Day #52

Begin this time in prayer. There is a funny little acronym that people have used for a long time for praying.  ACTS.

A-Adoration (tell God what He means to you)

C-Confession (talk to God about your sin)

T-Thanksgiving (tell Him thanks for the what He has given)

S-Supplication (pray for others)

Take a blanket outside in the shade somewhere and give this some serious effort. Go on, you can do this.

Please read James 4:6.

In this verse, James quotes another verse, which is Proverbs (3:34).  His topic is God’s grace to the humble and God’s resistance and judgment to the prideful.  But before we move any further, there are some things we need to be clear on.

Do you know what God's GRACE is?  Grace is God’s unmerited favor.  We did nothing to deserve this favor, but He gives it anyway.  Remember who God gives His grace to?  Yep, the humble!  But what does humble mean?

Humble (definition) -  Marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful; An admirable quality that not many people possess. It means that a person may have accomplished a lot, or be a lot, but doesn't feel it is necessary to advertise or brag about it; being humble is the opposite of being prideful and self-promoting.

So… God is pleased with humility!! 

Let’s read more of what God’s Word has to say about humility…

Proverbs 3:34 (write notes in your journal on all of these)

James 4:10

1 Peter 5:5

Now that we understand humility, let’s learn about what it is to be PRIDEFUL.  PRIDEFUL is the opposite of humble.  When our character can be described as prideful, we have chosen the praise and methods of this world and are acting as GOD’s enemies (read James 4:4).  God will resist us in this condition. 

Take a few moments to ask God if you have pride.  Seriously ask, because He will show you.  He will help you remember or show you in the next thing you do.  No joke… happens every time I ask.

Now this is where it gets really interesting…

For the past few days we have been learning about 3 conflicts…

1.    The world is in conflict with God.

2.    The flesh (see Day #51) is in conflict with the Holy Spirit.

3.    The devil is in conflict with Jesus.

Even though Jesus’ death on the cross, won the battle between God and Satan for the souls of men… Satan still wants to deceive and destroy.

One of Satan’s biggest weapons is PRIDE.  He wants us to be tangled up in it.  Remember what happened to Eve in the garden?  “You will be like God,” Satan promised Eve, if she would just eat the fruit.  And she believed him.  Then all they had with God was taken away… destruction.

God wants us to depend on His grace.  Satan wants us to depend on ourselves.  If Satan had a gimmick for his version of life, it would be “do it yourself.”  He enjoys inflating our ego and encouraging believers to do it their own way.  And then he loves watching us get destroyed by it.

One great story of pride in the Bible is when Peter chopped the ear off of the soldier that was taking Jesus away from the garden to see Pilate.  Peter had pride that he could protect Jesus from these soldiers.  Really, protect Jesus?  He is the Son of God for heaven sake!!  Jesus could have wiped them out by breathing on them. Peter wasn’t even listening when Jesus said that dying on the cross was all part of God’s plan.  He embarrassed himself with that choice!

Now what about your pride story?  Can you recall a time that you promoted yourself, your abilities, your talents, your wisdom… and made a fool of yourself?  I sure can.  What an idiot.  Shall we say EMBARRASSED?

Tomorrow we will learn about how to overcome all this conflict!!  God is so good to us!  Thank you for your wisdom God!  May we not get prideful with it.

TARGET of the DAY

In our Christian circles (family, friends, school, actual church), we have too many celebrities and not enough servants.  Isn’t that terrible to think that our Christianity can puff us up?  Many Christians walk around full of pride in their abilities, experiences, or knowledge, that there is no room for God to be glorified.

If there is anything that we can walk away with today it is this… Romans 7:18.  But, when we trust in Christ, it is the HOLY SPIRIT’s goodness that must be allowed to shine through us.  We can have talent, training, and experience, but these will never take the place of the power of the Holy Spirit.