Prayer

Today for my devotions I read Philippians 2. It was something that I've read over and over before but today was different. Before I read, I prayed that God would just reveal something new to me that I've never caught before. I also asked Him to reveal it to me so clearly that I would know it wasn't me just formulating what I thought He was saying but something divine that the Holy Spirit revealed. I prayed that he would make it in my mind like it was in bold, all caps, underlined and italics... even if it just was one word. It wasn't one word, nor was it a verse, not was it a few verses... it was a whole chapter. Today I saw Philippians 2 in a whole new light. The biggest part was what he revealed about humility.
Philippians says that Christ emptied and humbled himself. Those words in Greek hold the meaning of being made worthless or without value and humiliated. He didn't just humble Himself as we think the word humbled means today. He literally made Himself nothing. Today we see humility as without pride. It is something that we do to avoid getting big headed or arrogant. Jesus saw it defined by just one word... OBEDIENCE. Verse 8 says, "He humbled himself by becoming obedient." To Jesus, humility wasn't doing His own will and then giving God the glory. Humility was the lifestyle of surrendering His will continually to the will of the Father. To Jesus, Obedience = Humility.
The hard part about this that God revealed is that without listening to His voice, I can never be obedient. And if I am not obedient then I cannot have humility. And if I do not have humility then I cannot "have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus" as Philippians 2:5 says. If I cannot devote time seeking out the voice of God and listening intently to what He says I ultimately cannot become like Christ.
Prayer can easily be considered one of the most neglected parts of my Christian walk but it is probably the most important. I need to be willing to spend time on my face before the Lord with no time limit and no distractions and seek His voice and His will. I need to distinguish the sound of His voice not just within the Scriptures but my daily life. That discernment only comes through the discipline of prayer. By praying I can hear and by hearing I can obey and by obeying I can be humble and by being humble I can have "the attitude which was in Christ Jesus"