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Avoid Spiritual Pride
O you who love Jesus Christ, avoid spiritual pride in all its entirety for this does not please the Lord your God. And what is this spiritual pride; it when you look at all your good works and try to claim the credit for yourself and instead of giving the credit only to the Lord God who made it possible for you to great things in his Holy Name.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
O believer in Christ Jesus, remember that whatever good works you do, its only for the glory of the Living God who prepared all this beforehand. So when you do works of mercy and goodness and generosity you bear testimony to Grace of God. Do not get carried away by the praises of the people whom you help nor the praises of those who see you helping others, thinking in your heart that it was all you all along. Humble yourself greatly and say in such case that its the Lord your God who has blessed you with the ability to all this and so let all praise go to God alone.
Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful. (1 Corinthians 13:1-4)
Keep in mind O you who love Jesus Christ, no matter how much you advance in the gifts of the Holy Spirit or even in the way of good works, never do it out of selfish motives but do it for the love of God. Take to heart that; what started with the love of God must continue to with the love of God and anything else which deviates from the love of God is sin which is not pleasing to the Lord God. Hence, keep away from spiritual pride and dwell in the presence of the Lord!
Verses to reflect upon:
- Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling. (Proverbs 16:18)
- Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:12)
- Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:5-8,10)
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit
No wise person would want friends who always are selfish. Do take note that a selfish person can cause harm to anyone especially friends and family, in his or her vain pursuits for self-gratification. This harm can be financial losses, loss of reputation, and even loss of life to name a few. Would you still want to be friends with such friends who are selfish?
If you don’t want a selfish friend, it’s only fair to ask of you to never ever be selfish yourself. If you are not selfish it doesn’t mean that you to be self-harming nor self-deceiving. In fact, you’re better poised to help your friends and family. You can progress in life by being a blessing to others and yes it’s totally possible. So, if you choose to never be selfish and simply follow the Word of God you will be found truly worthy in this life and in the afterlife.
Verses for reflection:
- Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. (1 Corinthians 13:4-5)
- Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)
- Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. (1 Corinthians 10:24)
- For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. (James 3:16)
- Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. (Proverbs 11:25)
- Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. (Romans 15:2)
- A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. (Proverbs 18:2)
- The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:31)
- Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. (1 Corinthians 3:18)
- Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! (Psalm 119:36)
- But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24)
- I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
- And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)
Always remember the Lord God when you get wealth
Some people give credit only to themselves when they become wealthy or rich. They even disown their mentors and even their parents and friends who may have helped them on their way up. But the worst thing they ever do is to forget the Lord God who gave them the power to get wealth. These are the ones who will claim they did it all and speak rudely to others who are poor or let me just say less wealthier than them.
No matter how much hard work one has put in becoming rich, it does not give anyone any right to disown the Lord God because of that. Nor it is good behavior to insult all those people God sent in your life to help you become the great person you became. Such behavior in not consistent with Christian living and must be avoided at each and every stage of life. Because whosoever had pride in his or her wealth, such a person sets himself or herself before the same Lord who gives them wealth.
Verses for reflection:
- Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling. (Proverbs 16:18)
- But you shall remember the LORD your God: for it is he that gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto your fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8:18)
- The LORD makes poor, and makes rich: he brings low, and lifts up. (1 Samuel 2:7)
- And Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “The LORD is able to give you much more than this.” (2 Chronicles 25:9)
- The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. (Proverbs 10:22)
Stay away from pride
Stay away from pride,
And in God confide.
Stay away from pride,
Lest mercy from you hide.
Stay away from pride,
And in God’s word abide.
Stay away from pride,
Lest it cause you to backslide.
Stay away from pride,
And in God’s way stride.
Stay away from pride,
Lest your faith gets dried.
Stay away from pride,
And in God’s will, be justified.
Stay away from pride,
Lest your life be unqualified.
Do not stride in pride
Never ever indulge the flesh. Especially do not give place to the sin of pride. There are people who are deceived who say that pride is natural. It is not! Because when Lucifer the archangel indulged in pride about himself only then did he have designs to exalt himself to high places and even become like the Most High God. And that what happened next changed the course of this apostate angel; he was cast out of heaven along with his rebellious angels by the holy and mighty angels of the Lord God. This Lucifer is now called Satan the vile deceiver and accuser of the brethren. Remember that Satan the insolent one will receive his long due punishment at the Final Judgement by none other than Jesus Christ the humble and eternal Judge who already defeated him on the cross. So whenever you are tempted with pride remember to be humble like Jesus than rebellious like Satan.
Verses to reflect upon:
- Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:12)
- Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:5-8,10)
Boasting About Tomorrow
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:13-17)
In prosperity be humble before God
In prosperity, give thanks to God with humility and fear lest by pride you abuse God’s benefits and so offend him (King St. Louis of France)
In adversity, it’s easy to be humble before God as you know that your ability cannot save you. You therefore come in prayer and in deep respect before God for your breakthrough or miracle. One of the reasons why non Christians get miracles when they pray to Jesus Christ is because they know that they have expended the last straw and have nothing left to save them. So acknowledging their helplessness, they usually pray to Jesus saying they don’t have anything to deserve a miracle but come humble appealing to his mercy.
Now contrast this with people who weren’t the best of moral men and had prosperity. How due to their pride in themselves they didn’t give God the honor that he deserves and by this they later fell into great trouble. Let me give you some examples of three kings mentioned in the Bible where their wrong attitude towards God became their undoing.
King Solomon
King Solomon of Israel was abundantly rich. He had loads and loads of gold and precious stones. Yet in his defiant and ungodly ambition to be great, he multiplied horses which was forbidden for a king of Israel. Deuteronomy 17:16 says that, “The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself or send his people to Egypt to buy horses, for the LORD has told you, ‘You must never return to Egypt.’ Solomon however didn’t get punished for this sin. So taking wrong advantage of this, he multiplied wives, yes and not just getting more one wife. But that’s not the end of Solomon’s sin. By the evil influence of his wives, he built a multitude of worship centers for false gods of his wives, all over the land of Israel, in defiance of the Lord God’s commandments which is against the worship of false gods.
You can read all of 1 Kings 11 to get details on this. So in the end God judged Solomon and raised multiple adversaries against him. These were Hadad the Edomite and Rezon the son of Eliada who led their armies against Israel during this times of Solomon. That was not all, the Lord divided the kingdom of Israel, such that Jeroboam the son of Nebat got 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel for himself. The glory of Solomon was therefore diminished greatly due to his own pride in his own wisdom instead of respecting what God had told him in the Holy Scriptures.
Sennacherib the king of Assyria
There was a wicked king who was called Sennacherib king of Assyria, who achieved great victories against many kingdoms. His armed forces brutally killed many people in their evil wars. Then he turned his attention towards Israel. The Jews were dismayed when Sennacherib blasphemed against the Lord God of Israel by sending a message to the people “Who among all the gods of those nations that my fathers devoted to destruction was able to deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand? Now, therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you in this fashion, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand!” (2 Chronicles 32:14-15)
Not only Sennacherib but also his servants gave such wicked messages to the Israelite’s. This ultimately led to the great downfall of Sennacherib which you can read as mentioned below:
Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven. And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword. (2 Chronicles 32:20-21)
The impious Herod
Herod was a king who was prosperous and wicked. He didn’t give true honor to God (read Acts 12:20-24 to get an idea about this). So an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
Remember that whether you are a king or not you still need to be humble.Just so that no one mistakes that humility is only for kings and leaders to follow, let’s remember the following words of Jesus our Lord:
- For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 14:11)
- Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:12)
Related articles
- The teaching points of Hezekiah… (audacityandsupposition.com)
- The Worse Judgment from God to face is The Judgment of your Works (prophecynewsandviews.wordpress.com)
- LISTEN: God, the Nature of Evil, and Stephen King (Gospel Light Minute X with Daniel Whyte III) (blackchristiannews.com)
- Bathsheba (georgehach.wordpress.com)
Railing Against the Devil: What does the Bible Say?
God operates in love and also in justice. He will execute justice against all those who hate him and are opposed to him. Even his Holy Angels don’t waste their time venting angry rants against the Devil for they know that their priority is to honour the Lord God and serve him only. Even those who believe in Jesus must follow suit and avoid going on a tirade against the Evil One and his minions but instead focus on faithfulness to Christ. Or else this can be an occasion to pride in onself. Remember, the Devil’s days are numbered anyway!
RAILING AGAINST THE DEVIL: Scripture says Don’t Do It.
RAILING AGAINST THE DEVIL: IS IT BIBLICAL?
Are believers to bring “railing accusations” against the devil?
Surprisingly perhaps, the Bible says, “No.”
Everyone wants to bash the satanic–even those who do not believe in Satan–but Christians are warned not to do this. Some commentators use such actions as examples of human pride and hubris.
Still, that hasn’t prevented our present ungodly generation from doing what the Bible says not to do. Believers are not to act like the enemy.
But it’s a hard rule for those eaten up by pride: people loves to talk the big talk.
(VIDEO) Stomp on the Devil’s Head
Time for some good ol’ fashioned devil-stomping!
2 Peter and Jude both warn Christians of railing against that which humans “know not”–including the devil. Jude is especially clear on this point, going so far…
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Disciples of hope 