Litany of Humility

Litany of Humility 

James 4:6 “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:  ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’”

Yesterday’s verse told us the Lord requires us to walk humbly with our God and then today’s verse is telling us that “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”  I mentioned in the last episode that I didn’t want to rush the topic of humility as I feel it is an important one.  I remember a speaker once said that humility is one of those things you hope that you don’t have to pray for.  She said she worked hard at being humble because if she needed to pray for humility you never know what will happen.  Have you ever had someone tell you not to pray for patience.  Yes, patience is a virtue and it is important to have, but they say don’t pray for it because with God’s sense of humor the next thing you know you will be stuck in traffic.  One way we can increase in the virtues we want to have is to practice them.  So, if you pray for patience God is going to give you situations where you have to practice patience.  Similarly, if you pray for humility God will give you situations that will give you a chance to practice humility.  This is what they say anyway.  

However, I have found a prayer called the Litany of Humility.  A litany is a prayer that has a series of petitions and a response after each one of them.  At prayer group one day, the person sharing challenged us to say the Litany of Humility daily for one month and see if we felt any different.  It is a somewhat longer prayer, but only takes a few minutes to say.  I thought this was a great idea and I was interested to see how it went.  I started to say this prayer almost every morning during my morning routine.  

I was surprised at all the different petitions in the prayer.  I was surprised how many things went into humility.  I was surprised how I felt saying some of the things.  The beginning part of the prayer we are asking Jesus to deliver us from the different petitions.  The second part of the prayer we are asking Jesus to give us the grace to desire the different petitions.  I am going to recite it for you now, but if you want to read it for yourself it is in the show notes.  

Litany of Humility

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, O Jesus.

From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, O Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

It might be hard to catch all of the petitions when you listen to it one time.  I encourage you to either listen to it a few times, or check out the show notes and really look at all the different parts to humility.  Before this prayer when I thought about humility I thought it just meant not thinking we better than everyone else.  I think that may be part of it, but it also means so much more than just that.  It talks about all the different fears that you may have, such as the fear of being ridiculed and the fear of being despised.  It also talks about the desires such as the desire to be loved and to be esteemed.  Did you know all those things had to do with humility?  The prayer is asking God to deliver you from those fears and those desires.

Did you know you can be held captive by your desires just as much as your fears?  One may think that fears are more debilitating because fears can cause you to be too scared to act sometimes.  If the fear is strong enough it can keep you from doing things you really want to do.  For instance you may want to go out and meet people but you are so afraid of what they might think of you that you stay home just to avoid that possibility.  Your desires can get you into just as much trouble.  For instance you desire your parents love and so you don’t speak up for yourself because you think they may not like you if you do.  Or you desire to be esteemed so you go out of your way to make yourself look good, even if it means working long hours and neglecting other things.  Do you see how both of these things, your fears and your desires could be something that you need to be delivered from?  

The next part is asking Jesus to grant you the grace to desire it.  Why would you need to pray for the grace to desire something?  These are things that don’t come naturally to us because we are all human.  For instance, praying for the grace to desire others being loved more than I, or that others get all the praise well I go unnoticed.  Those are not the first things that most of us would pray for, however, can you see how much greater your life would be if you did desire those things?  Can you see how much happier your life would be if you weren’t constantly thinking about what others thought of you or how much you desired to be loved?  What if you could stop worrying about being humiliated, forgotten, or preferred?  How would you life be different?  How would each day be different? 

I loved this prayer.  I wanted everything that it talked about in this prayer.  Think about how much more confident you would be if you were delivered from all your fears and those desires that are holding you back.  I not only said this prayer daily for a month I continued saying if for several months and then on and off for the last 2 years.  You know what?  I did notice a difference.  I noticed a difference pretty quickly.  Right around the time I started to say this prayer, I started as a praise leader at prayer meetings.  That means I needed to get up in front of the group and talk for 5-10 minutes.  The first time I did I was so nervous, I was crying through most of it because that is what I do when I get nervous.  I noticed that I got comfortable leading these meetings soon after I started.  I know the reason for this is because I prayed for God to take all these fears away.  Also all the desires that put pressure on me to be better.  I was not afraid to get ridiculed, and I didn’t desire to be praised or honored.  I was just happy to spread the word of the Lord to all that would listen.  Sometimes I wonder if I would even be doing this podcast right now if it weren’t for this prayer.  

We all want to be liked and loved.  We all have the fear of being rejected, despised, or some of the other fears listed.  I bet we have all had moments when pride has gotten the better of us.  When we have acted in a way that we are not proud of because of some of these fears and desires.  If you are struggling with worrying about what others think I challenge you to say this prayer every day for a month and see if you still care as much about what they think at the end of that month.  There are so many good things in this prayer, I challenge all of you listening to see how you feel after saying it daily for the next month.  It only takes a few minutes and even if you don’t believe it will help, what will it hurt?  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord help us to be more humble.  Help us to look at this prayer and see how much we need it in our lives.  Lord the verse says that You oppose the proud but show favor to the humble.  Help us to be humble, help us to earn your favor oh Lord.  Give us the strength to overcome these fears and desires Lord Jesus.  Please grant us the grace to desire the petitions in this prayer.  Lord you are amazing and you are always there for us.  We thank you and we love you Lord.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.

Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  And thank you to those that have already signed up to walk with me in these next 10 weeks to grow more like Jesus.  I am excited to take that adventure with you and I will be sending out the first email this weekend.  If you have not signed up yet, I will put a link in the show notes.  If you don’t know what I am talking about, I and members of this community, will be spending the next 10 weeks trying to grow more like Jesus.  Each week we will take one character trait and try to grow more in that trait.  I will send an email out each week so we can all work on the same trait and also there will be a link for a zoom call for those that would like to meet and talk about how it is going.  I look forward to spending time with you on Monday.  Have a blessed weekend!