Kick Your Pride to the Side

Is pride really all that bad?  I mean really.  There are so many things that we can't help but to be proud of.  You hear sayings like, "Team Pride" and "I'm so proud of you" and those terms make us feel...well.....pretty darn good.  But then the bible warns us about being prideful.  God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.  So what's the difference?  Is there a good pride and a bad pride?

I am here to help sort all of that out.  This is something that I have both studied and written about.  Humble Pie Anyone?  This post is about humility which is the opposite of pride.

In the concordance to the bible, usually found in the back of the bible, pride is defined as:

1. inordinate self-esteem or deceit; disdainful behavior or treatment of others.

In the wikipedia aka world dictionary, pride has 2 definitions.  One negative and one positive:

1. Negative connotation: an inflated sense of one's personal status or accomplishments.
2. Positive connotation:  a satisfied sense of attachment toward one's own or anothers choices and actions, or toward a whole group of people, and is a product of praise, independent self-reflection, or a fulfilled feeling of belonging.

Do you see how the negative definitions between the bible and the world are very similar but only the world's definition has a positive side which when carefully dissected is not all that great from a biblical perspective for many reasons. 

A satisfied sense of attachment, a product of praise and an independent "self-reflection" are in opposition to God's word.  Please don't confuse this with being happy about something good that you did or happy for someone or sharing their joy.  Those are obviously good things.  This is about wicked pride.  Let me explain. If we are exalting or elevating ourselves by putting ourselves on a pedestal, God might lower us because it is not our place to put ourselves or anyone else on a pedestal.  God will elevate us when we humble ourselves.  

Here are 2 biblical examples of 2 kings that became powerful and prideful and God's wrath as a result:

1. Uzziah was a king who did many great things until....he became powerful.  His PRIDE led to his downfall.  He was unfaithful to God so the Lord afflicted him with leprosy.  He had leprosy until the day he did.
2. Hezekiah was a king who had very great wealth and honor.  But his heart became PROUD and he did not respond to the kindness shown to him by God.  Therefore God's wrath was on Hezekiah, on Judah and Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah repented of the PRIDE of his heart as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord's wrath did not come on them.

Wow, did you see that?  King Uzziah did not repent of his PRIDE and he had leprosy until the day he died but God's wrath was lifted from king Hezekiah who repented of his what.....PRIDE!

In his PRIDE, the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. Psalm 10:4.  No room for God?  May it never be.

You see, pride comes before destruction.  Our hearts can deceive us into seeing pride as a great thing but honestly we should seek to avoid pride in our hearts at ALL costs.  The result of human PRIDE is never worth the consequences.  God wants us to give Him glory by praising him and not ourselves or others for the kindness and mercy that He faithfully gives to those who love Him and trust Him.  PRIDE, evil thoughts, greed and foolishness come from within your heart and defile you.  Mark 7:22  I don't know about you but I don't want to be defiled because of PRIDE.

I must confess that I constantly come dangerously close to being prideful but thanks to the Holy Spirit who dwells in my heart, there is no room for PRIDE.  Yes I tell my children that I am proud of them all the time.  But that's not what I am referring to.  I'm talking about when people praise me for the gifts that God himself has blessed me with such as knowledge and wisdom.  If I am not careful pride can slip in and I can become judgemental, complacent and downright rude.  I find myself complaining about my position and other people.  Then God's spirit reminds me of my place and warns me about exalting myself and becoming arrogant.  I have no right or reason to think of myself as all that because in due time, God will and always has exalted me.  He does it in a way that brings glory to Him while allowing me to shine at the same time w/o worldly thoughts in my heart such as.....PRIDE!

One final thing I want to touch on is a verse from 1 John 2:15-17.  It says:

• 15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you (I can think of a few things), for when you love the world you do not have the love of the father in you.
• 16 The world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and PRIDE in our achievements and possessions.  These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
• 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave.  But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever!  Amen

Hitchhiker

I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing.  2 Peter 3:17

A few years ago on my way to work I saw 2 women hitchhiking on the freeway.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  They were actually sitting on a concrete divider in a construction zone near one of the on ramps.  People are already driving 35 to 40 mph at that point and increasing speed in preparation to enter traffic between 55 and 65 mph.  There is no where for a person to pick them up even if they wanted to.  My first thought was the potential danger they were in.  I immediately started praying for them that God would guide them and protect them.  They appeared to be in their mid to late 20's. 

I'm assuming that they were desperate to get where they wanted to be.  It takes desperation to even hitchhike and I would say extreme desperation to be a "freeway hitchhiker".  Either way, you are purposefully putting your life at risk in more ways than one. 

As I talked to the Lord about these girls I began to think about how many times I have done something risky, or shall I say risque (risk-ay) to get somewhere or something?  Hitchhiking requires you to trust a stranger.  When I think of it this way, the same concept applies when you hire someone like a plumber or contractor to come and work on something in your home?  How about babysitters and child care either in your home or another location? 

There are many reasons that we have exercise trust in another human being but we don't have to freeway hitchhike.  You know, stick our thumb out and risk our own safety or the safety of our loved ones.  Choosing child care for my girls was one of the most difficult times of my life.  I'm so glad they are older now and no longer require constant adult supervision and I thank God for watching over them then and even now.  God will give you discernment in situations like this if you go to Him and ask for His direction and guidance.

Do you think those women asked God for discernment?  I'm thinking they chose their own route and I honestly can't stop thinking about them.  I hope they made it to their destination safely and I prayed that God would place someone on their path to lead them to Him.  And if they already know Him, I pray that He would speak to their hearts and they would listen to Him and know that with God, they never ever have to hitchhike on the freeway again.

As I write this, another thing that comes to mind is the hitchhiker of our soul.  The devil has many ways of doing this, no thumb necessary.  His minions have easy access by way of certain shows on TV, certain places, certain kinds of music, certain websites, etc........  You know what I'm talking about.  Most of it isn't even obvious and sometimes we don't even know they have hitched a ride until it's too late.

How can you be safe from the soul hitchhikers?  There is only one way that I know of and that is God through the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit of my soul gives me discernment about certain situations and warns me when danger is near.  The Holy Spirit guards your soul with the "shield of faith" like the best anti-virus program available on a computer.  When something does try to sneak in, your anti-virus program aka shield of faith will automatically block entrance and warn you not to go there, an intruder is there attempting to hitchhike and destroy the network of safety that surrounds your soul.  Now, you know you can override the Holy Spirit just like you can override the anti-virus program on your computer and choose to go there anyway.  If you do, it can wreak havoc on your hard drive aka your soul.

The best way to avoid and defeat the tactics of the devil is to be on guard and ready for anything.  God's word is your weapon that provides you with many ways to fight off the "soul hitchhiker".  That's why it's so important to study His word and obey the boundaries that He has placed in our lives.  We need to avoid being "freeway hitchhikers" and protect ourselves from the "soul hitchhiker".  There is a free ride through Jesus Christ.

Is There No King In You?

Life is a song.  At least for me that is the case.  I write songs and I love music so much that I taught myself how to play the piano.  I learned terms like scales, octaves, and how to read music.  A lot of people learned how to play by ear which is amazing as well but I'm better at learning a song by reading the notes first.  Once I get it down, I memorize it forever.  There is a song for everything.  I find myself using song lyrics for almost every situation.  "Wrote a song about it.  Like to hear it?  Here it goes."

When I think of life's challenges, one song that I love is There Is A King In You by Donald Lawrence.  Every time I turn around I find myself facing a new battle.  But despite all that, God is teaching me who I am.  How to recognize that I was born to rule.  You see, I answer to the King of all kings.  This King knows me better than I know myself.  I am His daughter so that means that I come from royalty.

That means that I don't have to let the challenges of life keep me down.  Why?  Because I come from royalty and I know who I am no matter what the enemy's goals are.  There is a King in me.  Is there no King in you? When you have the King in you there is no room for defeat in you.  When you have the King in you there is no room for low esteem.  

So embrace your King.  

Sing that song, dance that dance.  

Talk that talk and walk that walk.

No more feeling like you are beneath.  You are fearfully and wonderfully made.  You are a lender and not a borrow.  You have an inheritance.  You have been adopted into the royal family.  

If you are not sure if the King is in you, say these words out loud:

I trust you Lord with all my heart.  I believe Jesus is your Son.  I believe He died for me.  I believe He rose from the dead and He is the Risen King.  I invite Jesus into my heart.  Please help me to crucify my unsurrendered soul every day.  

Help me to know your voice and to hear you when you call.  Amen.