How do you overcome pride?

All the kings on the west side of the Jordan heard about this, including those in the highlands, the lowlands, and along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea toward Lebanon. They were Hittites and Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. They formed an alliance to fight Joshua and Israel.

Joshua 9:1-2 (CEB)

Last week, we saw that the first type of emotion that will confront you when God tells you to do something is fear. Once you get over the fear that was holding you back and you begin to succeed in that assignment, the next evil spirit that you will have to confront and defeat is pride.

Amorites – spirits of pride

Amorite means, “mountain dwellers; renowned, publicity, prominence”. Since mountains refer to tall and impressive land masses that dominate over valleys, we can infer that the Amorite spirit is a spirit of self-exaltation. The word for Amorite in Hebrew comes from another Hebrew word, amar, which means, “to utter, say”; this implies that people with Amorite spirits are people who want to be prominent and want their name uttered or mentioned.

Amorites are fame-seekers, seekers of human glory and greatness. Just as mountains tend to dominate over the landscape they are in, Amorites are people who like to dominate and rule over others. They tend to establish an imposing and seemingly immovable presence[1].

Anytime The Lord begins to bless you and gives you success in your area of assignment, you must watch out for pride because it will try to creep in. We need to know how to overcome pride because God is opposed to the proud but He gives grace to the lowly (James 4:6).

How do you overcome pride?

The Bible tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. Below is a list of some of those weapons we can use to overcome pride:

1. Do not entertain proud thoughts

Before the fall of Lucifer who became Satan, he said within his heart that he will ascend to the heavens; raise his throne above the stars of God (wanted prominence); and “I will make myself like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14). Therefore he had sinned in his heart even before he carried out his rebellion against God.

Pride begins in the heart therefore we must capture every proud thought that raises itself against what the Word of God says and make it give up and obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-6).

When the thought of pride comes, you must recognise that it is not of God therefore do not entertain it by dwelling on it, but stop it, tell it that it must go in Jesus name and instead focus your mind on thinking thoughts that are true, noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8);

2. Ask God to give you a humble spirit

We must come daily to The Lord in prayer and ask Him to remove the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26); a heart that is gentle and humble, a heart like Jesus (Matthew 11:29);

3. Ask The Lord to continuously search you and show you your heart

It’s easy to assume that we are walking in humility however like David we too should ask The Lord daily to search us and know our hearts, try us and know our thoughts and see if there is any wickedness of pride in our hearts and lead us to the right path (Psalm 139:23-24);

4. Give God all the glory and recognise that you can do nothing without His grace;

We must recognise that it is by the grace of God upon our lives that we are what we are (1 Corinthians 15:10). This should keep us humble knowing that we can do nothing without God and all that we have (being alive, our health, family, gifts, talents, jobs, ministry, business etc.) is by the grace of God that is with us. If we are mindful of this then even when we receive praise from men we would not let it get to our head but would instead give God all the praise and glory for what He has done (Psalm 105:1);

5. Spend time with wise people

Proverbs 27:17 tells us that iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. To remain humble, it is important to spend time with wise friends and people we can give an account to, who will in a lovely way correct us when we are wrong.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I know You are against the proud, but You are kind to the humble. I recognise that sometimes my heart is proud therefore please give me a new heart and put a new spirit in me; remove from me the heart of pride and give me a gentle and humble heart in Jesus name.

For more suggestions on how to remain humble please see the article by John Piper

Listen to the Message

You can also listen to this message on YouTube here.

How to Discover Your Life’s Purpose Through Dreams

Do you know God’s purpose for your life? If not, please listen to the audio version of: How to Discover Your Life’s Purpose Through Dreams

God bless,

Blessing

[1] For more information about the Hittite spirit and how to overcome them, please visit http://shamah-elim.info/amorite.htm

Are You Prepared for War?

The men from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh obeyed Moses. These men crossed the river in front of the other people. These men were prepared for war. They were going to help the rest of the Israelites take the land God had promised to give them. About 40,000 soldiers, prepared for war, passed before the Lord. They were marching toward the plains of Jericho.

Joshua 4:12-13

In this story we are told that the children of Israel were about to cross the river Jordan to go into Jericho, to take the first city that God had promised them.

Even though the men from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh had already secured their land on the other side of the river, they did not just sit and wait for their brothers to capture their promised land alone. Instead these men were prepared for war.

As Christians, we also have a promised land ahead of us that we have to reach. Our promised land is not made by human hands, for its architect and builder is God Himself (Hebrews 11:10); it is the New Jerusalem which is coming from heaven down to earth:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had disappeared. Now there was no sea. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It was prepared like a bride dressed for her husband.

I heard a loud voice from the throne. It said, “Now God’s home is with people. He will live with them. They will be his people. God Himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, sadness, crying, or pain. All the old ways are gone.”

Revelation 21:1-4

This New Jerusalem, just like the promised land of old, is not easy to attain, we also must be prepared for war in order to reach it. Just like the children of Israel had to destroy the inhabitants of the land before they could possess their land, we too have spiritual giants that we must destroy in order to possess our promised land.

However unlike the Children of Israel who fought a physical fight using natural weapons with their enemies, the Bible tells us that our fight is not against human beings but spiritual forces:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places

Ephesians 6:12

What Does It Mean To Be Prepared?

To be prepared is to be ready “standing by,” ready to meet the opportunity (challenge) at hand; ready because the necessary preparations are done (or are sure to happen as needed).

What Is The War About?

War is a conflict between opposing forces.

You will see from the scripture we are about to read that the war is between God and Satan, and the war started in heaven however it has moved down to earth and we human beings are caught in it, whether we like it or not:

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,

but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Revelation 12:7-12

So, the forces involved in this war are:

1. Two Kingdoms – the Kingdom of God with Jesus Christ as its King and the kingdom of darkness with the great dragon, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan as its king.
2. Two opposing Angels – Michael, the Archangel and his angels and Satan and his angels.
3. The battlefield – the war started in heaven however the battlefield is now the earth and people in the earth.
4. Battle strategy – Satan is out to deceive as many human beings as he can so that he can drag them down to hell. He continually accuses the children of God day and night. Satan’s strategy is to steal, kill and destroy but Jesus has come that we may have life in its fullness:

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly

John 10:10

God in His love has provided salvation, strength, Kingdom of God and the power of His Christ to all humanity who choose to believe in Jesus Christ His Son:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

How Do We Overcome Satan?

We overcome him by:

1. The Blood of The Lamb – we apply the blood of Jesus Christ when we accept that we are sinners and ask Him to forgive us and wash us clean with His blood. When we accept Him He becomes our sacrificial lamb (Hebrews 10:10).
2. The Word of our testimony – we testify when we confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Romans 10:9).
3. We do not love our lives to the death – this means that we will be willing to lay down our lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are also encouraged to die daily to our flesh or natural desires (1 Corinthians 15:31).

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Matthew 16:25

Next week we’ll be looking at how you can prepare for war.

Prayer:

Dear Lord please help me to be prepared for war as the men from the tribe of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. Please help me to always be ready to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life, in Jesus name.

Listen to Message

You can also listen to this message on YouTube here:

Do you know God’s purpose for your life? If not, please download your free book: How to Discover Your Life’s Purpose Through Dreams

What are the effects of joy?

 In my last blog we looked at what joy is. Today, we will be looking at the effects of joy:

1. Strength – strength in your spirit, in your mind and in your body

Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Nehemiah 8:10

2. Feeling of lightness – the Bible tells us that the Jews felt light as a result of their deliverance from Haman

The Jews had light and gladness, joy and honor

Esther 8:16

3. Victory and Deliverance comes through joy – when we rejoice ourselves in the Lord. The Lord wants us to be a people of joy, not sadness. Whether we are alone in our homes or we are gathered together with other believers, we should be singing and dancing unto the Lord. As we do this we gain strength and all the chains that the enemy has around us is broken:

Let the saints be joyful in glory;

Let them sing aloud on their beds.

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,

And a two-edged sword in their hand,

To execute vengeance on the nations,

And punishments on the peoples;

To bind their kings with chains,

And their nobles with fetters of iron;

To execute on them the written judgment—

This honor have all His saints.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 149:5-9

What are the effects of joy:

1. Joy gives us strength

2. Joy makes us light

3. Joy brings us victory and deliverance

Find out more at: www.blessingcoaching.com