By Elder Richard
Chanda
14th October.
2016
SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Peter 5:5-6, Daniel 4
Today's Treasure:
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift
you up in due time" ~ (1 Peter 5:6).
If every believer
had a spiritual day planner complete with a "to do" list, we might
find one common denominator—the challenge to overcome pride is at the top.
Perhaps no other
spiritual obstacle is quite like this one.
A simple reason
exists for its Goliath proportions: pride is Satan's speciality.
Pride is the
characteristic that most aptly describes him.
It is the issue
that had him expelled from heaven.
It is still one
of Satan's most successful tools in discouraging people from accepting the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let's not fool
ourselves into thinking that pride is a problem only for the lost.
The most
effective means the enemy has to keep believers from being full of the Spirit
is to keep us full of ourselves.
No wonder the
Bible states and restates that God hates pride. It is the main enemy of genuine
ministry. It is the end of many homes.
Scripture exhorts
believers, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand" ~
(1 Peter 5:6).
God's Word also
makes that very unsettling statement in Daniel 4:37: "Those who walk in
pride he is able to humble." I believe the sum total of those two verses
is that we can humble ourselves, or God can humble us.
God won't put up
with pride in His own children very long without dealing with it.
He's much too faithful—and
far too much is at stake.
I know from
personal experience that humbling ourselves is far less painful than inviting
God to humble us.
He tends to make
sure His lessons "take."
I am absolutely
convinced that the most painful season God has taken me through to date was
primarily to shatter my yoke of pride.
A yoke,
incidentally, I didn't even recognize I had. Believe me, I'm on the lookout for
it now every single day.
In some ways,
Christians have to be more alert to pride than anyone. If we don't presently
have an issue that is actively humbling us, we veer with disturbing velocity
toward arrogance and self-righteousness.
We are wise to
remember that Christ never resisted the repentant sinner.
He resisted the
religious proud and Pharisaic. Remember, pride wears many masks. I once spoke
on pride only to have someone remark afterwards that she had far too little
self-esteem to have pride. Pride is not the opposite of low self-esteem, but
rather the opposite of humility.
We can have a serious
pride problem that masquerades as low self-esteem. Pride is self-absorption
whether we're absorbed with how miserable we are or how wonderful we are.
We are wise to be
on the constant lookout for pride in our lives. I believe we can safely say that
if we're not deliberately taking measures to combat pride, it's probably doing
something to combat humility.
Pride is the
welcome mat in every figurative prison cell. All we have to do to remain bound
in any area is to refuse to take responsibility for our strongholds and repent
of the sin involved. Pride is a monumental boulder in the path toward breaking
free.
These are some
thoughts God gave me on the subject several years ago. May He use them to speak
about the biggest injustice of pride: it cheats wherever it plays.
My name is Pride.
I am a cheater.
I cheat you of
your God-given destiny...because
you demand your
own way.
I cheat you of
contentment...because you
"deserve
better than this."
I cheat you of
knowledge...because you already
know it all.
I cheat you of
healing...because you're
too full of me to
forgive.
I cheat you of
holiness...because you refuse to
admit when you're
wrong.
I cheat you of
vision...because you'd rather look
in the mirror
than out a window.
I cheat you of a
genuine friendship...because
nobody's going to
know the real you.
I cheat you of
love...because real romance
demands
sacrifice.
I cheat you of
greatness in heaven...because you
refuse to wash
another's feet on earth.
I cheat you of
God's glory...because I convince
you to seek your
own.
My name is Pride.
I am a cheater.
You like me
because you think I'm always looking out for you.
Untrue.
I'm looking to
make a fool of you.
God has so much
for you, I admit, but don't worry...
If you stick with
me
You'll never
know.
Lord, please help
me to remember the ugliness of pride as I go about my day.
Thank You for
showing me the dreadful effects of this sin. How I want to live a righteous
life, in the name of Jesus!
Take out my prideful
heart and give me instead a genuinely humble heart that is pleasing to You.
I love You,
gracious Lord.
BE HUMBLE AS CHILDREN BEFORE THE LORD.
"From the
mouths of children and nursing babies you have ordained praise on account of
your adversaries, so that you might put an end to the vindictive enemy." ~
(Psalms 8:2).
"and Jesus
said, "I tell you the truth, unless you turn around and become like little
children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven! Whoever then humbles
himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
~ (Matthew 18:3-4).
AMEN!!
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