Bold Conversations: Why Humility and Faith Aren't What You Think

Yes, hello, we're back
again here on this podcast

on the University of God,

and today we want to talk about something

which is really at the heart of Jesus.

To follow in His footsteps,
we have to be like Him.

And how can we be like Him?

His character. And what
is the one character,

Racine, which you value so much

in the life of our mentor,
Prophet TB Joshua.

Humility.

He has said it and I think
I have to agree with him.

And I think anyone who truly
spent time sitting at his feet

and learning from him
would agree with that.

So there's something that you
said, Racine, a few months ago

that we actually put
on the UOG social media,

and it was that ‘Humility is
God's lift for elevation.’

Do you remember when you said that?

Yeah, it's true.

So some people have asked us,

okay, what do you mean by this?

So we actually want to
take a bit of time today,

led by the spirit of God to go
into that issue a bit deeper.

So what do you understand by that?

It was the result of a
meditation and reflection

over my life and the life
of many generals of God,

particularly Prophet TB
Joshua, you mentioned.

If somebody asked me today,

you have lived with Prophet
TB Joshua for so many years,

all of us for decades, two decades.

If they ask me, what is the greatest virtue of this man of God?

The first thing that comes to my mind

is that it's not an issue of power,

nor prophecy, but his humility.

What makes the whole world
to love this man of God?

And the day he departed,
millions of people were grieving.

Many today are still
mourning his loss.

Why Prophet TB Joshua?
Because of that humility.

If there is any servant of God

who has such a level of the
grace of God in his life.

We had been with him, we lived with him.

When you talk about humility,

we can talk about it because we lived with him.

Sometimes when you talk in public,

when you're in the midst of people,
you can pretend to be humble.

But true humility reveals
itself in the backyard.

When nobody's there to look
at you, you see humility.

I have never seen a man

who behaved as if he was the one
that needed God the most.

Why do I say that?

He never relied on what God
had done, though he was grateful,

but he lived each day
as if it were his last.

And whatever had been achieved, he’d say,

‘God can do the best tomorrow.’

And the grace of God
in his life was so much that

he said one thing that shocked me

when he came back from the
crusade in 2006 in South Korea -

I think 2006 or 2005.

2016?

No, the first one, the first crusade.

Okay.

2005.

Yes. When he came back,

we were all in the car
park waiting for him.

He came, he came out of the vehicle,

and the first thing he did at that time,

it was the old church and
there was dust everywhere.

He knelt down in the dust, in the sand

while all the evangelical
class was there around him.

He said, “Thank you, all of you,

because this achievement
could have never been possible

without you, without your prayer."

And he said to us, “The lesson we need;

the more God blesses you,

the more you should humble yourself."

That's the only way you can surprise God.

The more God blesses you,
the more you humble yourself.

And I remember, the first
time we had the grace

to receive the anointing;
he sent us to pray for the sick.

When he came back, he said,

“When you pray for someone and you see
a miracle takes place -

“When you pray for someone and
a miracle takes place -

the person gets healed,

don't be excited, it's not your work."

Don't stay there as if you
are the one that did it, it's God.

So anytime you pray and
you see a miracle happen,

in your heart, ‘Thank you Jesus.’

And leave the place immediately.

Don't stay there as if you are
the one who did the miracle.

That's what surprised me in him.

One day, a great Indian man of God,
Dhinakaran, I remember,

who came to The SCOAN in the year 2003.

He said, “This man shocked me.

I’ve never seen someone who prays,
and God did such a miracle -

immediately after he prays,
he will leave the place.

He will pray for the
person and disappear.”

Evangelists will come to do
the testimony but he himself,

he will immediately move, why?

He (TB Joshua) said to us, "If you pray for someone,

leave the place, the glory belongs to God."

God does not like anybody who says

you are doing the work of God.

We're not even doing it,
it's the Holy Spirit.

Because of that, he knew

how to maintain his relationship with God.

He never arrogated any
glory for himself, never.

He humbled himself to the very
last moment he departed in 2021.

We knew his lifestyle.

You may not believe it,
but nobody can tell me,

this is the house of
Prophet TB Joshua, never.

We knew him living in the church.

We saw how we lived.

Living in the Prayer Mountain.

In the Prayer Mountain.

He said, “Many have their millions and
build a house, estate for themselves.

Me, I build the house of God first.

I build the house of God first
before building my own house.

I've not finished building the house of God,
so my house will wait."

That's the lifestyle of such a man of God.

A man of the heart of God,

who lived as if he needed God most -
more than anybody else.

Why?

It's in his prayer life.

Prayer was a lifestyle for him every day.

And what shocked me,
any person who approached him,

he'd pay attention to him.

He was accessible to everybody.

Whether you are a young boy or an old person,

he listened to everybody.

And that strikes me about his humility.

One day we were in the prayer mountain,
going to the church

and one of the mamas,
an old mama of sanitation,

that cleaned, swept the floor

said, "Daddy, I have a dream for you."

Immediately he stopped.

He said, "You people, go."

And he stayed with the lady and listened to her.

He listened to the lady for a good,
more than 20 minutes.

After listening to the lady,

he wrote the dream,
and said thank you and left.

He said, "When somebody
has a dream about me,

I will never disregard it.

I will take it and go to God and pray...” - that was humility.

“...because God can speak
to me in different ways."

The question we have that

to be able to have such a
reverence and respect for God,

it takes true humility
because whatever we do

is not our own work,
it's the Holy Spirit who does it.

Glory belongs to God.

So we ourselves, we have seen

God using him at such a level
of miracles and prophecy,

but when we came to him,
he welcomed us as his own children.

He welcomed us and treated us

as if there was no difference
between us and his children.

I've never seen such a level of humility.

He could have hired people from outside
But he said, you are my people.

He took us, trained us, built us,

and we walked with him to the very end.

That's the lifestyle we embraced,

that's the lifestyle of Jesus.

Because he humbled himself,

God lifted him to the highest level.

From the very first beginning,

he said, ‘God said, I'll
give you a small cross.’

Which meant, if you're faithful in little things,

God will add to it -
that was his lifestyle.

He never thought he had arrived.

So because he humbled himself,

depending on God for everything,

his ministry went from
glory, to glory, to glory.

Despite the opposition,
name calling, rejection,

he never fought back at any person.

He never spoke evil against anyone.

He depended on God to the very last moment

and he was never confused
for depending on God.

So Ruth, we are here for
something we do not deserve.

God's calling is by grace.

Whatever we receive from God today,

it's not by our power, not our own might,

but because of what Jesus Christ of Nazareth

has done for us at the Cross of Calvary.

That's why he said...

I was shocked by that word,

"Everything we do consciously is not of faith."

I said, "What does this mean?"

Everything you do by your own thought,

by your own mind, by your own power;
it is you doing it.

Because faith is a rest.

I said, "Wow, it is true."

Anything that comes
by force is not faith.

Absolutely! So we Christians,
we heard that Jesus said,

"Man was not made for the sabbath

but the sabbath was made for man."

I said, "What the meaning of
that Word Jesus mentioned?"

Why did You say that?

It means, by faith, I'm always
in God's sabbath, God's rest.

Because the Holy Spirit is the One
that does the work, not me.

When I come and say,
"In the name of Jesus, be healed."

It's not me! I call the name of the Lord,

I set aside the person for the special
attention of the Spirit of God,

and the Holy Ghost comes and does the miracle.

That's why anytime the
Prophet prayed for somebody,

he left the place, why?

Holy Ghost will come
and perform the miracle.

Anytime he gave a prophetic
Word led by the Holy Spirit,

he obeyed and spoke the Word,
and left it to God.

And God would come and fulfil the Word.

That's why we say today -
the Gospel of God's grace.

That's how we call the Gospel of Jesus - grace,

undeserved favour, undeserved mercy.

We are here today.

I am not better than people
outside, in the world.

I'm not better than them,
because we all came from outside.

We all came from darkness,
nobody was born righteous.

That God would give
me the grace to be here,

to call the name of Jesus -

it's the pure grace of God, pure grace.

So when you recognise that
what we receive from God is grace,

we humble ourselves.

This means, we don't allow pride to come

and affect the grace of God in your life.

So the path of Christ is the
path of faith and humility.

When we say, ‘Humility is God's lift.’

The Bible says in that
Book of Matthew 23:12,

"He who exalts himself shall be," what?

"Humbled."

"And he who humbles himself shall be..."

"Exalted."
That's what He means.

Now, when Jesus came

and entered the temple and began to speak,

the Pharisees, the teachers of the law,

those who so much relied
on their sense knowledge,

they said, who is this man to say this?

We know the law better than him.

And instead of listening to what
Jesus was saying by revelation,

they opposed Him.

Using their senses, their reason.

That's why Jesus said,
"It is easier for a camel

to go through the eye of a needle

than a rich man to enter
the Kingdom of God."

That ‘riches’ has nothing to do with money.

When you are too much of yourself,
of your own knowledge,

then you will never see the
narrow way of revelation.

You are my teacher, Ruth.

I come you to teach me English.

If I don't humble myself before you,

I can never receive anything from you.

But if I pretend I know
more than my teacher,

I will not hear him, I will oppose him.

But if I'm humble like a baby,
look at this baby, Pearl.

This is the humility that we're talking about.

This baby, she so much relies on us.

She cannot do anything on her own.

She relies on mum,
she relies on us for everything.

That is total dependence on us.

She will never query what you say.

That reminds me when you were
talking about Prophet TB Joshua,

I think one of the things
that really struck me

About his humility,
which is just Christ-like,

is that he knew he was
just a servant of God.

That he didn't presume to plan
what would happen tomorrow,

what would happen in one hour,
what would happen next week,

what would happen next year.

No, and I remember he said both in a sermon

and also to us repeatedly
in teaching and training us,

is that you can't,
if you're a servant of God,

you have to say, ‘As the Lord wills.’

You can't just plan your life
and fit God into the order.

That if first and foremost
you're a servant of God,

then you have to seek
His will in everything

and I think that is so hard for us
to do as rebellious human beings

because pride is a sin in us by nature,

and automatically we like to
be in control of our own lives

and for us to be able to
submit to the Spirit of God...

And we just saw a perfect
example in his life, in that,

in terms of submitting to the will of God

and not being rushed by
the emergencies of others,

not being rushed by the
timetable of others,

not being rushed by the priority of others

but no, only God's will.

And at the end of the day,

I think he gave a definition of humility,

which really sums it up for me that,

“True humility is total dependence
upon God for everything.”

And you were talking about
a baby like our baby Pearl -

total dependence.

And it's just a matter of asking ourselves,
are we dependent on God like that?

Wow, what a challenge.

Because like you said,

he lived his life as if he needed
God more than you and me.

He included Jesus in
everything, every little step.

What a challenge and what a
wonderful inspiration for us.

That's why humility is the narrow way
of approaching God by faith.

Why do I say that?

Humility is the narrow way of approaching God,
by faith in God.

Total dependence on God for everything.

When the temptation came,

God said to Adam,

‘Don't touch the tree of the
knowledge and good and evil.

The day you touch it,
you will surely die.’

When the enemy came,
he came and tempted them by saying,

‘God knows that if you touch
this thing, you'll be like Him!’

Meaning, you will not need Him anymore.

You'll be like God in the
knowledge of good and evil.

when she saw it and thought,

it was good to give wisdom
and knowledge, she took it.

Not only her - her husband took it.

And what happened?

The relationship was broken.

Faith is a trust that arises in your heart

that God is reliable, trustworthy.

It takes somebody who is humble

to have a complete dependency on God.

Let's take the case of Job.

Job was a rich man.

Rich, very rich, and a noble person.

But when adversity came

and he lost everything on
the outside, what did he say?

‘Naked, I came from my mother's womb,

naked I will leave this world,

and glorify the name of the Lord.’

Abraham - his faith was
not based on blessings.

His faith was based on God.

So when difficult situations came,

instead of turning
against God, Job said,

"God has given me, God has taken away."

They never saw God in a bad light.

When Jesus came, imagine what Jesus did.

He healed the sick, purified
the lepers, raised the dead.

The greatest miracles happened.

But when He stood before Pilate,

Pilate said, "Don't you know I
have authority to crucify you?"

Jesus said to him,

‘You wouldn't have any authority over me

unless my Father in Heaven gave you that.’

Humility to the core.

When He went to the cross,
He knew He was innocent.

He knew He never did anything evil.

Jesus had the capacity to speak and
an angel would come from Heaven,

but He surrendered to the will of God.

He knew there was no
alternative to death.

He died for sinners, He never complained,
He went to the very end.

Therefore, God lifted Him
up to the highest position

that no angel can reach -
at the right hand of God.

He's calling us, you and me,
to embrace the same way.

As Christians, humility should be
our trademark of righteousness.

This means, humility never discriminates.

Humility never rejects.

Humility never condemns.

Jesus accommodates all sorts of people.

When Jesus came, you expected Him
to reject the Samaritan woman.

He never - He went to her.

When the Roman centurion,

the Roman enemy of Israel,
who took their country by force.

When the Roman centurion came to Him,

in Matthew 8:8, Jesus immediately said,

"I'm coming to heal your servant."

Humility never discriminates.

Humility has the capacity
to see the grace of God

in the life of everybody.

Humility always forgives.

Humility remembers where he comes from.

Humility knows God is the source
of all goodness in our lives,

without Him we are nothing.

So today, if we say we are Christians,

arrogance and pride should
not be part of our lives.

But sometimes the narrow way,

pride and humility are opposite.

Pride can't travel that path.

Absolutely, they cannot
travel that same way together.

And the broad way is a broad way of pride,

when we rely on ourselves,
by power and might.

But the narrow way says,
‘No I cannot do it.

Lord, I don’t know how - help me.

I have no strength of my own,

I have no power of my own.

I have no power of my own, help me Lord.’

I think that's one of the
greatest gifts of King David.

David remembered that his own father

never considered him worthy of being King.

He left him to take care of the sheep.

But those who were handsome, beautiful, strong,

the father brought them to Samuel

and God rejected all of them.

God said, ‘That small boy, whom you despised.

That small shepherd, that's My choice."

And David remembered this all
his life and became humble.

He knew whatever he was,

it was God's grace that gave it to him.

So never forget where
you're coming from.

Absolutely!

None of us is righteous, not even one.

It's Jesus that died for
us to bring salvation,

forgiveness of our sins.

That's why He said,
‘If you do not forgive your enemy,

God will not forgive you.’

So if we are humble and
we know that all we are,

whatever we are is only by
the grace of our Lord Jesus

and the mercy of God, we will
have mercy toward others.

We will not be arrogant,
we'll not be proud.

We will depend on the Holy Ghost.

I think one of the reasons why we
don't see the Holy Ghost today

is because of that.
Pride.

is because of that.
Pride.

Humility is total dependence
on the Holy Spirit for everything.

‘If you're a Christian,

you will be led by the corresponding
power of the Holy Ghost.’

But today, we don't wait
for the Holy Spirit.

We plan ourselves, we do our own choice,

and we say, ‘Lord, come and bless it.’

But humility wakes up and says,
‘Is it your will Lord?

Holy Spirit, tell me what to do.’

Elijah, the great Prophet in 1 Kings 17,

God said, ‘Elijah, stand up.

Go to the brook Cherith,

there you'll drink the water of the brook.

I will send ravens to feed you there.’

That’s what God said to him.

When Elijah went,

he drank the water of the brook,

ravens gave him food morning
and evening and he ate it.

Leviticus 11:15 said that ravens are impure animals.

So if he had listened to what
the Bible says at face value,

he would say, ‘Is it from God?’

But he never queried God,
he went and obeyed.

And when the water was dried,

Elijah never stood by himself to go.

He waited until God said, ‘Go and do this.’

He was a servant of God.

Absolutely. So now if you see
how much we need God,

how much we need the Holy
Ghost, we become humble.

Because I have capacity to
preach a nice sermon without life.

I can teach nice words without life.

But when the Holy Spirit comes,

He preaches, He teaches with life.

So for me, if I have to
say humility is what?

How much we need the Holy Spirit.

We have no power of our own.

If we depend on Him, He will come.

But because we choose our
own way, we block His hand.

And I really love the analogy
that you gave about

humility is God's
lift for elevation.

Because when you enter a lift,

you think about you want to
go up to the top floor, right?

The penthouse, the top floor.

But we don't know that in
God's way of doing things,

we should go down.

That's true.
To the basement first.

And then God will lift us up.

If you enter a lift - for what do we call it, skyscraper.

Am I right?
Yeah.

You say God is in the penthouse.

That's what we all said, am I right?

So I press the highest level because
that's where I think God is.

I go to the highest level.

I will not find God there. Where is God?

God is in the basement.

The underground car park.

Where you don't want to go.

When Jesus came,
Jesus took the position of a servant.

Who knew that this man
that looks ordinary -

was the Most High God
visiting human beings.

They didn’t know who He was.

And even the in the
frailty of a human baby.

Absolutely.

I mean, we've just had a baby.

So we know what it is to see a baby

that is so frail and vulnerable.

Imagine God Himself becoming a baby,

coming into this world in a manger,

in a place which was not beautiful

in a place which was not clean,

in a place which was not honourable.

And yet that is just the beauty of life.

And that's how God hides His treasure.

In the open.

Yes, so the people, the poor,

the sick, the lepers, the
abandoned, the forsaken,

when they heard about Jesus,
they ran to Him - and He welcomed them.

Where people were hungry for righteousness,

Jesus spoke for hours.

Where the truth was questioned,
queried by human knowledge,

Jesus remained silent.

So the highway to Heaven is
The path of faith and humility.

Those who think they know much -

they have taken the broad way.

If you want to come to
God today, the Bible says,

We should not combine our strength,

our knowledge with God's strength.

It's not a matter of
combining your strength with?

God's strength.

How do we do it?

A total removal of my strength,
to put on God's strength.

And that - you have to go through
a process of stripping to do that.

Absolutely.
It's not easy.

Not comfortable.

We know who Saul was,
relying on his knowledge,

rejecting the Gospel,
persecuting the saints.

But when he met Jesus,
humility found him.

And the same Paul became the most
humble person I’ve ever seen.

He gave his life for
the Gospel of salvation -

to preach to the lost.

He paid the supreme price for the Gospel

to come to all the four
corners of the earth.

That's why Prophet TB Joshua said,

“The greatest prayer we can offer,

‘Holy Spirit, take more of me,
give me more of You.’ “

Because there is nothing good in me,

what is good is from God.

When I'm too much of myself,

too much of my own knowledge,
too much of my own pride,

you block the hand of God.

And I think many people,
actually many of us,

we don't know that pride
is our biggest problem.

Because pride makes us
see ourselves as a victim.

And I think that's something that is
so relevant in today's generation.

Pride makes us see ourselves as a victim,

as a victim of our circumstance,

as a victim of maybe how people treat us,

how people look at us,
how we're treated.

But yet pride masks the
true condition of our heart,

and the true condition of our
heart is that we need God.

We need to see ourselves as a
sinner in need of salvation.

But pride actually masks the
true position of our heart,

and we just see ourselves as a victim

that we just justify everything
we do because -

because we've been offended,

we act as if we're the only one offended.

We just act as if we're
the only one wronged

and yet I think that's something

that God really wants to open our eyes to.

One of the biggest tools
that satan is using

and that is pride.

And many times pride is masked -

we might not see it as pride,

but remember, pride makes us
see ourselves as a victim.

Absolutely.

God's wisdom has a language
that only humility understands.

What do I mean by that?

Those who looked at Jesus on the outside,

and saw in Him a mere man,
rejected His Words.

But those who are humble,
those in need of a Saviour,

those in need of help,

they humble themselves and
listen to Him, and embrace Him.

Yes?

And what you said is,
the very fact that Jesus came

speaking a language people
did not understand

in a situation, in a land,

already there was conflict.

I mean, everything about Jesus
provoked the pride of natural people.

Unless you are humble,

and you are genuinely
seeking for a Saviour,

seeking for solution,
knowing that you need help,

knowing that you can't do it by yourself,

your pride will be provoked.

And just as the same way

that the spiritual leaders of the day,

the religious leaders of the day,

the people that followed the status quo

were provoked and offended

by the words and the the ways of Jesus,

so many of us today,
we find ourselves pointing fingers,

being offended -

we allow ourselves to miss the mark.

Whereas, Jesus came to show us the way.

And like you said,

the way is the way of faith and humility,

unless we're humble,
we cannot bow to Jesus.

I think that's the key.

You mentioned one word, offence.

Offence reveals the true
nature of our heart.

Humility never gives room for offence.

But offence feeds pride.

"You did this to me, I will deal with you.

Why did you do this to me?"

Because we compare
ourselves with ourselves.

When we are too much of ourselves;
we focus on ourselves.

That's why I say, ‘Holy Ghost,
take more of me and give more of You.

Holy Spirit of humility, forgive my pride.

Take more of my pride and
give me more of Your humility.

Holy Spirit of goodness,
forgive my evil deeds.

Take more of my evil nature,
give me more of Your holy nature.

Holy Spirit of love, take more of my
hatred and give me more of Your love.

Because Jesus calls us to do
what we cannot do ourselves.

And the other day we said,
it takes power to love your enemy.

It takes the power of the
Holy Ghost to be humble.

Humility - no matter what people do to you,

you'll never respond to that attack.

You will never fight back.

You will say, like David said,

‘I will inquire from God.

I will keep quiet.

I will swallow it and
wait upon the Lord.’

We learned from the Prophet (TB Joshua) -

so many attacks he received,

so many accusations.

But what did he do?

He said, "I will take it and put it
on my altar and pray for them."

One day we entered and
I saw all the newspapers

he kept for so many years,
there's no single good news.

All those newspapers were accusations,

what people said against him,
everything he kept it.

He said, “Why do I keep this? -

It caused me to pray the more,

it caused me to run to God the more,

it caused me to depend on God the more.

Because if I was appreciated by people,

pride would have taken me away.

This makes me to be humble.

What makes TB Joshua?

Humility, because of what?

Persecution, so all this
persecution, all this trouble,

helps me to run to God.

That's why I say your situation
is an extraordinary situation

because it causes you to run to God,
to depend on God the more.

So, yes?

That's a real lesson for all
of us because look at Jesus,

even though He was the Son of God,

He learned obedience
through what He suffered.

And if we look at that many
of us through what we suffer,

through what we go through,
we don't learn obedience.

We learn how to be offended.

We learn how to stay bitter.

We learn how to fight back.

We learn how to see ourself
as a victim and complain.

That's what we learn.

And instead of looking
at the example of Jesus,

Jesus learned obedience.

That is the greatest example of humility.

Even though he was the Son of God,

Hebrews 5:8, “He learned obedience
through what he suffered.”

And I think it's a great
encouragement for all of us that,

don't condemn yourself.

I remember there was a disciple meeting

where Prophet TB Joshua
told us, he said,

"Don't condemn yourself, because
it's out of pride that humility comes."

As in -

we all start with pride,
we're all coming from pride.

When you surrender yourself to God,

allow God's Spirit to work
in you through His Word,

that pride will turn to humility
with the help of God,

you can't do it by yourself.

If you do it by yourself,
it becomes fake humility

and fake humility because
of a specific motive -

you want to appear humble,
you want to appear good,

you want to appear to
have a good reputation,

whereas Jesus wasn't bothered about that.

Jesus was good,
He didn't appear to be good.

And I think that's just an
encouragement for everyone today.

That if you are struggling with pride,

everybody, everybody is
struggling with pride.

If we acknowledge it
within us and ask God,

ask the Holy Spirit,

‘Holy Spirit of humility, forgive my pride.’

Thank you for what you said.

That now we know the
reason why we can’t forgive.

Humility always releases forgiveness.

Pride, never.

Pride always feeds on the offence.

Pride always says,
“Why have they done this to me?”

Pride wants to fight back.

Pride wants your to enemy to suffer
for what they've done to you.

But humility, recognises
others’ weakness,

and releases forgiveness
and depends on God.

So please, today there is hope
for everybody in this world today.

Even the person who says he's
wicked, there is hope. Why?

The moment that person humbles
themselves before God,

salvation is offered.

King Ahab was one of the
worst Kings of Israel. (1 Kings 21:25)

But one day God sent Prophet Elijah and said,

“This is going to happen to you.” (1 Kings 21:21-22)

When he heard the judgement, what he did -

He tore his clothes.

He humbled himself. (1 Kings 21:27)

Put ashes, humbled himself.

God said, ‘Hey, see him? (1 Kings 21:29)

Because he has humbled himself,

I will not send judgement.’ -

that's God for you.

Well that's the promise of God,

"If my people who are
called by my name..."

Thank you.

"Will humble themselves and pray..."

"I will turn..."

"I will heal them."

"Heal their land."

2 Chronicles 7:14, this
means, this world we live in,

we Christians, sometimes
we see others as the enemy.

Sometimes we say,
‘People don't believe Jesus.

They're bad, they're this, they're that.’

No, that's not our stand.

The Bible says if we go on our knees

and ask for mercy for them,
God will give them.

Don't forget we were like them.

Don't forget we came from that side.

It's mercy that brought
us to the truth of Christ.

So instead of rejecting,
condemning, and pointing fingers,

we should pray for people.

If you pray for mercy,
for God to touch their heart.

When they're humble,
they will see the treasure of God.

There's a treasure set
before every human being.

The way is open - salvation for free.

Whoever embraces Jesus,
if you humble yourself,

you will discover the treasure of heaven

and receive salvation today.

So let's follow the path
of faith and humility.

Humility acknowledges his weakness.

Humility discovers his need for God.

Humility discovers his need for salvation

and the need for the Holy Spirit, the greatest gift.

That's why when Holy Ghost
comes, what happens?

You are born from on high.

Immediately, the Holy Ghost comes -

you become a citizen of Heaven.

He will carry you to the throne of Heaven.

As Ephesians 2:5 says.

The only way to embrace Him is
to embrace the work of the cross.

And Jesus said, "Carry your cross and..."

"Follow me."

It means - deny yourself and follow Me.

Get rid of pride and embrace God's wisdom.

That reminds me,
I think if we can end with this,

because this was really close to my heart.

I remember there was one meeting

where I even asked Prophet TB Joshua,

I said, "How do we get rid of pride?"

And I remember his answer.

He said, "Ruth, why are you here?"

And I thought about it.

I said, "Well, to be like Jesus."

He said, "Okay, so if you
want to be like Jesus,

the path to be like Jesus
cannot accept pride.

Is Jesus proud? No.”

It seems so simple but that answer
really was fundamental to my life

because I realised that it's
all about our vision in life.

What is our vision?

What is our goal?

If our goal is to be like Jesus,

if our goal is to be more
like our Lord and Saviour,

pride cannot take that path.

Pride cannot follow that path.

And that is why every day we
have to ask the Holy Spirit

to help us, to remove that pride.

Holy Spirit, take more of me,
give me more of You.

And that principle runs through
life from top to bottom.

I love the parable in the
Bible where it talks about,

if you go to a banquet,
don't put yourself in a high position.

Absolutely.

Because it'll be very uncomfortable

and embarrassing for
you if you're told to,

"Oh, please can you leave the
place and come down lower."

But how wonderful if they ask you,

"Oh, please come to this place of honour."

And that is just a picture of life.

And remember, it's not
about false humility,

because I think there's a bit
of confusion about that today.

Many people, they have low self-esteem

and they keep putting themselves down -

"I can't do this, I can't do that."

It may be false humility.

On the outside we could be kneeling down,

we could have an appearance of humility.

But remember, God looks at the heart.

And what is true humility?

Total dependence upon God for everything.

It's not about running yourself down

or saying you're not good at
this, you're not good at that.

Or having a low opinion of yourself.

No, that's not a definition of humility.

Humility is total dependence
upon God for everything.

Acknowledging your position
as a sinner in need of salvation.

So if you know you deserve nothing,

you'll be grateful for anything.

Yes, therefore, the
conclusion of the matter,

let us get rid of pride
and embrace God's wisdom.

As Proverbs 11:2 says,
‘With humility comes the wisdom of God.’

Wisdom says the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom.

Let's embrace the way of Christ.

Let's follow the way of the cross
and the sky will be our limit.

That's why we say humility
is God's lift for elevation.

Amen and we pray that God will grant you

that desire and fear of God in your heart

so you can be elevated with Him,

because He wants to take you high.

But remember to go high,
you have to go down first.

Therefore, let us pray.
Amen.

Holy Spirit of faith, forgive our doubt.

Holy Spirit of love, forgive our
hatred and lead us to love.

Holy Spirit of humility, forgive our
pride and lead us to Your humility.

Act upon our soul to produce the beauty,

the virtue, the humility of Jesus.

In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Amen.

The Lord be with your spirit.

The Lord be with your spirit.