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

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God bless,

Blessing

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

Leaders don’t lead alone, they surround themselves with other leaders

Early the next morning Joshua gathered the men together. Then Joshua and the leaders of Israel led the men to Ai

Joshua 8:10 (ERV)

When it was time to conquer the city of Ai, Joshua did not lead the men alone, instead he and the leaders of Israel led the men to Ai. This teaches another important lesson about leadership; leaders don’t lead alone, they surround themselves with other leaders.

When Joshua’s predecessor, the great Prophet Moses assumed the mantle of leadership, he did not understand the principles of leadership; he thought he could lead the people alone.

So he would sit from morning until night judging the people. When Jethro, Moses’ father in-law visited him and saw this, he was shocked and asked Moses why he was the only one judging the people.

Jethro counselled Moses to be wise and to choose men to lead with him who are able, who respect God, men who will not change their decisions for money.

He advised Moses to find such men and make them rulers over the people. He explained that there should be rulers over 1000 people, 100 people, 50 people, and even over ten people. Moses was to let these rulers judge the people.

If there was a very important case, then they could come to Moses and let him decide what to do. But they could decide the other cases themselves. In this way these men will share his work with him, and it will be easier for him to lead the people. If he did it this way then he would be able to do his job without tiring himself out.

Moses was a humble leader, so he listened to the counsel of Jethro. He chose good men from among the Israelites and he made them leaders over the people (Exodus 18).

Jesus Christ Who is our example, did not do all that the Father sent Him to do alone. When He was on earth, He chose 12 ordinary men to be His disciples. He invested His time in them and trained them so that they could carry on and do even greater works than He did (John 14:12). As believers in Jesus we are His body through which He still saves, heals, and delivers humanity (1 Corinthians 12:27, Mark 16:15-18).

We learn from both Jesus Christ and Joshua that as leaders, we should always be on the lookout for other leaders to surround ourselves with, whom we can train to share the mantle of leadership with, as well as to equip to lead when we are no longer around.

Prayer

Dear Father, please help me to surround myself with men and women who are able, who fear God, men and women of truth, who hate covetousness so that they can share the mantle of leadership with me. Please help me to invest in such people and train them so that they can carry on with the work You have entrusted in my hands in Jesus name, amen.

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How to Discover Your Life’s Purpose Through Dreams

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Leaders rule by example rather than command

I will lead the men with me; we will march toward the city. The men in the city will come out to fight against us. We will turn and run away from them as we did before.

Joshua 8:5 (ERV)

When Joshua, the leader of the Children of Israel was giving the battle strategy of how they were to capture Ai, he told them that he will lead the men and they will march toward the city. In other words, Joshua did not just give the orders, he actively get involved in the battle.

This teaches us another important lesson about leadership; leaders must rule by example rather than command.

The Bible is filled with stories of men and women who lead people, not by staying in the background but by actively getting involved.

Deborah the Prophetess

Deborah the Prophetess and Judge over Israel encouraged Barak, the captain of the army to go and fight against their oppressors. However Barak refused to go unless Deborah went along with him and so she did and God gave them the victory (Judges 4).

King Jehoshaphat

King Jehoshaphat led Judah into the enemy camp by being the first to bow his head with his face to the ground and then all of Judah and Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. As a result of the praise and worship they offered to the Lord, the Lord set ambushments against their enemies and they were destroyed (2 Chronicles 20:18-22).

Gideon

Gideon was another leader who led by example. Once God told him to arise and go to the camp of the Midianites, he divided the three hundred men into three groups.  He gave each man a trumpet and an empty jar with a burning torch inside it. Then Gideon told the men, “Watch me and do what I do. Follow me to the edge of the enemy camp. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly what I do”. The Lord gave Gideon and his men the victory (Judges 7:16-25).

Jesus Christ

Jesus taught His disciples that whoever desires to be great must serve (Luke 22:26), and He demonstrated this by serving His disciples at the last supper (Matthew 26:26-29). Jesus showed His disciples how to be humble by washing their feet and encourages us as His disciples to do likewise (John 13:14).

These few examples show that it is important as leaders to rule by example rather than by command. A problem with commanding those you serve is that we do not remember very well something that we are told. To be an effective leader therefore we must strive to not only teach but to lead by example as Joshua did by getting involved in the heat of the battle.

When a leader is supposed to get involved but decides to stay on the side lines, it can lead to trouble. David, was a skilled warrior who did much exploits, however there was a time when he decided to stay at home instead of getting involved in the battle. A great sin of adultery and murder was committed as a result.

Prayer

Dear Lord, please help me to be like Your Son Jesus Christ. He showed us how to be humble by stooping down and washing His disciples’ feet. Please help me to lead by example rather than command in Jesus name, amen.

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How to Discover Your Life’s Purpose Through Dreams

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God Will Roll Away Your Reproach

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.

Joshua 5:9 (NKJV)

 The Lord will roll away your reproach.

A reproach is a condition of shame and disgrace. It can be in several forms; sexual (2 Samuel 13:13; Isaiah 47:3; Ezekiel 16:57; Proverbs 6:33); barrenness of womb (Genesis 30:23, Isaiah 4:1, Luke 1:25); widowhood (Isaiah 54:4); hunger (Ezekiel 36:30); disease (Job 19:5), ritual/uncircumcision (Genesis 34:14, Joshua 5:9); or injuries from enemies (Lamentations 3:30; Lamentations 5:1; Nehemiah 1:3; Job 16:10; Daniel 11:18).

When the Children of Israel were about to enter the Promised Land, God told Joshua to circumcise all the males who were born in the wilderness. All the people who came out of Egypt had been circumcised, but the people born in the wilderness, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised.

When they had finished circumcising all the people, The Lord told Joshua that from “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Before God took away their reproach, the Children of Israel had wondered in the wilderness for 40 years until all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt died, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord.

Before Jesus Christ began His public ministry, He too was tempted by the devil in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights (Matthew 4:1-11). The servant is not greater than his master therefore as followers of Jesus Christ, we too must go through our wilderness experience.

The wilderness is a terrible place where there are “fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water” (Deuteronomy 8:15). The wilderness is a painful experience to go through however it is necessary because it is the place where the Lord humbles us and allows us to suffer hunger to make us to know that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of The Lord (Deuteronomy 8:3).

However just like God removed the reproach from the Children of Israel and allowed them to enter the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness; and just like Jesus returned from the wilderness in the power of the Spirit and began His public ministry after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, God will also remove our reproach after we have gone through our wilderness experience. We also will enter our Promised Land, which is the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven (Revelation 21:2).

When going through the wilderness experience and it seems like God has abandoned you, please remember that you are never alone because God said He will never leave you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6). Secondly please remember to keep your heart right with God because the circumcision that God is looking for is a circumcision of the heart (Romans 2:29). True circumcision is when our heart is right with God which is produced by God’s Spirit living in our hearts.

Today, if you are facing any situation of shame and disgrace, do not despair. You may be presently going through your wilderness experience. Remember that the purpose of the wilderness is to humble you. What God is looking for is to develop your character for you to have a right heart towards Him. After you have passed the test God will take away the reproach you inherited when you were out in the world before you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, I thank You for Your Word today. Please help me to be patient in my wilderness and to remember that You allow me to suffer reproach to humble me and for me to develop my dependency on You. Please help me to keep a good attitude towards You and to trust You even when I do not understand. From today, please roll away the reproach from the world from me and release me to fulfil Your destiny for my life, in Jesus name, Amen.

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Healing Prayer / You Are The One

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God bless,

Blessing