Hi Folks!
We've been sharing about pride in our series on God's grace. It is not the
nicest subject to talk about but it is vital information we need to realize
if we are to walk closer to God. As we have mentioned several times already
in the previous messages...
God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble
James 4:6
Humility is such a key issue in our walk with the Master but in learning
about its counterpart, pride, we are better equipped to walk in
"true"
humility, which is reality. If there is one thing about the Lord that I have
learned is that He is real. There is absolutely no falseness or pretension
about Him in any way. He is the most real and exciting individual in the
entire universe! This brings me to a question then; Is there anything in
life that is more fulfilling than walking with the Lord? The answer is
obviously no, but why is it then that so many believers seek after so many
other things and interests to try and fulfill themselves? There could be
many reasons and for each individual it may be slightly different, but at
the heart of almost all of the reasons for self seeking is an underlying
issue - pride. Pride blinds...
The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee
Obadiah 3
(KJV)
Just think about it a moment. Why would anyone not want to know the One
who
made all things? He is the Almighty One who put the stars in place and
formed you in your mother's womb. There is nothing He does not know, past
present or future. He makes no mistakes and has proven Himself fully
trustworthy. He is more fierce than a lion but is as gentle as a dove. He is
majestic beyond the greatest of kings and more beautiful than the beauty
queens of the earth. He is the One who is in love with you... He is the very
lover of your soul and has proven it once for all time by dying on a cross
for your sins. He did this at a time when we were not looking nor were we
interested in Him. For anyone to not want to be more acquainted with this
mighty God would have to be deceived in some way. This is why only the
humble can truly know and walk with the Lord
Though the Lord is on high, yet He regards the lowly (humble); but the proud
He knows from afar
Psalm 138:6
When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom
Prov 11:2
The humble shall hear of it and be glad
Psalm 34:2b
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you... for God resists the proud
but gives grace to the humble
James 4:8a,6b
The Scriptures declare that Jesus was sent to preach the good news to the
meek (humble)
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek (humble)
Isa 61:1a (KJV)
This is because they (the humble) are the only ones would understand the
"good news" of Jesus being the Saviour of the world. To the hard
hearted or
proud folks the law (ie the ten commandments) would need to be preached to
them to convict them of being guilty before God, as the book of Romans
declares. With Jesus it was always law to the proud and grace to the humble.
With the law He breaks the hard heart and by His grace He heals the broken
heart. For anyone to truly see and comprehend the great grace of God through
our Lord Jesus Christ it will require humility, or brokenness. Remember,
pride blinds. Pride is sneaky and deceptive and is like a smoke cloud that
surrounds anyone who is yielding to its deceptive power. And as you know,
smoke is hard to "see" through. The humble can hear of the Lord and
be glad
because they "see" Him, when all the while the proud walks along
oblivious
to the Lord's power and love, being blinded by their pride.
I don't want to get in too deep in teaching on pride again but the further
we go the more I'm seeing the need of understanding more about the ugly
stuff so that we can know the Lord better and walk more closely to Him. If
you have not read the previous Ps Heart message on pride and even the ones
before it on grace and humility I think it would be good if you would -
here's a link
http://www.livingwordfellowship.com.au/PastorsHeart/collection/090530.html
If you don't really remember what was said then it may be good to read it
again also.
As we know our God is a God of love and all that know Him and walk with
Him
will walk in love. Pride is an enemy to the love walk, check Prov 13:10a
out
in these translations...
Only by pride cometh contention (strife)
Prov 13:10a (KJV)
By pride comes nothing but strife
Prov 13:10a (NKJ)
Pride leads to conflict
Prov 13:10a (NLT)
Pride only breeds quarrels
Prov 13:10a (NIV)
Strife is not a good place to be
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work
James 3:16 (KJV)
"Every" evil work - gee! Pride is an arguer and a strife causer.
Show me
some strife and there will be some pride there somewhere. God is a God of no
strife. God is love, and walking in strife is walking out of love and
walking out of fellowship with the Lord. Could this be an area in our lives
where we've unwittingly yielded to pride? Remember the proud He knows from
afar, so if we are going to walk with God we're going to have to deal with
this.
Are you an arguer? Do you always find yourself disagreeing with somebody on
almost every front? Do you have to say something or can you just sit and
listen with genuine interest in what the other person is trying to say? Or
is what you have to say so important, and what the other person is trying to
say so insignificant that you have to but in and cut them off? Your answer
to this could further show your level of pride or humility. We all have to
deal with this issue of pride because it is a part of our flesh nature and
until we get to Heaven it is not going to go away.
Pride will argue, humility will listen. Pride is an interrupter and doesn't
care about what the other person has to say, it only wants to air its own
views. Humility will consider the other person because it is walking in love
and seeks to please God. While pride blindly blunders along hardly noticing
the wake of hurting people it leaves in its path behind caused through
insensitivity and strife.
Strife is everywhere in our world today from the highest positions of
authority all the way down to the person on the street. I'm not saying that
there is no place for healthy debate where there is disagreement. We are not
all going to agree on everything down here but it doesn't mean we still
can't walk in love with each other, strife free. Many folks lives are so
full of strife and they have probably grown up that way... Mum arguing with
Dad, or Mum and Dad arguing with the children, or the children fighting with
each other. This is not the way of the kingdom and where there is strife
pride is always there some place.
The Lord Jesus said: Come learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly
(humble) of
heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for My yoke is easy and My
burden is light
Matt 11:29-30
The Lord does not want to put some kind of
guilt trip on us or to be burdened down with the realization that we may
have failed Him in this area, but to turn to Him in humility. Admit that you
have sinned against Him, be cleansed with His blood and move on. He wants to
be closer to you and I than we desire to be close to Him. He is right here
now to help you and I walk closer and in complete victory over all the
powers of darkness that would try and drag us down. His love for us is pure
and eternal and He is worthy of all that we can offer Him and more, so why
not give Him all you've got in sweet surrender and walk with the Saviour of
the world!
God bless you
David
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Though the Lord is on high, yet He regards the lowly (humble); but the proud He knows from afar
Psalm 138:6