Live Free with Josh Howerton - Humility is the Key to Life | Ep. 19 | Thursday March 2, 2023

Episode Date: March 2, 2023

It’s easy to let pride take over when things are going well. You can forget about where you came from and instead glorify yourself and not glorify God. Today’s episode reminds you to humble yourself before the Lord and walk alongside Him daily on the path toward life change.  For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. bro, thanks for joining us today. As together with God's help, we all just try to walk a new direction this year. What we're doing, we're just spending just a few minutes every day, just kind of unpacking some verses from the Bible and some simple principles that maybe guide us

on this journey. And I just got to tell you, I'm so grateful for you. Thanks for joining us today. And I hope you know by now that I'm not an expert on anything. I'm just a fellow traveler like you, just trying to walk this road alongside of you. And I'm just learning day. daily new things about walking with God. And I'm just trying to share some of those things with you, and hopefully you'll find it helpful. We've been talking this week about just keeping a steady pace in this new walk with God this year.

Because life's not a sprint, not a competition, not a, I've got to work on my time in the mile kind of thing. It's just a simple, put one foot in front of the other and keep a steady pace with the one who created us to walk with him. Our verse this week has been the one that's actually tattooed on my right calf. It's my life verse to remind me just to keep it simple. It comes from Micah 6A. Let me read it again to you today.

He has showed you, oh man or old woman, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? Just to act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with your God. Just act justly. Just choose to do the right thing. Deal justly with people. Walk with integrity. Treat people the way you want to be treated.

And love mercy. Just walk through your day knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are loved with a high, wide, long, deep love of God, that you are love with an unfailing love. Just let that, like we talked about yesterday, let that eat all the way through you. Live grateful for mercy. And as you do that, you'll be able to give away the same kind of mercy that you have received. So act justly, love mercy, and most importantly, walk humbly with God. I'm telling you, gang, this is the key life.

walking humbly with God, just recognizing that he is God and you're not. You know, when Jesus shows up on the scene, he begins this ministry, some of the very first words out of his mouth were, blessed are the poor and spirit. Blessed are the busted. Blessed are the ones who are humble enough to admit that they are spiritually bankrupt. Blessed are those who recognize their need for God. You might even remember how God said, like,

way back in the Old Testament of the Bible Book of Exodus, like in the original top 10 list, he said, you shall have no other gods before me. And although God literally is a center of the universe and all creation declares His Majesty, God's not on an ego trip when he says that. He just knows that when anything, especially our self, sits on the throne of our life, we're leading ourselves away from the source of life. And we start walking down the road of self-sufficiency and self-obsufficiency and self-observation. and self-absorption and pride and emptiness,

and it leads us into all kinds of trouble. I know you've been there, man, I have. And that's why James chapter four says, God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. So humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. So often we start walking a new direction, and we start to experience a little life change,

and we say, hey, thanks for the help, God, I'll take it from here. And all pride and self-reliance starts to creep back in. You've been there? Yep, me too. And before long, the alcoholic goes back to drinking, and the user lights up a joint. The over-eater starts to binge eating. The gambler goes back to the Fantasy League, and the porn addict logs on to his favorite website,

and the alcoholic starts to fill up the schedule again. The explosive tempers and abusive language starts to come out again and panic, and anxiety return, and guilt and resentment overwhelms you once again, and codependency patterns. Just try to gain control again. All because we said, I got it. And it's why Galatians chapter 3 asks us, says, are you so foolish? After beginning with the spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?

I just love that. Because it's just saying if sheer willpower could have worked, it would have, but it can't, so it won't. Walking humbly with God is the key to lasting transformation, freedom, and life. Some of you may remember this little equation. Self-deception plus self-reliance equals self-destruction. Self-deception plus self-reliance equals self-destruction. That equation plays out that way every single time. I love the honesty of what it says.

In the big book from AA, it says selfishness, self-centeredness. That, we think, is the root of our troubles. And to get well, we had to quit playing. God. To intentionally walk humbly with God means that you realize the universe does not revolve around you. You acknowledge your self-centered tendencies. You step out of your self-reliance and your attempts at self-help and mere behavior modification. And you genuinely humble yourself. You quit playing God. You come down off the throne of your life and you surrender to the loving leadership and the transforming power of God for your life. You just live daily in the awareness of this powerful

presence with you in you, and you just put one foot in front of the other, and you act justly, and you love mercy, and you walk humbly with him. Listen, this year just keep a steady pace. He doesn't expect perfection. Remember, he loves us with an unfailing love. God doesn't expect overnight transformation. The only thing he expects is dependence upon him. You just humbly focus on making steady progress every day. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes we start a new year, we can set our sights out way too far out

instead of trusting God's power to change us one day at a time. Remember this new life of walking with God is a decision followed by a process. Again, the caterpillar has to struggle for a while in that uncomfortable cocoon while God is changing him into a beautiful butterfly. Don't expect overnight metamorphosis.

Sometimes it is three steps forward and two steps back. But what's your one step ahead of where you were. And if you fall, if you're walking humbly with God, guess what? The Bible says he'll pick you up. The Bible also says that God who started this changing you, he's going to keep on working in you as long as you are willing to walk humbly with him one day at a time. You know, Jesus taught us to pray, give us this decade worth of bread, no, give us our yearly bread. No, he said, pray, give us this. are daily bread. It keeps you walking independence on God every day. And in the process,

you start to develop intimacy with Him, which is the game changer for your life. So why not right now, wherever you are? Just pray, Lord, show me your ways. Teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth today. Jesus, just for this day, just for this day, I want to be patient. Just for this day, I want to be patient. just for this day, I want to be substance free. Just for this day, I want to think pure thoughts instead of lustful ones. Just for this day, I want to be positive instead of critical. Or God, you know what, just for the next hour, I've got a meeting with a boss that can be a real jerk and bring out the worst in people. And I don't want to lose my temper.

So, God, just for the next hour, help me respond as you would have me respond, not to get all uptight, not to get all stressed out. And listen, don't set a deadline for yourself. and say, you know what, I'm going to lick this thing by my next birthday. No, just let God work with you a day at a time, a step at a time. And when the day is over, before your head hits the pillow, you say, thank you, Lord, for the help you gave me today. So how about it? In 2003, we map our route and we download a new playlist,

and we find a partner, and we just keep a steady pace. Man, I'm praying for you on your walk today. See you tomorrow with something new. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time.

Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital, ministries of Lake Point. Visit lakepoint.compt.com.com. Church slash daily drive.