Dignity is man’s umbilical cord to God who created all men equal. Each person is unique in his God-given gifts and talents. Each soul is equally valuable to God.

Dignity is never to be confused with pride. Pride is being more than who God made you to be. The truth is, you can never be more than that, because God made you priceless.

A Short Fable:

A cute and small bunny suddenly encountered a hungry coyote. The coyote had every intention of having his “happy meal” very soon.

“You don’t understand!” the bunny explained, “I learned in class from my teacher, Mrs. Kyo-Teaz, I can identify as a lion….grrrr,” the little rabbit squeaked and held his ground instead of running with the legs God gave him.

The coyote pounced on the bunny, filled his stomach, and went on his way, satisfied.

The moral of the story is this: It doesn’t matter what you identify as, IF YOU AIN’T IT…. YOU WILL BE EATEN ALIVE.

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DIGNITY:

• Dignity is a person’s umbilical cord to God being children of God and made in His image.
• As our forefathers wrote, all men are created equal with certain inalienable rights, among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
• Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are tempered with the words “among these are”. This means there are more.
• First, what are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? It is inherent in man to desire to live (life) free (liberty) and use their God given talents and gifts which bear forth happiness.
• What are the other inalienable rights?
  
  1. The right to say “no” without being shamed for it.
     • In a healthy relationship, both people have the right to say “yes” or “no” and have it accepted as such.
  2. The right to ask for something, even an outrageous request, like cutting in line because you are running late and don’t want to miss your plane.
     • It’s up to the other person to say “yes” or “no”.
     • The same thing is true of our prayers to God. God can say “yes” or “no”.
       • Even outrageous requests. It’s okay to ask. Let God be the decision maker.
       • James says we don’t have because we don’t ask.
         
         • Listen to what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well:
           
           John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
           
         • 2 Kings 2:9-10 And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.” So he said, “You have asked a hard thing (note: an outrageous request received). Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.”
           
• Perhaps when we ask God for something, even when we ask amiss, He will begin working in our hearts until we have the character not to misuse what we are given, for God is not an enabler. Even if we don’t receive it until we are in His presence in heaven.
  • If the above is true, then on some level God always says yes. There is one exception, God will never say yes to that which is evil and demonically controlled.

PRIDE

• The concept of dignity is the reversal of pride.
  • Pride is the opposite of dignity. Pride is trying to be more than you are, more than what God made you to be.
  • When Satan causes a man’s soul to be needy, he will want to overcompensate by puffing up, the yeast in the manna.
  • Pride causes men to steal from others’ dignity to enlarge themselves.

OUTRAGEOUS REQUESTS

• One person asked God to make him wiser than Solomon.
• Another asked God to reverse his aging DNA with the assumption that if God can make the sun travel backwards, he can do the same with DNA.
• Listen to God’s conversation with King David:
  • 2 Samuel 12:8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more!
• Ask! Seek! Knock! means “keep asking”, “keep seeking”, “keep knocking”. One cannot help but notice the irony of the acronym: “A” “S” “K”.

THE CONDITIONS OF A YES ANSWER

• God wants to give every believer whatever he asks for, and yet, as parents, we know this is not a useful way to turn our kingdoms over to our children – until they mature.
• Therefore, prayers are answered positively when answered within boundaries.
• Jesus said “If you ask anything in my name…”. What does that mean?
  • It doesn’t mean to rubber stamp and notarize it with the words “in Jesus’ name”.
  • It does mean to have the desire for the Father’s will in the same way Jesus did.
  • It means first of all to study to scriptures in such a way that one knows God’s heart, character, and will. In other words, God has an agenda, and to ask for something under the umbrella of God’s agenda is the surest way to get an automatic and resounding “yes”!
  • In short, God’s agenda is not to raise spoiled children, but warriors who are willing to fight for what is right and trust God for the outcome, knowing that God’s character is such that He will always have our best interests at heart.

• James 4:6b Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”