Two days ago, our sister Miranda wrote about a common struggle in the Body of Christ: feeling like spending time with God is an obligation, a box to be checked on your daily checklist. And even if that’s not the case for you, what woman who loves God doesn’t want to grow in her prayer life?! Well the bible tells us:
Ps. 5:5: “The arrogant cannot stand in your presence.”
Ps. 100:4: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”
Humility is needed to be in the presence of God, and the gratitude that you feel in humility usually produces a response: praise. And when we praise it guides us into the presence of God, and when we’re there, we’re humbled. Humility and praise go hand in hand, working together in harmony to prepare a heart, not to just spend time with the Lord, but to delight in the Lord.
These truths can bring so much fruitfulness and pleasure to our time with God, ladies! The word humility has it’s origin in the Latin word humilis, meaning "low." And while we may be standing, walking, running, cooking dinner, or cleaning the house while we pray, our spirit can be “low”, bowed down, and grateful. Just think about how miraculous it is that we can even talk to God, and that he listens. Or that fact that, though you’re one small person, by God's design, your prayers are powerful! That always brings me to a humble place in my heart because I’m reminded that I don’t “have to”; I “get to” spend this time with God. How precious an investment it is!
Before I ever petition God for anything, I praise him. Not because I’ve made it a sacred order to “praise then ask”, but in a place of humility, I can’t not acknowledge his infinite and overwhelming goodness and I usually get lost in that!
When you get lost in the goodness of God, suddenly your prayer list starts to shift and change, and the priorities of your prayers are rearranged by the Holy Spirit. Your desire is not just to spend time with God and pray so you can check it off the list, but to spend time with him the way He wants it spent, to pray about the things he wants you to pray about, and to hear what He wants to say.
So, I encourage you! Humble yourself, remember who your God is, and enter his presence with praise!
Psalms 8
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory in the heavens. 2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?[c]
5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e] and crowned them[f] with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their[g] feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!