"Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." (I Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Friday, May 6, 2011

It isn't satan's fault...it's mine.

"Of all the sins, pride is probably the most subtle and the most dangerous. Pride is a trap to those in the ministry, and it is one we need to be constantly on our guard to avoid. It is the sin by which Satan fell, and he is an expert at deceiving even the godliest of men to fall into its trap.

"Pride is a sin. It is one of the sins that we inflict upon ourselves, which can cause us to become a stench in the nostrils of our God. It is not caused by anyone else, only by ourselves. We can't even blame Satan for putting this temptation in our way."--Rich Murphy

Pride... it comes with a price.

Being unteachable is pride.


"Pride drastically hinders revival because it padlocks the spirit, shutting the soul off in its own darkness and blocking it from dealing not only with pride itself (for "those that are spiritual proud, have a high conceit of these two things, viz. their light, and their humility") but with every other area of the flesh. Because spiritual pride is so secretive, it is hard to detect except through its effects. Edwards proceeds therefore to analyze these effects, noting that they are generally opposite counterparts to the fruits of the Spirit:

"Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others; whereas an humble saint is most jealous of himself, he is so suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart. The spiritually proud person is apt to find fault with other saints, that they are low in grace; and to be much in observing how cold and dead they are; and being quick to discern and take notice of their deficiencies. But the eminently humble Christian has so much to do at home . . . that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts . . . He is apt to esteem others better than himself, and is ready to hope that there is nobody but what has more love and thankfulness to God than he, and cannot bear to think that others should bring forth no more fruit to God’s honour than he." --Richard Lovelace

Pride is the words "I KNOW."
Pride is the words "LET ME TELL YOU WHAT I THINK."
Pride is the action of "I DON'T HAVE TIME TO LISTEN RIGHT NOW."
PRIDE is the result of sin.


I fight pride every minute. I fight it when preparing my lessons each week. The most dangerous part of pride is believing I don't have to study, because I already know enough about the subject. May I continue to fight this sin... it isn't satan... it's me.--

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