Step 7: Humble Heart
Written By: Eureka Johnson 7/2026
Thinking of step 7 “Humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings.” I’ve been really diving deep on what it means to be Humble.
In a biblical sense, what humble means to me is to surrender to God. James 4:10 – “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” Walking out this step from beginning to end starts with coming before God with a heart posture of humility. It takes honesty like in step one to admit I’m not always right and I’m not perfect. Admitting that I make mistakes and bad decisions. We’ve taken the time to list, confess our shortcomings and prepared our hearts for letting go of these character defects. When asking God to remove my shortcomings, I prayed that he would heal my heart of any wounds that caused me to make bad decisions. Praying that I could make better choices from a place of love in a whole heart.
While doing Step 7 we have to recognize this is not an overnight change and have to trust the process. Every decision we make here shapes who we are meant to become. Every decision we make to be honest we are one step closer from breaking the cycle of dishonesty in our lives, every time we stop and ask Jesus if this is his will and not our own we’re making the decision to surrender. Accepting that in order to grow and heal we need to surrender and let go. When we trust in God to remove our shortcomings, we are trusting that he’ll be there along the way for us to make the next right decision.
A character flaw I suffer from is self-righteousness, I tend to hold myself to a higher standard above others. When asking God to help me overcome this struggle, He showed me that I had to humble myself and show others grace. I didn’t become who I am overnight and I certainly didn’t get there alone either. Every time I catch myself looking down on someone for something I wouldn’t do or say I’ve decided to pray for them. Instead of judging and being discouraging to others I choose to offer compassion because I wasn’t always on the good side of things. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
Jesus has opened my eyes to being more open and understanding of people and their struggles. He offered me a better solution than thinking that I am better than someone. It’s become a lot easier to make the decision to pray than to judge.
Having a humble heart to me means I am capable of making mistakes and being open to have Jesus help me rectify them. It’s not all up to us to change, we give it to God to transform us. John 15:1-5 tells us “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener… Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me… I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Letting us know that apart from God we can do nothing! We are dependent on God to make a change in hearts.
