UNLOCK THE PRISON DOORS OF PRIDE:
Dealing With the root-wrongs of everything:
How to Heal the Church,...and your own life as well.

Every wrong attitude of heart has its origins with pride. As it is written,
“IF MY PEOPLE that are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” ~ 2 Chronicles 7:14

As a missionary and a Christian minister I have noticed that there are a lot of people and churches going through trials. There is disunity, divisions, bad testimonies through compromise and sin. So I pray and seek God for answers and how to help bring healing and victory to those who are truly born of God’s Spirit.
I believe that every wrong attitude of heart starts with PRIDE! Those attitudes include; hatred, anger, unforgiveness, jealousy, envy, resentment, independent spirit and rebellion, lack of love and offensive actions such as: fighting, divisions, slander and gossip, also compromise and every kind sin. I believe the root problem of all of these things is pride.

1 Peter 5:5-7 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for
“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

James 4:6-10 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

To quote one of the short proverbs from my husband’s little book, Wisdom for the Wise: “Be humble … or you’ll stumble.”

There are so many warnings in scripture against pride. Let me quote for you just a few:

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction. And a haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.

Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride will bring him low. But the humble in spirit will retain honor.

If you want trials, problems and situations that bring you shame, and lots of trouble: just keep your pride. If you are a Christian you will be humbled through God’s Fatherly chastening process till you repent of the pride and the attitudes it has caused in you.

Hebrews 12:5-6 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. For whom the Lord loves He chastens. And scourges every son whom He receives.”

It is far better to humble yourself than to require God to chasten the pride out of you. However, sometimes pride will only go out through chastening and/or the Refiner’s Fire. That’s because pride blinds the heart and we often can not see ourselves honestly. We can usually see the faults in others a lot faster than we see our own. It is also pride which inspires the judging of others, often harshly or unfairly.

Whatever you do if you are being chastened, GIVE IN TO GOD! Don’t harden your heart and rebel. YEILD! SUBMIT!

It is far better to be honest-hearted about yourself and simply ask sincerely, ‘God, help me to see myself as You see me. Help me to see myself as others see me and give me a true and balanced view of myself. In Jesus’ name.’ God will answer that prayer.

I have found that there is very little true discipling going on inside most of the churches of today. There are worship services, seminars, Bible study groups and even care groups, that should provide deeper discipling. However, true discipling requires that the student or follower is willing to be accountable and teachable, which requires humility. When I was a very young Christian I was privileged to live with my pastor and his wife and child. I was subject to them and began to be truly discipled. That was 32 years ago. Today the attitude of new converts is often very different. There is little conviction of sin and thus little understanding of the need to change and be discipled in the truths that will bring the virtues of humility and the formation of true Christian character. As a missionary and teacher I find it so hard to disciple new converts. Few and far between are the humble that want someone to make them accountable, teachable, and correctable.

Jesus said, Mark 10:15 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.

Sometimes, true enough, people criticize us and we might get a little defensive. It’s easy to get defensive, especially if we have pride, but even if the critics are wrong we need to ask, ‘Is there any truth in this criticism?’ And remember: faithful, loving, caring critics are a gift from God.

Now remember the sin of satan, above all else, was pride and rebellion. When you have pride you also will have rebellion in your heart. It caused Lucifer, to be cast out of heaven, and made him God’s enemy and ours. GOD HATES PRIDE!

Proverbs 8: 13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.

In the book of Daniel it tells of the pride of a king named Nebuchadnezzar. He lost his senses for seven years and lived like an animal who ate grass, - all because of pride and self exaltation. At the end of seven years God restored him and here is what he learned from the experience:

Daniel 4:37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.

Today, we should seek to understand this very clearly: God is cleansing His people and purifying those that are His true children.
We should pray often the powerful, searching prayer of Psalm 139:23+24
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
He will search our hearts and does so whether we ask or not. But it is always best if we ask Him to do so *by willing invitation.* He simply won’t endure pride in His children, in His church, or in His bride. The world is destroying itself by way of war, greed, power struggles, hatred, violence, jealousies and all the horrible fruits of pride. GOD WON’T TOLORATE PRIDE TO REIGN AND RULE IN HIS TRUE CHURCH. It has brought such division and compromise and deception and scandals and reproach to the name Christian and Christianity. IT MUST STOP! WILL IT STOP WITH YOU ?

Face it. Plead with God to make you an overcomer of this UGLY and DEADLY SIN.

I will share a few lines from a prayer book by Beth Moore. It is a powerful poem worth reading carefully…

My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
I cheat you of your God-given destiny …
because you demand Your own way.
I cheat you of contentment… because you
“deserve better than this.”I cheat you of knowledge
… because you Already Know it all.
I cheat you of healing… because you’re too full of
“Me“ to forgive.
I cheat you of holiness … because you refuse to
Admit when you’re wrong.
I cheat you of vision … because you’d rather
Look in the mirror than out a window.
I cheat you of genuine friendship … because
Nobody’s going to know the real you.
I cheat you of love … because real romance
Demands sacrifice.
I cheat you of greatness in heaven … because you
Refuse to wash another’s feet on earth.
I cheat you of GOD’S GLORY…BECAUSE I CONVINCE
YOU TO SEEK YOUR OWN.
MY NAME IS PRIDE. I AM A CHEATER.
YOU LIKE ME BECAUSE YOU THINK I’M ALWAYS LOOKING
OUT FOR YOU. UNTRUE. I’M LOOKING TO MAKE A FOOL OF YOU.
GOD HAS SO MUCH FOR YOU. I ADMIT, BUT DON’T WORRY …
IF YOU STICK WITH ME
YOU’LL NEVER KNOW.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blessings upon you and true unity and healing be upon the church of Jesus Christ as we rid ourselves of pride and all of its attendant wrongs.

His servant & friend,
Lynne S. Young Hummel