Pride
Jeremiah 9:23-24 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.
This is a study I did principally because the Lord showed me that my service to Him was being hindered by my own false humility and pride. The words of the Lord spoken to the Prophet Jeremiah make it absolutely clear that we are never to boast about anything except we know God and He knows us. Far too many religious people fall into the trap of pride and become boastful and rather than build up the kingdom of God, they instead tear it down.
It is an awesome feeling when the truth contained in scriptures finally starts clicking at a deep level. Satan’s army tries hard to keep this from happening but failing that they will come on the heels of a breakthrough for God and try to snatch us away. PRIDE is the chief weapon Satan uses to ensnare those that know the truth. Satan gets us to think about how special we are and how book smart on the bible we are becoming and slowly turns our service to God into service for ourselves and our own self righteousness. Satan will do anything to gets us focused on pumping ourselves up, beating up other believers, engaging in endless strife and debate and to serve ourselves. How many critical spirit, highly judgmental, bible thumping zealots do we have to meet before we understand Satan’s strategy? In my own case, sure I was out talking about Jesus and doing some good things, but secretly it was all about me. I was not building the kingdom of God; I was starting to destroy it. Let us be extra vigilant not to fall for this deception.
BEWARE THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEE
“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted”. Proverbs warns us that a man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor. When pride comes, and then comes dishonor. Many “religious” people become self-righteous and puffed with pride yet do not realize it. Pride is how Satan most always tempts us.
Jesus saved his harshest criticism for the prideful falsely humble Pharisees: “Woe to you…..”. In Luke 12, Jesus warns us Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. If our motivation is not love, any good we think we are doing for God is greatly hindered. It really comes down to what Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 13 about Love being the most important thing.
“Though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging symbol. “ DON’T BE A CLANGING SYMBOL!
“And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” ” And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”
I found myself preaching Christ and being bold about it, but alas I was full of spiritual pride and did not show love, gentleness and humility. I was nothing but an evil judge. We must carry this cross and die to it to be totally free in the Spirit. Having seen quite a few bible zealots screaming scripture out in criticism, I try to keep these teachings close to my heart.
Eph 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Col 4:6 Let you conversations be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone
Phil 4:5 Let your gentleness be evident to all
2 Tim 2:24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition
Rom 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in Brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves”
Galatians 6:1 Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted
I read a sermon preached by Jonathan Edwards about diagnosing spiritual pride. I thought it was great and took the liberty to create my own cliff notes of the sermon as follows:
The signs to identify spiritual pride:
1 It is actually a hindrance to the work of God (repels)
2 A most secret sin. You have a hidden agenda of self promotion
3 Best identified by the fruit it produces. Is it bearing fruit for God?
4 You are a pro at pointing out other’s faults and delight in doing so
5 One Possesses a boastful critical spirit versus loving humility
6 Ministers harshly without showing true love or gentleness
7 Pronounces judgments towards both wicked and true brethren in Christ
8 Becomes easily offended when criticized or rebuked by others
9 Takes great notice of any opposition and attacks instead of turning away
10 Presumptuous about people’s faith and showing of improper boldness
11 They themselves do not worship or minister reverently
12 Attention seeking, promoter of their own self righteousness
13 Thinks everyone needs help, they know it all and need no help themselves
The other side of the spiritual pride coin is the presence of false humility. False humility is best exemplified by the acts of the Pharisees, in the gospels. They would act out their days to be seen by men as religious looking, spiritually minded people, yet their hearts were not pure. Jesus called them out often and he was killed for his righteous judgments of them. Two areas that Jesus called out hypocrites were those that fasted and prayed in the sight of men. He said people that do these things to be seen by men, already have their reward and that there would be no reward in heaven. Jesus further instructed us to do these things (prayer and fasting) in private where our Father in heaven would see us and our reward in heaven would be great.
Mat 6:1 Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
Now I am not putting down fasting and prayer or any of the things we can do to seek God and bring him honor. I do believe however that many of us that are battling pride also are dealing at the same time with a false humility and the Bible has some choice words for those practicing self denial and sacrifice without a true humble heart.
Matthew 9:13 “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Matthew 12:7 “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.”
Hosea 6:6 “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
Amos 5:21-24 “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies Col 2:18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Let’s be sober and not prideful in our walk. It is indeed a battle and we need to remember pride is the chief weapon Satan uses to trip us up and hinder or worse destroy our walk with God.
Rom 12:3 “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith god has given us.”
2 Cor 13:5-6 “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you fail to meet the test.”
There is not a single prophet or apostle in the Bible that was proud and that did not also practice true humility before God. God cannot use us effectively if we are proud.
Proverbs 16:18-19 “Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”
Studying scriptures and knowing the Bible is a good thing to do, BUT it in no way is a substitute for having a personal relationship with the Lord. We must know God and he must know us. We can only get to know someone by spending time with them. I encourage you to spend time with the Lord, in prayer and quiet meditation, seeking His direction. We must learn to listen and not just babble.
Let’s not be like the Pharisees of Jesus day on earth. They knew scripture inside out, backwards and forward but did not know God, who was standing right in front of them. Jesus said something very profound in John 5:38-40. He warned the Pharisees that we do not get to heaven by being book smart about the bible. We only get to heaven by coming to him in a relationship. I will not quote the passage here, but encourage you to go read it yourself or just click on the link for John preceding.
I am sure all Christians at one point or another have dealt with a bout of spiritual pride. It is an awesome thing to know the truth about Jesus and his promises. But recognize Satan hates those that know the truth and will come to kill, steal or destroy their walk and testimony. Be watchful that his chief weapon doesn’t hit its target.
The Truth about ‘I’ humbles me:
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 1 Peter 1:24
The Grace and Help of God humbles me:
Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 41:14
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor 12:9
The yoke of Christ humbles me:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matt 11:28-30
The Love of God humbles me:
For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Deu 7:6-8
Jesus humbles me. This is He, who is King and Lord over all and Saviour of all.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Isaiah 53:3-7
It is God’s grace that makes us see how unworthy we are. He had chosen a feeble folk, poor and needy and weak. Taste and see that The Lord is good, blessed are they that trust in Him. He humbles me by His lovingkindness.
Pete,
Thanks for the scripture reminders on pride.
One scripture that pride does not allow folks to practice very much is confessing our faults one to another. Its a good thing to submit ourselves to each other. It keeps the fruit of humbleness availible so that we can encourage but not be in a continual correction mode towards each other. I know we want to always try and do that so others can be edifyed by us . Personally , sometimes my enthusiasm in sharing gets in front of the Holy Ghost .
Thanks for the package , I received it today. God bless , Jer33:3
I am sharing some Proverbs on Pride I have in my draft email box that give me a quick link and reminder when my flesh is offended.
Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate.
Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom.
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.
Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.
Proverbs 16:5 Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Assuredly, he will not be unpunished.
Proverbs 15:25 The LORD will tear down the house of the proud, but He will establish the boundary of the widow.
Proverbs 16:19 It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Proverbs 21:4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin.
@Charles Pride is always lurking and must not be allowed to come back to life. We must die to it and remain dead to it. One of the biggest mistakes we can make is to get puffed up over some knowledge the Lord reveals to us. God gives grace to the humble but will cut down the proud. I think this especially applies to the religious proud and self made Pharisees. The deceptions is so subtle at times, Pharisees think they are building up the kingdom but they are actually tearing it down.We must be on guard. I say this with experience in making this error and being led astray and acting as an evil judge and condemner of hearts. This does mean we go soft of truth, but how we minister, in love, is so very important. With love we fulfill the whole law, without it, we have nothing and are the clanging gong Paul wrote about in 1 Cor 13.
Ephesians 5:15-17 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is
Thanks Charles and Shannan for your very helpfull words I will take to heart.
Pride goeth before a FALL. 1 good for food, 2 pleasing to the eye, 3 and desired to make one wise ( 3 the pride led to the fall) Pride is the # 1 killer spiritul heart desease.
Keep Jesus love and give it to others
Bill
Shannon,
The parable that is coming to remembrance , sounds like a God coincidence to me . Very timely.
Thank you, Jer. 33:3
amen Charles . when I first left the mans religion I thought i had to show every one what God had showed, me but the people that i wanted to tell were not interested . they already had the truth and I was the one being deceived if they want the truth they will seek it out.
“when you seek me with all your heart “.
there is an emptiness and no peace for some , where they are and they will start searching in God’s own timing.
the Lord Love’s His sheep and doesn’t want any to be lost , He will bring them in .
they know His voice and they follow it .He is our Father ! How awesome is that! we have Love for Him And He loves us.
Is that the first son really truly Loved His father .
this parable has been on my heart this week.
Matthew 21:28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him. (NASV)
Thank you Brother Pete,
To me , pride , sex and money can destroy the minstry of Jesus Christ in a believers life faster than anything else.
But out of the three , I believe pride Is the most popluar and most used by satan .I love Gods WORD , looking into it and finding those hidden golden nuggets with our spiritual eyesight.
To truly find the spiritual intent of the scriptures, and the blessed understanding that it brings .
When we feel we have these things to share we must realize that not everybody is going to understand, those revelations maybe just for you and God to share.
But sometimes we feel we have to convince people of what we think that we are having understanding in, that my friends,we do not have to do.
Because the main byproduct of pride is control , having people believe the same way we do, that dosen’t have to happen.
Each and everyone of us is like a special edition biography of a best selling book.
God has written on the tablets of our hearts many adverse expieriences in our lives that we have overcome that need to be related to others. What this can do sometimes more than our personel revelations is edify and strengthen a brother or sister. Milton Green, apostle Paul, etc are good examples of life expieriences making a spiritual impact on people.
We all can read Gods WORD and have private fellowship and understanding with the Father, but it is when we enter into conflict , trying to make others believe the way we do, that creates the issues . The truth dose’nt come from me,and it doesn’t come from you, the source of the truth comes from God. We are just privelledged to reflect the truth just like the moon reflects the true source of light from the sun. And it is when he says to reflect it , not when religious pride rears its head.
Briefly, my partner’s first murder case that he worked involved a dispute between two brothers over ” Do animals go to heaven “.
This spirit of religion rose up in their hearts to contest this issue with one another untill one of them was beaten to death with a hammer.
My friends , some religious people who call themseles christians would knock you over the head and bury you in the woods for disagreeing with them if they could get away with it.We cannot, if we are ,who we say we are,
It is the same spirit that was used to crucify our Lord and saviour,the spirit of religious pride.
We must not enter into vain bablings , majoring in the minors ,doctrinal issues,they must be resolved within our own hearts unless the Holy SPirit gives the unction.
Don’t try to run over the bullfighter’s cape like a beast as the matador runs you through with the sword, know who the real enemy is , PRIDE.
God bless us with his peace , Jer33:3
We all have been there Barb. Pride is Satan’s favorite trick, the one that got him kicked of heaven will also keep us out. We must remain humble, resist the thoughts that come to exalt ourselves with an ME, MYSELF and I focus. We must take those captive to the obedience of Christ. It is a daily battle, it does not take much for our flesh to quickly come to life and rise up to promote ourselves or defend our honor. We must be like lambs that don’t talk back and take no vengeance.
Love this word. I think I have been guilty of this sin.
Link away. This is a battle all of us face even after coming to knowledge of the truth. We must guard our hearts from letting this seed of pride take root.
Love the list. I’d like to link to this article on my own site if you don’t mind? The key scripture on pride for me is Proverbs 29:23…
23 A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
Prov 29:23 (KJV)
I like how this gives us both a warning and a solution. We can replace our pride with honour, and the starting point of that is humility.
Wonderful. Glory to God