LEARNING HOW TO BE ABASED

Each week I have opportunity to interact with some of the greatest leaders of our time.  I have have met so many wonderful people over the years and am very glad to have shared time and moments with these great leaders. However, I value several close relationships I have with the less famous no one knows about.  I have friends who have served faithfully in the backwoods of Maine, from the back towns of Pennsylvania to the Island of Tasmainia, to the rural villages in Germany, to great cities like Melbourne, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand.  You never heard of these guys but they hear God very well, are great friends to have and lead great churches.  The other day, I spent some time on the phone with my friend Jim Cucuzza, who has pastored, overseen hundreds of church plants, and served behind the scenes of some of our nation's greatest prayer meetings on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.  As we talked he bagan to share a very important scripture with me that moved me to listen to The Holy Spirit about the quiet periods of my life.  It comes from Philippians 4:11-13... 

"I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 

I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. 

In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret 

of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 

I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

As Jim shared this scripture with me, he pointed out the phrase, I've learned how to be "abased" and I know how to "abound."  Oh, the church worldwide knows how to feed into our "consumerism" addiction by teaching us on "How To Abound."  But when have you last heard our celebrarity pastors and churches teach on "How To Be Abased"?  Oh, I needed to hear this word from The Holy Spirit.  Just like you I love abounding. I'll be the first to admit publically that I've loved having the opportunity to be a major conference speaker, a radio and TV talk show on major international Christian networks, I've loved having a great lifestyle, abounding in everything and the attention it brings.  My own consumerism has been worse than the addiction for posting selfies.  Now don't get me wrong here. Like many others, I have my own dose of self-inflicted trouble, but where I live, the places I still minister in no way has hurt my lifestyle.  I'm still living a very blessed life.  Since 2008, there are a few moments I'm cashed strapped but I am still very much abounding.  However, God knows how to put me in personal situations to "bring to death" my self life.  I like you, can get very bothered at this idea of being ABASED.  I'm a Western Civiliation guy.  I can't even fathom what it was like for American Journalist James Foley in the last moments of his life. According to Christian today, www.christiantoday.com, Prayer was his inner freedom.  Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, on his knees before his executor, he was abased of all need for fame, self importance, or need to have his worked recognized and was beheaded before all the world... and that is what we will remember about him.  He will be remembered for giving his life tyring to show the world the plight and suffering of the Syrian people. How many of us would volunteer for this calling from God?

Revelation 6:9

When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the 

souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and

 for being faithful in their testimony.

Let's go to the next level!  Phil. 2:5-11

Nope, not me.  I'm not interested in joiing this group.  Getting honest about my own personal journey with God it bothers me when ask myself questions like am I willing to die for my faith... I don't think I'd deny my faith but I've never been put in the position to deny Christ or die like many of our Christian brothers and sisters are facing in the middle east right now. What would I do if my daughters were threatened with beheading or having their bodies cut in half because of our family's faith?  Get real.  Most leaders and church members today are more concerned about their reputation, how they are seen, and protective of their need to be maintain how others see them.  I know one "famous" guy who lost his marriage because of his own self-inflicted decisions and the only thing he was worried about was when he could up and preach again.  But, who are we to judge him. A dear, Man Of God, once said to me about watching another major leader "falling" that I should never judge any person unless I've walked in their shoes.  God exposes our flaws, failures, and takes us in unwelcomed places, seasons, and puts us in humilating situations for one purpose.  To let us know that He Is God and we are not!  Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.  We have become to enamoured with thinking we are writing our own stories.  In my journey faith, I can't of one moment of my story that I wrote.  God has been writing my story all along. 

Deuteronmy 8:10-20 

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God 

for the good land he has given you.  Be careful that you 

do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, 

his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.  

Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, 

when you build fine houses and settle down, 

and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and 

gold increase and all you have is multiplied,  then your heart will become proud 

and you will forgetthe Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, 

out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, 

that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. 

He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to 

eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, 

to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.  

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of 

my hands have produced this wealth for me.”

But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the 

ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, 

which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. 

If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and 

worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that 

you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, 

so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God. 

I still am not sure what the Apostle Paul ment on "How To Be Abased?"  But here's a couple of things I'm reminded by those men of God who spoke into my life when I first entered into ministry years ago.  Oh!  the blow to my ego.  I need times to be abased.  My heart has given me great trouble at times.  You might say I suffer from heart trouble and so do all of us.  We all have the capacity of having our hearts become proud because of the blessings God brings and we tend to want to tell others "My power and strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me."  Just the shear arrogance of this thought demands our need for being abased.

In the late 1970's a major Christian television producer asked me, "Mike, do you want to be in front of the camera or behind it?"  Of course, being in my early 20's I wanted to be in front of the camera, however, I didn't want to tell him that.  But, God heard me.  Another friend, who was once a major player in the national limelight left it all for the backwoods of Maine to pastor a small church once said to me, around the same time, "Mike you need to leave chasing after all the national limelight and give yourself to ministering in a place like God has called me to minister.  I hated his words.  I had too much ego.  I wanted to be famous in men's eyes- the next Charles G. Finney, John Wesley or whatever. My flesh needed to be stroked.  Now, I've had opportunity to do everything a young "preacher" wants to accomlish professionally. But, I have always backed off seeking the limelight because Of my heart condition... an so should all of us.  We need to be pleasing the Lord.  He is the one who exalts one and puts down another.  I have always been so priviledge to have great men of God in my life, famous too, who have been used mightily by God and still remained the same after humble person they were before God promoted them.  My 1970's TV friend told me, that the most disturbing thing he observed in Christian TV were those preachers who were on TV because of their own egos needing to be stroked vs. because God called them.  I needed to hear all this cousel.  God sent another great "famous" business man into my life when I was in college studying for the ministry.  He looked at me and said, "Son, are you going into the ministry?"  I said, "yes sir."  He replied, "Good.  But remeber one thing, preachers are a dime a dozen. Be a man of God!"  Wow.

2 Cor. 11: 21-29 provides us a God-given model of Leadership

Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about.  Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I.  Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.  Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,  I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.  I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.  Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.  Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?   

Though it is hard for me, after being in those very tempting places of "abounding."  My heart need to learn how to be abased.  I need to learn to be content in whatever state I am in.  Each of of us just need to be honored that God allows us to participate in his plan, his church, and his agenda.  I'm honored to have been given great opportunities but and I want to learn How to feel the same when I am in the place of being abased... whatever that is for me.  

I Peter 5:6

Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God

and in due time He will exalt you

"Which part of this verse excites you more is an indication of your heart condition!