That at the name of Jesus........

At the name of Jesus

That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2: 10-11)

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? This was the question asked today as I listened to Pray As You Go. It was a prompt used to help listeners reflect on Phil 2:1-11.

Humility 101

My first thought was: there is victory in humility! Boy, humility keeps coming up in my meditation. God’s trying to tell me something for sure. This verse tells us although He was in the form of God – He did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. One translation says – something to be exploited (like the “dropping names” I mentioned in my last post).

Let that sink in: He was divine and yet He willingly “stooped” to our level. Willingly He suffered, despite the fact that He had the power to change His circumstances. HUMILITY 101!

Victory is ours

The result of His humility? FOR THIS REASON God raised Him to the highest place……..EVERY KNEE SHALL BEND……..EVERY TONGUE PROCLAIM THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!!!!!

Notice it doesn’t say SOME knees shall bend nor SOME tongues proclaim. He is victorious! No matter what the state of affairs in the world and in your personal life, being a disciple means having hope. Hope in the fact that ultimate victory is our inheritance. It’s what we are promised!

Being humble is quite difficult, isn’t it? The world with all its expectations and demands wants us to equate humility with loss, weakness and failure. Scripture, however, tells us just the opposite – humility leads to gain. It gives us strength and ultimately leads to victory. How is that possible? Because when we are humble we surrender our wills to Christ who is all-powerful! If He is for us, who can be against us?

More than I imagined

Contemplating this verse reminds me of a time in my life where I felt defeated and weak because I felt I had lost a battle I never intended to lose. My pride made me lose sight of how God was working in my life. In that instant, I literally heard Jesus speak to me: “ha, YOU feel defeated! How do you think I felt?

It was at that moment that I surrendered. I recognized my smallness and the insignificance of my “defeat” as compared to Jesus. I realized it was okay to let others “win.” I was open to God’s plan even though it seemed to be pushing me in a completely different direction than I had planned for myself. God was plucking me from Lynbrook, further away from my family and gently placing me on a mountaintop in Warwick. It all happened so fast.

Many of you know the story of my move from Lynbrook to Warwick. You understand what I mean when I say it is the best move I have ever made. It has changed my life and blessed me with so much inspiration, human and natural!

I’m still working on my humility. Some days are better than others but reading this verse today gives me hope. Here’s something I read during my advent prep: I can’t, you can, you promised!