Some Christians equate humility with putting themselves down.  "I'm a wretched, insignificant sinner saved by grace"

You can't be a wretched insignificant sinner and saved by grace at the same time.  Either you are one or the other.  Humility is realizing your worth without Him not claiming to be something less than what you are.  Do you think that God calls us "heirs, sons and daughters" because it sounds nice?

God has declared us righteous...why debate it with yourself?  Why claim you aren't?  Because you still sin?  Because you haven't mastered the flesh?  Because you haven't fulfilled your calling?  Because you were too scared to witness to someone?  God didn't think that was too big for His Son's blood to cover so why challenge Him?  It is liberating to realize that whether you forget to pray or not doesn't make you any less righteous than Jimmy O-so-holy.  Will continue later....

Faith is not a warm and fuzzy feeling.  Faith is not something we strive for.  Faith isn't a tag.  Faith is a decision.  Everyone has faith in something...their failures, their looks, their abilities, their past, their God, their money.  We only receive what we feel that we can receive.  If we feel like that the only thing we can receive from God is an average life with an average impact on the world around us...guess what?  You got it.  Everything from above is received by faith.  Not by good works, not by humility, not even by godliness.  How do we receive more faith?  By reading the word of God and confessing it to yourself.  I may offend some people here but I'm sick of the devil trying to make good Christians think that God wants them to lead the best life they can and by that He might just give them an average good life with a nice family and a pretty big backyard.  We have a "name it, claim it" God.  If you don't believe me then at least believe Him:

And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:22-24

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

John 14:13-14

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

John 15:16

You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.

Exodus 23:25

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.

3 John 1:2

In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

John 16:23-24

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Matthew 28:18

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 15:7

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

Matthew 11:12

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

James 4:3

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James 1:5-8

You are a child of the Most High God!  He has counted you worthy enough to die on a cross for you, do you think that He wouldn't want to bless you with the things that you desire?  Sure, there are going to be rough times.  The devil doesn't stop trying to find weak spots.  But what defends against those attacks?  Is it the shield of FAITH!?!?  Faith is the beginning and the end of everything from God.  You do not have to put up with hating yourself for the past, low self-esteem, poor self-image, and many other things that I won't get into.  Do you think you are "suffering" for Christ?  You most likely aren't, most likely you are suffering because you haven't realized that God truly wants you to live a fulfilled life.  Yes you will suffer for Christ in due time, but that is an honor you only receive by faith as well.  You have rights as an heir.  YOU RECIEVE THOSE RIGHTS BY FAITH!!!!!

I'm not directing this to anybody specific, this is something I've learned here recently.  I've suffered for most of my Christian life because I felt like I was suffering for Christ.  I've only suffered because I didn't deem myself worth to receive the promises of God.  Salvation is by grace through faith and so are His gifts!!!! 

Who are the heroes of the faith?  Pastors of mega-churches?  Gay marriage ban/abortion activists? Christian rock stars/worship leaders?  Authors?  Trendy youth pastors?

No.

Its missionaries.  The ones who never get the glory or the financial support.  The Church actually spends more money on Easter candy than it does supporting missionaries.  Who is the denomination with the largest mission field in the whole world? 

Assemblies of God. 

You may not agree with every doctrinal stance they have (I'm not a fan of a couple of things) but I'm pretty sure the Body of Christ could learn a few things from AOG's emphasis on missions.  The whole world hasn't received the gospel yet.

I was able to help lead my brother to the Lord a couple of weeks ago.  It has been so awesome how God has softened his heart in the last six months.  One of the last times I witnessed to my brother he ended up getting extremely angry at me and refused to talk about God anymore.  It has been wonderful to see the change in him even the last couple of weeks.  He is starting to think I'm less and less fanatical.  Ha!  I've also had a lot of opportunities to encourage him and several others in the last couple of weeks.  I've been praying about becoming more of a blessing to others and God has actually given me quite a few opportunities.  I have some very close friends now that I trust and they trust me and we have really made it our purpose to reach out to those who are a little on the socially awkward side.  It is great to be around people with the same heart.  I'm starting to make myself out to be pretty pious but my point is that I cannot be happy just passively learning about God and preparing for ministry.  Serving (with a servant heart rather than a selfish heart) is something that has really helped me connect to God so much in the last couple of weeks.