SATAN’S TRAPS: PRIDE (5 of 5)

Satan’s trap of “Pride” (5 of 5)

When we are honest and admit that we see
evidences of pride in our lives (which God hates),
we need to actively address them,
and pray for the Lord to help us in our efforts.

As promised, the Lord sent us an advocate (helper)
who is the Holy Spirit, so that He would mold us
into the type of person God wants us to be.
We should invite Him into our life on a daily basis, so that
He will help us in our efforts to overcome Satan’s schemes.

Let’s look at a few ways for dealing with pride.

DEALING WITH PRIDE
1. Recognize it.
     – Are there areas of your life
       that you feel you need to work on?

2. Honestly identify the area(s) of pride.
     – Ask, “What is a real struggle for me?”
     – Is there an area that I…
             – Try to ignore.
             – Try to cover up.
             – Try to camouflage.
             – Try to rationalize.
             – Try to hold on to.
             – Try to justify.

3. Confess and repent (each area individually and specifically)
    – Don’t say,
           – “Lord if there is pride in my life, please forgive me”.
      Instead, pray…
           – “Lord show me areas of pride in my life”.
           – “Show me how to deal with these areas”
           – “I want to ask for forgiveness for each area (name them)”
          Note:
          The same is true with any other sins in our life…we
           need to name them specifically (not, “Lord forgive
           me of whatever sins I committed today” ).

    – Genuine repentance focuses on specific areas.

    – In a survey on a college campus:
          – “What do you like least about your parents?
                 – 95% said, “My parents can never admit
                                        when they are wrong”.
                 Note:
                 Think about how frustrating it is if someone in
                  authority can never admit when they are wrong.

    – We need to admit to God when we are wrong.

4. Be continually on the alert.
     – We need to pray and read the bible every day.

     – When God’s Word is in our mind, and in our heart,
        we can spot things we might not see ordinarily.

     – His Word…
           – Washes our minds clean.
           – Washes our hearts clean.
           – Keeps our eyes open.
           – Makes us sensitive to what’s going on around us.

5. Serve somebody else.
     – Choose to serve somebody else in some fashion.

     – Don’t serve expecting praise, or so you can tell
        someone else what you did; you should serve
        expecting nothing (from anyone else).

     – Jesus said He came to serve.
        If we are to be more Christ-like,
        then we need to be servants;
        we need to develop a servant mindset and attitude.

6. Do something secretly for somebody.
     – Do something where the recipient
        has no idea where it came from.

     – Send a card, help them financially, etc…do something
        where you get no recognition for what you did
        (where only God knows what you did).
        Question:
        How would the recipient feel?
             – They realize someone thought enough
                 about them to brighten their day.
                 Someone treated them as though they were special.

7. Remember where we came from.
     – Sometimes we forget…
            – Where God has brought us from.
            – What He’s done in our lives.
            – How He’s worked with us.

     – God saved us when we humbled ourselves before Him
        (humility is a great attitude for combating pride).

8. Remember often what He saved us from.
     – When we hear a dramatic testimony about
        how God saved someone from the depths of sin…
             – We need to get on our knees and thank Him for saving
                us BEFORE we went through something like that.
             – We need to remember what He saved us from.

9. Stop comparing ourselves with someone else.
     – All of us can find someone that we think
        we do better than, or look better than, etc.
        We can also find someone that we think is
        better than us…and that causes an incorrect
        change in our focus and priorities.

     – The only one we should compare ourselves to, is Jesus
        (we will always fall short, and this helps us to stay humble
        and have a need for Him and His presence within us).

10. Proverbs 27:2 – A rule to live by
      “Let someone else praise you, and not your own
       mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips.”
      – We don’t have to manipulate others in order to get praise;
         we don’t have to brag about ourselves (let others do that).

11. Total dependence on God.
       – If we want to deal with pride in our life,
          we need to ask God to send into our life whatever is
          necessary to make us what He wants us to be, so we can…
             – Do what He wants us to do.
             – Live the way He wants us to live.
             – Achieve whatever He wants us to achieve.
            Note:
            We are asking God to protect us
            and keep us from self-destructing.

       – When we are sincere, He may send adversity
           into our life, in order to…
              – Bring us to total helplessness.
              – Make us totally dependent on Him.
             Note:
             When we do that…
                  – All the other ‘stuff’ that seemed important
                     to us, is no longer important; the only thing
                     important to us is our relationship with Him.

Lost people have said in their heart
that they do not need God.
He is the Son of God, and yet,
they say they don’t need Him – that is pride.

God is our Creator;
He created our life, and He wants the best for us;
how can anyone…
     – Ignore Him and His plans for us.
     – Choose to live apart from Him.
    Note:
    We will all have to stop ignoring Him
    when we face Him at the judgment.

When we confess our sins, ask His forgiveness, and
ask Him to save us, we are saying, “God, I need You”.

As a result, we don’t have to experience
the ultimate consequence of pride,
which is eternal separation from God.