STANDARD OF HUMILITY

Dear One,
     Another standard of righteous behavior that was displayed by Jesus and taught by Him is the attitude of humility.  Those teachings were given by Me in order for you to refuse to allow a spirit of pride to enter into you.  When the demon of pride enters into one of My children, then humility is gone.  When humility is gone, then My kingdom cannot minister to you because you have joined with the family of your spiritual enemy.  I even identified the behavior in which you would be tempted to engage by the devil in order to entice you to open the door for pride to enter into your thoughts, attitudes, speech and actions.  The way to identify pride is that pride demands attention.  Humility is satisfied that other people get attention and humility takes the back seat in every situation.  A humble person becomes a servant of others, not a celebrity.
    Jesus identified the way pride behaves when He said that you must not practice your piety before people such as making sure your gifts to the poor are evident to everyone. (Matthew 5:1-4)  If you will notice I said that when you do religious acts in front of people in order to be seen, that you will have NO REWARD FROM ME.  It is not that I withdraw My reward, it's that the spirit of pride in you got what it wanted from your enemy, attention for what you did. 
    Jesus expounded upon this warning about your giving up your wonderful gifts from Me in order to be praised by people.  He warned you not to stand and pray in churches or street corners in order to be seen by people and praised for saying such beautiful prayers and appearing to be so godly.  The opposite is true.  Those who love to pray in front of people and be praised for their beautiful prayers have already received what they desired, which was praises of people.  My way is to do what Jesus said, go into your own prayer place, your home, your inner thoughts through which you can secretly converse with Me or alone in the outdoors.   Your prayers must be times of intercourse between you and Me, not a display of religious fervor.  I said that your prayers should be in secret and I will hear you in secret and reward you openly. 
     Jesus, Himself, taught the people to pray by example, not as a prayer in itself, but as an example prayer because the people had asked Him how to pray. (Luke  11:1)  He gave them a model prayer, praying that My kingdom would come to earth as it is in heaven.  He told them to pray for daily necessities and for daily revelations from Me. (Matthew 6:11) Plus He told them to pray for forgiveness of their sins in relation to how they forgive other people. (Matthew 6:12) He prayed for deliverance from evil and that they might not be tempted. (Matthew 6:13) Then Jesus went into another teaching about forgiveness, that their own forgiveness depends on how much they forgive others. (Matthew 6:14-15)
      Before answering their question about how to pray, He went into further description about praying alone with Me and not to be seen and heard by other people.  (Matthew 6:6) He cautioned you that even in your private prayer times with Me that there is no need to repeat over and over empty words in order to make sure that I hear you. Remember that Jesus said that I know your needs before you even ask.  Your prayer times with Me are for you to receive My instructions on how to change your behavior into My standards so that you can easily be rewarded.  One way is to resist pride and become humble enough to ask for My advice, then take it. 
      Jesus spent all of His prayer times in unity with Me, with no one else around.  That is how He was so magnificently schooled in My wisdom, He was home schooled by Me in private, in secret, not praying one way prayers in front of people.  When you pray the way Jesus taught and in the ways that were demonstrated by Him, in private between the two of us, then communication is two way, not one way by your constantly asking for something that I have already granted but you can't collect because of barriers put up by your following the temptations of the devil, allowing him to erect huge barriers between heaven and earth with your participation.  When you are in one-on -one intercourse with Me, new life always comes to you when you hear My personal words to you.
       Some of My children would rather have a relationship with members of a body of supposed believers rather than be in a one-on-one personal relationship with Me.  It is only with our personal relationship that you become truly united with the invisible, universal church, the invisible body of believers who communicate one- on-one with Me.  You don't have to convince Me of your spirituality.  I live inside of you.  I know your faith or lack of it.  I know your needs and I am excited about teaching you how to collect the answers to your prayers. That is why our personal times of intercourse is so important, because I am able to give you insight on effective ways to collect your blessings.  Your fellowship with other believers should be the result of your individual times with Me, not a substitute.  Gathering together is where everyone shares what I personally revealed to him or her or taught to him or her.  Everyone benefits from My truth and becomes more and more free from the works of evil. (Colossians 3:16)
       The standard of humility is so very important.  All of the answers to your prayers are dependent upon your humility, refusing to let pride enter into your thoughts, attitudes, speech or actions. 
       I love our times of close fellowship together, just between you and Me.  You are rejuvenated and I am able to instruct you personally on how to receive the answers to your prayers which give you faith.
       I'm your Heavenly Dad.  I know these things.
       Your Prayer Answering Father