Prayer is SO key to true success in our life, family and work.

And humility is the key to sincere prayer. How can we ask for God’s help and provision unless we know we can’t do it on our own?

Our business world today is built around the upward path. You start out at the bottom and work your way up by managing more people. Leading means not following. That’s the opposite of the way God wants us to think. We are called to follow Him.

I’d love to blame our current time for moving downhill toward a complete lack of humility. Every day’s headlines are filled with a cast of characters who eat, breathe and sleep in a pool of pride… but if we’re honest with ourselves, pride is at the center of every one of our lives.

James said in chapter 4 verse 6: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

At the top of the list of things God hates in Proverbs 6:16-19 is “haughty eyes.” (The Oxford English Dictionary defines haughty as proud or arrogant.)

Jesus told the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14. How did they show their pride and their humility? Through their prayers.

So as we pray, let’s approach the throne of God with a humble attitude – and a realization that we are in complete and utter dependence on Him to meet all of our needs, both in the joys and in the tears.

+++

Paul Merrill writes here every first Friday.

The photo is by Naassom Azevedo and is under the Unsplash license.