1. The Holy Spirit teaches us a great deal about man’s inferiority to God. David wrote, "Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies." (Psa. 60:11) Ask the Lord to help you avoid any human dependency that might attempt to supplant your trust in the Almighty.
2. The Holy Spirit exposes every person’s sinful human tendency. Job wrote, "How can then can a man be righteous before God? How can one born of a woman be pure? If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes, how much less man, who is but a maggot - a son of man, who is only a worm!" (Job 25:4,5) Ask the Lord to help you not forget that everyone’s heart is deceitful and prone to sin
3. The Holy Spirit draws sharp contrasts between the wisdom of men and the wisdom of God. Paul wrote, "Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a fool so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of the world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’; and again, ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile." (I Cor. 3:18-20) Ask the Lord to help you remember the overwhelming superiority of God’s wisdom, knowledge and understanding in contrast to the wisest people.
4. The Holy Spirit spotlights God’s complete truthfulness versus the mercurial nature of people. Moses wrote, "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" (Numb. 23:19) Ask the Lord to help you not become upset when people betray you, speak falsely against you or lie to cover up a mistake, but rely totally on God’s truth to set you free.
5. The Holy Spirit reminds us that we are mere creations of the Almighty Creator. David wrote, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower in the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more." (Psa. 8:3,4; 103;15,16) Ask the Lord to help you remember the limits of humans’ finite powers.
6. The Holy Spirit instructs us that ultimate salvation, success, and reward does not depend on human effort, but on God’s mercy. Paul wrote, "Is God unjust? Not at all? For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy... It does not therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." (Rom. 9:14-17) Ask the Lord to help you trust and obey Him regardless of whether or not you think you are getting you what you deserve.
7. The Holy Spirit humbles anyone who thinks they are indispensable or more important than others. Paul wrote to the bickering Corinthians, "What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe - as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow." (I Cor. 3:5,6) Ask the Lord to help you remember that we are merely vessels that may be used for honor or dishonor, depending on how much we are willing to trust and obey God.
8. The Holy Spirit discloses how little people really understand about God and His will. Solomon wrote, "No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it." (Eccl. 8:17) Ask the Lord to help you to tactfully remind humans of how little they understand God, His will or truth.
9. The Holy Spirit urges us to focus our attention on knowing and loving God instead of admiring great people. Jeremiah wrote, "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on the earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord." (Jer. 9:23,24) Ask the Lord to help you focus more of your thinking, resources and energies into pleasing the Lord instead of powerful, rich or intelligent people.
10. The Holy Spirit uses historical examples to point out how many mighty people miserably failed. Paul wrote, "We speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (I Cor. 2:7,8) Ask the Lord to use historical examples to teach others the futility of relying on anything but the wisdom, power and love that comes from the Almighty God.
