HE MUST INCREASE & I MUST DECREASE
When I got SERIOUS about God, verse 30 of the following passage became the MOST important scripture in my life:
John 3:27-30 (NIV)
27 To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.
28 You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.'
29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.
30 He must become greater; I must become less.
John 3:30 (KJV)
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
John 3:30 (TLB)
30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.
I prayed, “God, I DECREASE . . . Jesus, INCREASE in me ! ! !”
I would beat my own chest and pray this prayer:
Luke 18:10-14 (NIV)
10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men-- robbers, evildoers, adulterers-- or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, AND HE WHO HUMBLES HIMSELF WILL BE EXALTED."
Esth 3:8-4:17 (NIV)
8 Then Haman said to King Xerxes, "There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king's laws; it is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them.
9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will put ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business."
10 So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
11 "Keep the money," the king said to Haman, "and do with the people as you please."
12 Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman's orders to the king's satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring.
13 Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews-- young and old, women and little children-- on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.
14 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day.
15 Spurred on by the king's command, the couriers went out, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.
CHAPTER 4
1 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.
2 But he went only as far as the king's gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it.
3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4 When Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.
5 Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.
6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate.
7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews.
8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to urge her to go into the king's presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
9 Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said.
10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai,
11 "All the king's officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the INNER COURT without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king."
12 When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai,
13 he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape.
14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:
16 "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." (AUTHOR’S NOTE - ESTHER WAS WILLING TO GO BEFORE THE HIGHEST POWER FOR HER PEOPLE EVEN IF IT MEANT HER DEATH - THIS IS HOW MUCH WE ARE TO DESIRE TO COME BEFORE FATHER GOD, THE HIGHEST POWER. IF WE LOOSE OUR LIFE (OUR GOALS, OUR PLANS, OUR DIRECTION, WE WILL RECEIVE HIS).
17 So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther's instructions.
Lev 16:1-34 (NIV)
1 The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the LORD (AUTHOR’S NOTE - THEY APPROACHED GOD IN THEIR OWN WAY - NOT GOD’S WAY).
2 The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, OR ELSE HE WILL DIE, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover. (AUTHOR’S NOTE - IT WAS AT THE RISK OF THE PRIEST’S LIFE THAT THEY CAME INTO THE MOST HOLY PLACE BEFORE GOD. ANY STEP OUT OF GOD’S WAY BROUGHT INSTANT DEATH. DO WE DESIRE GOD SO MUCH AS TO RISK OUR LIVES TO COME BEFORE HIS PRESENCE?)
John 3:30 (KJV)
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
HIS thoughts must INCREASE in me (His Word), MY thoughts must decrease.
HIS words must INCREASE in me (be spoken by me), MY words must decrease.
HIS ways must INCREASE in me (do like HE did), MY ways must decrease.
HIS LOVE must INCREASE in me (thinking about others AS WELL as myself), MY human love must decrease.
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Again this week, I want to open the altar and invite you to come and pray - LORD INCREASE in me .. I will DECREASE ! !