly on their knees yet in public are high on their thrones. The Greek word for humility in 1 Peter 5:5 is "tapeinophrosynē". It says to be clothed with "tapeinophrosynē". This literally means to not think to highly of yourselves or to have a humble opinion of yourself; lowliness of mind. The very next verse it says, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God". The word "Humble" in this verse is actually a different Greek word which means to be both humble in mind and in spirit. The word is "tapeinoō", which means practically the same but with more intensity. It actually comes from the root Greek word, "tapeinos". This word actually means to be "humbly LOW in spirit". Where I am going with this here, is that it is great to be humble but without both you can't expect for the hand of God to be upon your life to minister to others. The word Humble in verse six means to be both humble in mind and in spirit. The scripture tells us to do this under the mighty hand of God. Many people want God's hand to be upon them yet they can't handle the glory of His power. They think to highly of themselves. God will not anoint a man with His MIGHTY power if that man can't resist the pride of stealing His Glory.
It takes time to build character. Power may come quick in a new believers life yet it also leaves quickly as that new believer gets high on his own throne. It is imperative that we seek God's righteousness while we are humble in spirit; on our knees in prayer. We must WALK out of the Holy of Holies CHANGED also in mind. It is great to have intense and dedicated prayer times yet if it never builds or grows the fruit of "clothing ourselves with humility" then maybe we aren't really humble in spirit either. The meaning for "be clothed" in humility, in the original Greek actually means to put humility on, then to bind a band upon yourself to secure it from coming off. Like putting a belt on so your pants don't fall off. To bind humility to yourself. From this you can draw the conclusion that Peter was literally saying that when you become humble in spirit, don't stop there but instead walk out of your prayer times and stay humble; to bind yourself with humility, to stay lowly. To walk in humility and resist pride. After all God resist the proud and draws near to the HUMBLE.
There is so much more I can say about this passage of scripture, but I will finish with this. Why would you want to be under the mighty hand of God? Well if you study the Word of God you will find that every time in the old testament that it mentions a man or woman of God that God's hand was upon you see them demonstrating God's power in miraculous ways that is beyond human ability. If you see a man in today's times producing that kind of power yet he lacks this type of humility it is very possible that it isn't God's power at all. Not to be the judge but honestly it would be wise not to follow that man, because one day he will fall. Pride always goes before the fall. But here's the deal, if you purposely humble yourself in prayer just for this kind of power then your mind is not being humble. God loves a cheerful giver. He wants you to cheerful give yourself to Him in prayer without wanting to receive anything in return. So we must reprogram ourselves to just love God's presence in general, to be lowly in mind, and to stay Humble, not because we want God's hand upon our lives for POWER but instead for the closeness of His Presence. To walk with God like Enoch. To truly have 24/7 Divine fellowship all throughout the day as if we were in the Garden of God. This should be our intimacy goal with God. To become more and more intimate and to grow and grow more and more just like HIM. When you spend time in His glory, according to 2 Corinthians you begin to be changed into His very likeness from glory to glory. As He reveals Himself over and over to you it changes you each and every time. It soon becomes absolutely impossible to turn away. It become more and more impossible to contain doubt. It will soon become more and more impossible to not contain His power. HIS HAND WILL REST UPON YOU!.
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