“Pastor, my friend who doesn’t know God has gotten married with 3 kids, yet me that know God is still single. What could be wrong?”

Many things could be wrong. But first, let’s deal with the issue of pride.

So I hear alot of believers grumble about the fact that unbelievers easily get the things believers pray night and day for. “Jane who doesn’t even know God has gotten married with kids”, “John that steals people’s property still got a job and I haven’t”.

Yeah, that’s the reason for the delay right before you. You’re prideful! And God resists the proud. It’s important to mention that the only resistance a humble unbeliever may suffer would be from the devil. God will never resist an humble person from accessing blessings, even if the person is an unbeliever.

Just as the sun shines on everybody, certain blessings are available to everybody, God only reserves some specific blessings for those who love Him. And that’s so that you can tell the difference between those that love Him and those who don’t.

So don’t expect every unbeliever out there to be poor or sickly, they also have dominion over the earth. The advantage a believer in Christ has is that his dominion spans across demonic territories – such that nothing shall by any means hurt him. Unbelievers only have dominion over the earth, not spirits. And that means they can easily be oppressed by the devil.

God didn’t have any problem with Herod ascending great heights and ruling His own people, He only had a problem with him when he displayed pride. Truly, pride goes before the fall. The moment you see pride, expect a fall.

Is it not by grace that we are saved? Why do many Christians behave like they own Christ? Our salvation is a privilege that God gave to us, and the thought of it should humble us. Some believers have even become very arrogant all in the name of faith. Faith is not arrogance! True faith is pleasing, both to God and man.

Let’s humble ourselves; that’s the only way we can enjoy the benefits that the kingdom of God carries. Didn’t the bible say, “blessed are the lowly in heart, for theirs is the kingdom of God”? In other words, if you want to experience the hand of God, then you must deal with pride. Any thing that is a requirement to accessing the kingdom must be taken seriously. Unfortunately, that’s what many believers trivialize the most.

The word “lowly in heart” in that scripture simply means not exalting oneself or not being proud. It is this kind of scripture that will make an unbeliever insult you and you’d still choose to be quiet about it. You could easily rain down fire from heaven or even threaten that unbeliever with your faith, but no, you choose not to exalt yourself.

Sometimes when faith is not balanced, it would result to pride. And this is the reason why many believers have lost their jobs, marriage and careers. They express faith with pride, instead of expressing it with love. Is it not in your Bible that faith worketh by love? If your expression of faith communicates any other virtue other than love, then you didn’t communicate true faith. I’ve watched a colleague lose her job because of “faith” that was rooted in pride. Her faith was right, but the application was flawed.

Since it’s so important to be lowly in heart, I did a scriptural research and came up with points that will help you keep yourself in check:

1. A person who is lowly in heart loves to do all his work in the hidden and does not wait for honor from men. (Matthew 6:1-4)

2. A person who is lowly in heart loves to occupy the lowest place, not because he desires to be less esteemed, but because he thinks that this is precisely the place that it is suitable for him. (Luke 14:7-11; Philippians 2:3)

3. A person who is lowly in heart is reserved in his conduct. He is neither aggressive nor demanding.

4. A person who is lowly in heart loves to give up his advantages for the benefit of others. (Philippians 2:4)

5. A person who is lowly in heart does not seek to be anything great, whether it is on an earthly or a spiritual level; his only desire is to do God’s will from moment to moment.

6. A person who is lowly in heart does not seek to gain influence with people, yet his entire longing is that people might come under the influence of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5; 1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

7. Time is precious to a person who is lowly in heart. He doesn’t waste time. Yet, he is calm and is never led to do anything in haste. (Ephesians 5:16-17)

8. A person who is lowly in heart sanctifies himself so that others, by his example, can sanctify themselves in truth. (John 17:19; 1 Timothy 4:16)

9. A person who is lowly in heart denies himself so that his life may not be an offense to others in any way. (Matthew 16:24)

10. A person who is lowly in heart lives his life for the purpose of laying it down as a sacrifice. (Mark 10:45; John 15:12-13)

Once you’ve dealt with the issue of pride, then there’d be no more resistance on your path. All that would be left would be to declare your faith in God’s word until you receive the manifestation of what you believe.

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!

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