21 Days of Prayer and Fasting
Day 20
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2
My greatest struggle is with pride, and I am beginning to see my pride as the greatest threat to a sanctified and holy life. When I consider pride, I think of the bold, braggadocios, person ripe with narcissism. The type of person that evangelist Junior Hill said “could strut sitting down”.
It is the image I have of Satan. He believe he could overthrow heaven and defeat God. So great was his influence, that a third of the angels believed him. It was an overreaching pride that caused Satan to rebel. When I have that image of pride, I delude myself into thinking I do not have any pride, because my pride does not look like that.
Pride is placing myself, my desires, and my concerns as the number one priority of my life. Pride writes with ink on my heart, because it does not want to be erased. Pride is subtle and manifests in many different ways.
Pride can be my anxiety about others and what they think of me. Because of my pride, I care too much how others view me. But humility before God brings me wisdom. Humility reminds me to be concerned with how God views me. Pride twists me in knots trying to get everyone to like me. Humility gives me an audience of One and His approval is all that matters.
Pride can be my fear of change. My pride works to get things the way I want them to be. Change threatens all that, so my pride fights and resists change. Humility gives me the wisdom to look for how God is changing me and my world. Pride demands to be in control because it is afraid of what I will lose. Humility leads me to trust and follow God knowing that His way is best. My pride is addicted to my comfort. Humility seeks to glorify God in all things.
Pride can be my critical and judgmental spirit. When pride cannot elevate me to a higher position, it demotes and destroys others. My pride wants me ahead of others, so it pulls them down or back. Humility urges me to invest in others, so they can discover the rich life in Christ.
Pride fills me with jealousy. When I am not on the platform I want, I brood with jealousy. I convince myself that I should be the focus. Humility speaks with wisdom and tells me that this world is not the final stage. Humility teaches me to think of who I will be in light of eternity. Humility reminds me that God has not overlooked me. Humility can point out where I am wrong, but it tells me that God is more interested in who I am becoming than the position I hold.
At my heart, I am prideful, but a humility in God has the wisdom to guide me in a path that takes me off a throne that was never meant to be mine. Humility is a voice that urges me to exalt God in my life and not myself.
Prayer: Father God, in my pride I deal with people wrongly. I miss use situations and circumstances. I resist change out of fear of loss. Build in me a humility that teaches me Your knowledge and gives me Your insights. Guide me to elevate You as the priority of my life. Help me to prioritize others and their next spiritual step ahead of myself. Remind me daily that true humility is not thinking less of myself, but thinking of myself less.