This is an excerpt from my book of exegetical prayers, The Bronze Serpent, which is being revised for publication. 

“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”   1 Peter 5:5b

My God and my King, how beautiful is humility. How glorious is the scene of my Savior emptying himself of divine rights and privileges, taking on flesh and sacrificing himself as a substitute for sinners like me on a cross. It is the ultimate expression of humility. The conscious, volitional, purposeful lowering of himself to serve and bless. To wash dirty feet. To hang and bleed. To suffer and save. 

Humility is beautiful and glorious. But it is also powerful. When my mind and heart begin to absorb the implications of the price of my redemption, my knees give way and my hands rise in worship. Jesus, the humility you displayed in my salvation motivates me with a deep, spiritual urge to experience the emptying of self for the sake of another. 

And yet, like putting on a shirt that is way too small and that I cannot pull over my head, humility does not seem to fit my heart. Father, I realize that it is because my flesh is so big-headed and proud. Even my insecurities are, at the root, expressions of pridefulness. Wanting to be someone and having a name. Desiring the praise of men. Demanding my rights. Gossiping out of jealousy. Scheming a way to get noticed and recognized. Worrying about what people think about me.

Abba, my proud heart repulses me—especially the insecurities. I can identify with Paul when he cried out, “Who will save me from this body of death?” And then, as if pulling all of his mental faculties together and grasping for one last theological straw, he finds the cross. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord… there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” That is what I need. Yes, apart from Jesus and the sweet aroma of the gospel, I am a stinking corpse. But you have delivered me from myself. In the gospel you have declared me to legally righteous and personally loved.  

Yes, grace flows downhill. You give grace to the humble. To those who know they are proud and hate it. To those who know they don’t measure up and in their weakness cry out for mercy. Grace is given to the publican who looks for a substitute, not the pharisee who is pleased with himself. As David experienced in his own brokenness, “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

So let me wear the robe of humility.  Shape my heart so that it will fit and that I will gladly adorn a lesser concern for self and ever increasing delight in the cross. Teach me to wash feet. How to love and forgive and listen. Teach me how to die so that I might live.

As I die to self-righteousness and self-importance and self-concern, will you show me my heart, that I may be humbled. But as you humble me by revealing my sin and need, will you give me the faith to look to Jesus and to believe that he is the propitiation for my sins. There is no more justice to serve. No more wrath to endure. The price is paid. Grace flows downhill. Oh, may I remember this!

I want to remember today that I can't change or fix anyone. And neither can anyone change or fix me. That is the role of the Holy Spirit alone. But I can pray. I can ask. In my weakness, I can go to the Father, my strong Abba. He is able to do "immeasurably more than all I can ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20). When I look at myself, I realize that change in my life most definitely will require supernatural intervention. Yet, I need to remember that my desire for change is not that I will be accepted and forgiven if I change, but that because in Jesus I have already been accepted and forgiven before any change ever takes place. "So, in light of the gospel, change me, Father. By the power of your Spirit indwelling me, enable me see my sin for what it is. Enable me to savor your grace. And enable me to love well."

Hello Creekstone friends,

I want to let you know about a change in our Sunday schedule which comes as an application of our gathering this past Sunday evening. If you were there, you know. If you were providentially hindered from attending, please listen to the message on my blog- www.mckaycaston.com. It is also posted on our website (www.creekstonechurch.com) in the audio teaching section under "resources." 

Anyway, we want to continue the prayer movement that began this past Sunday evening. I have never been more enthusiastic and encouraged in ministry. 

Aslan is on the move. I'm convinced. So let's gather at 5:30 on Sunday and pray Heb. 4:16 prayers.

Your grateful partner in the gospel,

McKay

I stand duly convicted by these words of Jim Cymbala in his book, Fresh Power (p. 46).  But my heart echos his. I do not need more of my (in)ability in my sermons, I need more of the Spirit. O Lord, let me pray and preach like the helpless man that I am.

"Isn't it tragic that many pastors often spend hours polishing every nuance of their sermons while hardly investing any time at all in prayer and waiting upon God to be freshly filled with the One who can supernaturally assist them? What we need today is not cleverness or oratory—we need messages from God's Word set on fire by the Holy Spirit!"

In 1857, a quiet, 46 year old businessman named Jeremiah Lamphier sensed God leading him to start a simple, noontime prayer meeting in New York City. People could attend for a few minutes or stay as long as an hour. The first day he prayed by himself for 1/2 hour. Yet, by end of the hour six men from four different denominations had joined him. Over the next few days and weeks the group grew steadily to twenty, then forty and in a couple of weeks, one hundred men were meeting at noon- just to pray. Amazingly, within six months ten thousand men were meeting in New York City to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit! It is estimated that two million people were converted during that prayer revival, and countless more renewed in their walk with Jesus. And it all began with a man who sensed God’s leading to pray. I'm not saying that I am a Jeremiah Lamphier, but reading his story has convicted me about prayer. Actually, I've been convicted about my lack of dependence on God, and my prayerlessness is merely the symptom that reveals my self-reliant heart. It is so easy to work and so hard to pray. Maybe that is because my "flesh" is resistant to being weak and to needing grace. So will you pray that I will be freshly convicted of my weakness and need—a conviction that will lead to the kind of dependent prayer that enables me to live and work in the empowering grace of Jesus.

Hello friends,
Here is the latest Creekstone news (Oct. 9, 2009):

1. The audio of A Taste of Creekstone is now available on our website under the resources/audio tab: www.creekstonechurch.com

2. "Fight Club" (a unique, 8-week gathering/study for men) will begin meeting on Wednesday mornings at 6:30 at The Wagon Wheel Restaurant beginning Oct. 21 (for directions, click here). If you plan to attend, please register at this link: http://pages.oprius.com/5YFA6

3. Weekly Sunday gatherings will begin on Oct. 25. I'll let you know the details when they are available, such as time, location, etc. If you would like to help with organizational details such as set-up and clean up, please sign-up at this link: http://pages.oprius.com/H9OBK

4. FYI: Here is my preaching/teaching schedule for October. In case you are nearby, I'd love to see you!

5. Please pray that I would believe the gospel today. Pray that I would embrace the truth of my adoption as a dearly loved son of the Father. Pray that I would find my identity in the imputed righteousness of Jesus, and not a righteousness that I can acquire in any other way than by sheer grace. Pray that I would not idolize the ministry and neglect my wife and children, but that I would see a significant, primary part of my ministry in loving and serving them well. There is so much more, but I've gone long... So thanks for praying for this grace-needy preacher.

Yours, because of the cross,
McKay
Romans 5:5-8

In the 1970s there was a group that met in the White House for a time of informal prayer and fellowship. A newcomer to the group was asked to lead one week, and at the end of the meeting, he asked Arthur Burns to close them in prayer. The kicker that the newcomer didn't know: Burns was Jewish. What would he say?  How would he pray in the context of a Christian prayer fellowship? In The Call, Os Guinness records Burns' prayer for us:

"Lord, I pray that you would bring Jews to know Jesus Christ. I pray that you would bring Muslims to know Jesus Christ. Finally, Lord, I pray that you would bring Christians to know Jesus Christ. Amen."

Burns was praying for revival, which is when religious people are stripped of their religion and come alive to the wonder of God's grace through the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus. That is what I am praying for in my own life... to be stripped of my religion (being accepted by God based on my doing) so that I, as a professing Christian, can really know Jesus (being accepted by God based on his doing).  So thanks, Arthur, for such a helpful prayer.