Derek Prince - Don't Pray For Humility, BE Humble
This is an excerpt from: The Secret Power Of Fasting
God has been speaking to me personally just lately about the awful dangers of pride. And Ruth picked up a little book she owned it but had really not paid much attention to it by Andrew Murray who is one of those preachers of a previous generation who is still feeding the people of God today. How many of you have read at least one book by Andrew Murray? That's most of the people here, that's remarkable. I don't know whether you know this, but it's entitled in the original The Humility of Our Lord. It's been republished with a simpler title, I think simply Humility. And I read this just a few weeks ago and it really spoke to me personally about my own life. I've hated pride for years, but I got a new vision of how vicious and how evil pride is and how it keeps us back from all the blessings that God intends for us. This message runs through the Bible, it's a universal truth. It was not demonstrated first on earth.
You know the first demonstration of the evil of pride? What was the first sin in the history of the universe? Tell me. Pride. Who committed the sin? Lucifer, that's right, an angel in heaven. And if that pride as a sin could break out in heaven and cause an angel to lose his place, how much more susceptible are we likely to be to pride as sinners here on earth? Let me give you just three passages of scripture that deal with pride and with humility. The first is in Luke 14:11. And it's the end of a parable where Jesus speaks about how to act when you're invited to a banquet. I mean, we get invited to banquets nowadays in fact, I was at one yesterday. And Jesus said He's so practical, He gives such simple illustrations.
First of all, I want to point out to you that God never says He'll humble us. He always tells us to humble ourselves. I tell people God can humiliate you but only you can make yourself humble. Don't pray, God, make me humble, because it's not a scriptural prayer. And furthermore, you'll probably regret the results of that prayer. A few weeks or months later when you find yourself in the most humiliating situation you think, God, how did I get here? You prayed. You prayed. So, Jesus says when you're invited to a banquet, don't walk up to the head table, and sit at the chief place because you'll be embarrassed when somebody comes along and says, But the speaker is going to sit here, you take a place over there in the corner. Jesus says when you go, take the lowest place. It's very wise. When you're at the bottom there's only one way you can go, that's up.
I don't know whether you know that prayer by John Bunyan. This has been with me for years. He that is down need fear no fall. He that is low no pride. He that is humble ever shall have God to be his guide. See, when you're on the floor you're safe, there's no lower you can go. Very rarely do I minister in a large public gathering like this without first taking my place on the floor on my face before God. And I can tell you, before these meetings Ruth and I were there for quite a long while. That's where I feel really safe is on the floor.
So, Jesus said at the end of that parable, if you don't want to be embarrassed, avoid the situation. Don't sit at the top table, sit in the lowest place. And, there's only one way you can be asked to go, and that is up. And then He sums it up with these words in Luke 14:11: For whoever exalts himself will be abased, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. That's universal. In other words, it applies throughout the universe. It applies in heaven, it applies on earth. The great demonstration of this truth is Lucifer and Jesus. Lucifer was a created being, he reached for equality with God, he slipped and fell. Jesus had equality with God, He humbled Himself even to the death of the cross and the scripture says God highly exalted Him.
It says in Philippians 2:9: Therefore, God highly exalted Him. Why did God exalt Him? Because He humbled Himself, that's right. And everyone who humbles himself will be exalted. I can promise you exaltation if you'll humble yourself, there are no exceptions. I have a series of messages which has this title, The Way Up is Down. The lower down you go the higher up you'll end. There's no exceptions to that.