One thing that has become clear to me over the course of my life is that "consistency of spiritual life" requires humility. In order to consent to God's leadership, I must admit that I am weak but He is strong. If I refuse to deny my own strength, I refuse to rely on God for everything. When pride takes over, I praise myself instead of God. In these instances where God's power is mightily displayed, humility will come whether I like it or not. Sometimes I forget that displaying humility up front is a lot less painful than having God humble me later. When I understand verse 9 (My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness), I begin to crave intimacy with God more and more.
Today I began reading through my journal. It's something I do frequently with large gaps in-between. (AKA- I journal every day for two weeks and then take a few months off). In an attempt to reach some sort of humble catharsis, I started going through and crossing out everything I wrote about other people. My pride allowed me to, in my time spent with Jesus, point out and "pray for" faults in others rather than focusing on what God was trying to do in my own life. The ironic (though not at all ironic) fact is that every time I focused a significant amount of space on other people, it was almost always preceded by a significant lapse in disciplined quiet time. Spending time with the Lord, consistently, allows me to engage in conversation rather than attribute sporadic bits of wisdom to other people.
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