“And being found in appearance as a man, He HUMBLED Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11)

The art of receiving is an expression of humility and the BEST GIFT to receive is Jesus Whom our Heavenly Father has given that we may HAVE and ENJOY life and have it more abundantly.  He SO loved you and me that He sent His only begotten and beloved Son, withholding nothing from us because He desires for us to live in the FULLNESS of Who He is, a nothing-missing, nothing-broken and nothing-lacking life.  He takes pleasure in the prosperity, an all-encompassing provision, of His beloved sons and daughters for that is where a Father’s delight resides.

To deny Him is an expression of pride for no one is perfect in this world who can experience the FULLNESS of life apart from Jesus Christ.  No amount of wealth, achievements or successes can every satisfy our longing soul.  There will be an unending pursuit without Him.  Once we accomplish one, the desire for more will be triggered inside of us until we get to the end of ourselves and see that our hearts are like bottomless wells that cannot be filled and satisfied by what we can do or possess.

The Kingdom of God is designed to have a relational component with our Heavenly Father and the ONLY way to Him is through His Son, Jesus.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).  He is not a way.  He is THE WAY, the one and only way.  No one is worthy, regardless of one’s goodness, generosity, achievement and knowledge, can come near His Holy Throne.  But God Himself Who is rich in mercy and abounding in love had His glorious redemptive solution before the foundation of time and saw how you and I can come boldly to Him to become His own.  

One of the powerful revelations that the Holy Spirit unveiled my eyes to see was the humility of the centurion whose servant was sick and ready to die (Luke 7:2).  Such servant was dear to him.  When he HEARD about Jesus, he sent ELDERS OF THE JEWS to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. 

How awesome it is to see and perceive that when people HEAR about Jesus  who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him, FAITH ARISES!  The obvious response of the centurion hearing about Jesus made him send those elders to Him.

“When they (the elders of the Jews) came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was DESERVING, FOR HE LOVES OUR NATION, AND HAS BUILT US A SYNAGOGUE. And Jesus went with them.  And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent FRIENDS to Him, saying, “Lord do not trouble Yourself, for I am NOT WORTHY that You should enter under my roof.  Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You.  But say the word, and my servant will be healed.” (Luke 7:4-7)

Hmmm … haven’t you noticed that the centurion sent two sets of messengers to Jesus, the elders of the Jews and his friends.  The elders came to Jesus telling HIM that the centurion DESERVES for Him to go to the centurion’s house while his FRIENDS carried a contrasting message of him BEING NOT WORTHY, YET believed in Jesus’ power and authority.

See, when the centurion sent the elders of the Jews, he did not give them his message.  They went to Jesus telling Him what they saw he has done to deserve His visitation.  Come to think of it, Jesus wasn’t bothered by it at all.  In truth, He went with them.

But not until the centurion’s friends came with a different message of humility, not deserving for Jesus to come to enter under his roof, yet believed in Who He is and what He can do, did Jesus find such unmatched faith.  The centurion trusted his friends for him to be vulnerable enough in spite of him being the commanding officer of one hundred men. In his weakness, the grace of God sufficiently flowed.  His heart was open to RECEIVE the Word with full conviction that his servant will be healed AT JESUS’ WORD.  What humility he demonstrated that made room for the Lord’s HEALING GRACE to flow through.  It was undeserved, unmerited and unearned.

“When Jesus heard these things, He MARVELED at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I HAVE NOT FOUND SUCH GREAT FAITH, not even in Israel.”  And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick.  (Luke 7:9)

I love The Passion Translation of this.

“Jesus MARVELED at this.  He turned around and said to the crowd who had followed Him, “Listen, everyone!  Never have I found even one among the people of God a man like this WHO BELIEVES SO STRONGLY IN ME.”  Jesus then SPOKE the healing word FROM A DISTANCE.  When the man’s friends returned to the home, they found the servant COMPLETELY HEALED and doing fine.” (Luke 7:9-10 TPT)

Truly, when we humble ourselves before the Lord, He will lift us up. (James 4:10) Believing and receiving the Word of God is such a powerful form humility which is the best position where no weapon of the enemy can come against. With humility comes wisdom.  With humility, pride dies.  Humility is submission to God and as we do, we resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7)

. “… in a HUMBLE (gentle, modest) spirit RECEIVE and WELCOME the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls.” (James 1:21)

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You, for Your Son, Jesus Christ, Whom You have given us that as we receive Him in our hearts we gain FULL access to the FULLNESS of Who You are and the FULLNESS of what You have for us.  Thank You, Jesus, that You demonstrated what divine humility is all about.  How You humbled and gave Yourself to us that we may have and enjoy life and have it more abundantly.  Thank You, Holy Spirit, that You came as Jesus sent You to abide in us always as the Guarantee that nothing will ever separate us from Him and His love.  Amen!