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Good Morning! Today's blog is a little tardy. For the next three weeks I am traveling with my family and a group of ladies from our Women's School of Discipleship on an evangelistic tour of some of our Southeast chapters. We will be traveling to churches in Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia and Ohio. As a result of traveling inconveniences and connectivity issues our blog will arrive each day, or so I commit. But the timing of it may vary.

Please pray for us and our family as we travel, preach and our girls sing for our Lord.

Looking back at our quote I want to ask this question. Why are so many born again believers miserable? What part of our lives is so bad that the grace of God is seldom enough to endure it, much less enjoy it? This ought not to be!

Remember that at RU we like to dissect Bible verses and define words. At RU we consider clichés to be our enemy! We want to contemplate word meanings whenever we are discussing answers to life's problems as found in the Bible.

As a result, there is probably no cliché that we re-define and remind more than the word "grace". It is best defined as "God's work on my behalf". It is really "God at work, me at rest" in all of life's circumstances. The only prerequisite for God's grace is my "humility in the face of HIS workload".

So many Christian people I meet are discouraged with their life. Many of these people seem to struggle to even make it through the day. But it seems to me that the believers that have it the worst in their daily circumstances are the ones that seem to be the happiest in the midst of it all. How does that work? Humility!

Humility is another cliché that needs to be often defined. Humility is "submission to the divine will of God for your life" Many say they are submitted but when we actually see what God chooses to DEAL out to us in the form of adversity, we must determine by our responses if we are truly submissive.

If I ask my kids to enjoy something that they may find inconvenient and they commit to do so, only to complain and show basic feelings of misery in the midst of that moment of inconvenience, have they truly submitted? We would all say "no!"

But as His children we often have a different view of submission for ourselves. As long as we are enduring life without quitting church or publicly blaspheming God then we consider ourselves submissive. That's not submission. That is disrespectful and ungrateful endurance.

Humility is better defined by its behavior than by its meaning. To be humble is to be submissive to God's will for our life both externally in your words, and internally in our mind. If that is where we are then God gives more grace, for we have been humbled. God's grace will be enough to not only endure our life, but to enjoy our life, no matter the cards we feel have been improperly dealt.

With that said, how does humility behave, that we may compare our thoughts and actions to what God would consider proper behavior?

Humility, fist of all is free of pride (which is an undue esteem of one's self). Freedom is free of arrogance (which is an undue disregard for others). Thus freedom thinks more of others than oneself. When we are facing difficult circumstance it is very hard to think of others rather than ones self. Why? Because we become proud. Now, yes, we can defend that self-focus as an understandable response to my circumstances but we cannot say we are remaining humble for our focus has changed from others toward ourselves. God is NOT standing by to do the work in a proud man's life. He is standing by to RESIST the word of that proud man. Even though that proud man denies his pride and defends his self focus.

Humility, as well, is a "modest estimate of one's own worth". When we are struggling with difficulty in our lives, we need to realize that we are nothing and He is our all. We will then accept our position as deserving of any suffering for His name's sake.

But usually we assume an "it's not fair" mentality. That is not a modest estimate of our worth. Our feelings in the face of adversity should not be "it's not fair" but rather it should be "I'm not worthy!" This small change in your heart's attitude is what unleashes God's grace to not only endure that situation, but to enjoy that situation.

Humility is best expressed by one's "deep sense of unworthiness in the sight of the Lord." Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up. Friends, we need to remember to abase ourselves. If something is happening to us that we would never wish on another, recognize that God has wished it upon us. When God gives us bread, refuse to think it is a stone! God sees it as good, why can we not? We are not humble, that is why we cannot see it as good and that is also why it IS good!

If we are having a hard day, then we need God to do some work, so we just need humility. If we are struggling with a vice, then we need God to do some work, so we just need humility. If a brother is angry at another, then we need God to do some work, so we just need humility. If we are facing health issues, then we need God to do some work, so we just need humility. If we are sick of our life as it seems to play out, then we need God to do some work, so we just need humility. If we are struggling to make ends meet, then we need God to do some work, so we just need humility.

God's work on our behalf is available to not only endure it all, but to enjoy it all. If there is some area of our lives that we are simply trying to endure, then there is an area of our life in which we are not humble. That makes us proud.

If someone called you proud, what would you say? If God thought us proud, what would He do? If something difficult is in your life as a "God designed process of humbling you" then don't curse it, don't nurse it, don't rehearse it, just reverse it.

Humble ourselves and let Him do all your work. Which would you rather do? Endure your hard work or enjoy your time of rest. Humility brings tranquility.

A QUESTION FOR TODAY'S MEDITATION: "When things go bad, do I respond in faith or doubt?"