From the sermon preached on July 5, 2026
Spiritual humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less, choosing to depend on God rather than on your own strength. It grows most clearly in a wilderness season, the hard, uncertain stretch of life where control slips out of your hands and you learn to trust someone bigger than yourself. Pastor Luisa Goizueta, Spiritual Formation Director at Generation Church, brought this message as part of the “Prepare the Way” series, and it names something many people feel but rarely say out loud: the constant pressure to prove, perform, and stay in control. This post walks through what spiritual humility actually looks like, why overcoming pride matters more than most of us admit, and how surrendering control to God becomes the doorway to real transformation.
How Does a Wilderness Season Teach Spiritual Humility?
A wilderness season rarely feels like a gift while you are in it. Pastor Luisa Goizueta described it as God’s classroom, the place where Moses spent forty years before leading a nation, where David waited before wearing a crown, and where Jesus himself, according to Matthew 4:1, was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted. Scripture does not treat the wilderness season as punishment; it treats it as preparation. James 4:7 puts it simply: submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
That submission is the starting point of spiritual humility. It is not passivity or weakness; it is a posture of surrender that says, “God, I trust what you are doing here even though I cannot see the outcome.” Pastor Luisa shared how her own thirty-one year marriage carried her through wilderness seasons long before it carried beautiful testimonies, and how walking through her husband’s five-year battle with cancer taught her to let go of control she never truly had. The wilderness strips away the illusion of self-sufficiency so something more honest can grow in its place.
If you are in a hard season right now, try naming it honestly in prayer today instead of rushing to fix it. Ask God what he wants to teach you before you ask him to remove it.
What Does It Mean to Surrender to God Daily?
To surrender to God daily is to admit, over and over, that you cannot meet your own deepest needs. In Matthew 4:2, Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness before the tempter offered him the easiest possible way to satisfy his hunger: turn stones into bread. Jesus refused, choosing instead to surrender to God’s timing rather than his own comfort. Pastor Luisa described attempting a much shorter fast of her own and how relentless the temptation became simply to quit and eat.
This is what it looks like to surrender to God in ordinary life, not in dramatic gestures but in daily, repeated choices to depend on Him instead of yourself. John 1:1-5 reminds us that everything that has life was made through Jesus, which means the things we think will finally satisfy us, whether that is a title, a paycheck, or a family’s approval, were never designed to carry that weight. Dependency is not weakness; it is the honest recognition that you were never meant to carry it alone.
Consider one area today where you have been trying to meet a need through your own effort instead of prayer, and bring it to God directly instead of managing it yourself.
How Do I Practice Surrendering Control to God?
Surrendering control to God becomes hardest when your identity feels like it is on the line. In Matthew 4:5-7, Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and dared him to prove his identity by throwing himself down. Jesus refused to perform for validation because he already knew who he was in the Father. Pride demands proof; spiritual humility rests in identity that does not need an audience.
John the Baptist modeled surrendering control to God in a different way, saying in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Pastor Luisa called this the greatest definition of humility in all of Scripture: making room, on purpose, for someone else to be seen instead of yourself. Philippians 2:6-8 describes Jesus, though he was God, emptying himself and taking the form of a servant rather than clinging to equality with God. That is the pattern: emptying comes before filling, and decreasing comes before increase.
Ask yourself honestly today where you have been demanding credit or fighting to be seen, and take one concrete step to let that go, whether it is releasing an argument or giving someone else the recognition. Overcoming pride rarely happens in one dramatic moment; it happens in small, repeated choices like this one, and surrendering control to God is the daily practice of letting him increase as you decrease.
What Does Matthew 4 Teach About Overcoming Pride and Humility?
Matthew 4:1-11 records three temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness, and each one exposes a different obstacle to overcoming pride: self-sufficiency, seeking validation, and chasing power on our own terms. Reading Matthew 4 closely shows that every temptation offered Jesus a shortcut around dependence on the Father, and every time, he chose the slower, humbler path instead.
Pride’s Response | Humility’s Response |
Prove yourself through your own power | Trust God’s timing over your own hunger |
Seek validation from others | Rest in an identity already secure |
Chase glory and control | Worship God alone and let him lead |
Rely on self-sufficiency | Depend fully on God’s provision |
Pastor Luisa connected this directly to Isaiah 14:13, where pride is described as the desire to ascend above God himself, the same pride that led to Satan’s rebellion. Every time we tolerate pride in small decisions, we are quietly following that same pattern; every time we choose humility instead, we are following Jesus into the wilderness and out again.
Where Can You Find a Community Walking Through This Together?
There is a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from feeling like you always have to hold it together, to have the answer, to be the strong one in the room. That weight does not care what neighborhood you live in; it shows up whether life feels full or empty, whether things look fine on the outside or not. Naming that tiredness honestly, rather than performing past it, is usually the first real step toward spiritual humility.
Whether you call Coral Gables home, you are commuting in from Brickell, or you are raising a family in Coconut Grove or South Kendall, Generation Church exists as a place to bring that exhaustion into the light rather than carry it alone. The invitation is simple: come as you are, with whatever you are still trying to hold together, and find people across the greater Miami area who are learning the same posture of surrender.
What Happens When Pride Gives Way to Humility?
Pastor Luisa’s message traced a pattern found throughout Scripture: pruning before fruitfulness, wilderness before promise, decreasing before increase. Jesus modeled it perfectly, choosing humble obedience even to the point of death, and John the Baptist lived it out by pointing to someone greater than himself. Spiritual humility is not a single moment of surrender; it is a daily posture of overcoming pride so God can increase as you decrease.
The wilderness is painful, but it is not wasted, and what looks like ashes today can become the very place where God’s restoring power is most clearly seen.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I surrender to God when I feel like I need to stay in control?
Start small by naming one specific area out loud in prayer where you have been relying on yourself instead of God. Surrender is rarely instant; it is a daily choice, much like Jesus faced repeated temptation in the wilderness before responding in humility each time. Over time, this practice reshapes how you respond to pressure.
How do I overcome pride as a Christian in everyday situations?
Overcoming pride often starts in ordinary moments, like choosing not to win an argument just to be right. Pastor Luisa described this exact example: humility says, “I know I’m right, but I don’t need to prove it.” Choosing that response repeatedly is what weakens pride’s grip over time.
How do I develop humility in my spiritual life if it does not come naturally?
Humility grows through consistent practices like prayer, honest self-reflection, and allowing hard seasons to teach you dependence on God rather than avoiding them. It is described in Scripture as a heart posture, not a personality trait, which means anyone can grow in it intentionally. Community and mentorship, such as a Small Group, can also help you stay accountable in the process.
What is the difference between humility and low self-esteem?
Humility is having an accurate view of yourself in relation to God and others, not a diminished view of your worth. Pastor Luisa was clear that humility is not self-hatred, weakness, or false modesty; it is confidently resting in an identity secure in God rather than seeking validation from others.
Why does God allow wilderness seasons if he loves us?
Scripture consistently shows that wilderness seasons are where God does his deepest formative work, not where he is absent. Moses, David, Elijah, John the Baptist, and Jesus himself all encountered God most clearly in wilderness periods. The season is difficult, but it is never wasted.
