Surrender

Ah, pride! If you, like me, have ever come to a revelation of the depth of pride residing in your flesh, you have either been repulsed by it or justified it, or maybe both at the same time. I found a quote that says so much: “They that know God will be humble; they that know themselves cannot be proud. - John Flavel". How well I know that this is true.

I remember when I was in a place with the Lord that the Holy Spirit's convictions came as soon as I would sin. I remember during one particular instance at work, I became acutely convicted that pride was the driving force behind my relentless pursuit of a remedy. I had to fight with my flesh in such a way that, one day, I had to retreat to a back bathroom. I remember saying to God, "God - if you can't get this pride out of me then just kill me now because this is one of the biggest battles with myself that I have ever faced!!" And I was sincere. When we feel we are 100% right in a situation, it is extremely difficult to step back and not fight to the death.

Pride is the legacy of sin that has been willed to us through the fall of Adam and it is a strong force. But it is sin and as such can be conquered by the blood of Jesus if we allow Him to do a work in us. The essence of pride is saying "I don't need any help in this area." In fact, C.S. Lewis said, "If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed." It's almost like a catch-22. But if we ask God to break this cycle, to soften our hearts to conviction in this area and teach us to submit with humility - which is simply recognizing that He is God and whatever He says is just and righteous and that any response we have that is out of line with that is sin - then He can work this stubborn legacy of pride out of us, layer by layer.

One interesting thing about humility vs. pride that I have been learning is that when I want my plan to work instead of allowing God to work out His plan, I am operating in pride. When I have a fit when something doesn’t happen the way I think it should, I’m operating in pride. True humility is getting to the place where we are SURRENDERED to God’s plan in every detail of our lives. That sounds pretty impossible, doesn’t it? We always want what we want when we want it. But it takes a foundation of trust that God is good and His ways are better than ours to surrender our will to His. May we all get to the place that we can say, like our Saviour, “Not my will but Yours be done!” Luke 22:41-42

I strongly encourage you to not go any further in this study until you have had a serious talk with Him about dealing with the pride in your heart. Humility is truly the foundation of all the other character traits that he wants to mold in you. I'll leave you with this Scripture:

James 4:10 (Amplified Bible)
10Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].

Once we really know His holiness, sovereignty and majesty it will be easy to realize that we have no place before Him except in surrendered humility and awe. Pray for God to teach you to humble yourself. He can do it for you, but I wouldn't recommend it.

In Him,
Tara