Is there pride to be found in me?
James wrote by The Holy Spirit in his Epistle, chapter 4:
3 And if you ask, you won’t receive it for you’re asking with corrupt motives, seeking only to fulfill your own selfish desires.
4 You have become spiritual adulterers who are having an affair, an unholy relationship with the world. Don’t you know that flirting with the world’s values places you at odds with God? Whoever chooses to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy!
5 Does the Scripture mean nothing to you that says, “The Spirit that God breathed into our hearts is a jealous Lover Who intensely desires to have more and more of us”?
Anyone who seeks to exalt himself in comparison to others moves toward pride and it is very insidious by nature. Its roots can and will run deep which makes it more difficult to ultimately remove. I can personally attest to that! When we become performance-oriented, pride will dictate our actions rather than being led by The Holy Spirit. Sports and scholastic achievements promote pride at an early age. Adults become rabid fans and can become violent. Simply go to a child’s soccer game and observe!
6 But He continues to pour out more and more grace upon us. For it says,
“God resists you when you are proud but continually pours out grace when you are humble.”
7 So then, surrender to God. Stand up to the devil and resist him and he will flee in agony.
8 Move your heart closer and closer to God, and He will come even closer to you. But make sure you cleanse your life, you sinners, and keep your heart pure and stop doubting.
9 Feel the pain of your sin, be sorrowful and weep! Let your joking around be turned into mourning and your joy into deep humiliation.
10 Be willing to be made low before the Lord and he will exalt you!
Wisdom recorded in Ecclesiastes 4:
4 I have seen that every [effort in] labor and every skill in work comes from man’s rivalry with his neighbor. This too is vanity (futility, false pride) and chasing after the wind.
“Competitive sports” creates pride which ultimately leads to idol worship. The adversary has infiltrated the entertainment media to the point where you can hardly go to a restaurant where there are no TV’s streaming multiple sports. That environment along with cell phones reduces fellowship with the person across from you. That is the ploy!
It is recorded by THE SPIRIT in Job chapter 33:
14 For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it.
15 He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds.
16 He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings.
17 He makes them turn from doing wrong; He keeps them from pride.
18 He protects them from the grave, from crossing over the river of death.
19 “Or God disciplines people with pain on their sickbeds, with ceaseless aching in their bones.
20 They lose their appetite for even the most delicious food.
21 Their flesh wastes away, and their bones stick out.
22 They are at death’s door; the angels of death wait for them.
23 “But if an angel from Heaven appears- a special messenger to intercede for a person and declare that he is upright-
24 he will be gracious and say, ‘Rescue him from the grave, for I have found a ransom for his life.’
25 Then his body will become as healthy as a child’s, firm and youthful again.
26 When he prays to God, he will be accepted. And God will receive him with joy and restore him to good standing.
27 He will declare to his friends, ‘I sinned and twisted the truth, but it was not worth it.
28 God rescued me from the grave, and now my life is filled with light.’
29 “Yes, God does these things again and again for people.
30 He rescues them from the grave so they may enjoy the light of life.
The question each of us must answer: “Am I focusing on the short-term, worldly things or the long-term Eternal life and Light?”
FATHER instructed me to cleanse my home of all past achievements for they only served to promote soulish pride. I did not delay because I do not want there to be any resistance to being led by THE SPIRIT.