Tag: pride

Put On Your Armour


Ephesians 6: 10 – 13.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand and after the battle you will still be standing firm.”.

If only we could realize, grasp and come to a full understanding that while in the heat of our battles our struggles with one another are not really with one another at all, but with the enemy himself in the unseen dimension of spiritual forces. In the middle of discouragements, anxieties, power struggles, deceptions, and all of our horrendous battles, it’s the old enemy, deceiver who has gained a foothold and is doing all in his power to bind us in our strongholds of selfishness, pride, resentment, bitterness, anger, strife and unforgiveness. He knows how to render us ineffective and will target us in our weakest moment and at our weakest point. We must be on guard, alert to his strategies, ready to take our stand and stand our ground against him. It’s so important to daily wrap ourselves in the full armour of God. To stand on God’s righteous Truth, grounded with peace, clothed and protected with the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and God’s all powerful Word; the sword of the Spirit. Notice, there is nothing for our back. A good indication that we are not to run from the problem, by protecting ourselves with lies or calling judgment upon others. Retaliation is the devil’s right hand man and what he uses to take us deeper into the pit of ruin! Rather than retaliation, we are called to simply stand firm in God’s confidence, trust Him, make the right choices, do the right things, and watch Him deliver us into victory.

“Christ out-witted the strategy of the Prince of the power of the air, milked the serpent of his venom, out-thought the thinkers, out-fought the fighters, outclassed the mighty and asserted His universal Lordship. Jesus Christ is Lord; Sovereign and omnipotent. Ruler and King of Kings.” I love it but I don’t know the writer.

Let’s raise the banner of God’s sovereign majesty and fly His victorious flag, high for all to see…His victory is our victory! Let’s claim it for our lives for it’s through His victory that our marriages become stronger, our homes become happier, our families become more stable, our children more secure, our churches more spiritually alive and personal lives more solidly grounded, more mature in the faith. Put on that full armor before you face your day, remember His faithfulness and His promises and step out under God’s banner of victory!
~k

Psalm 91: 1, 2, 4a.
“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High, will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. He alone is my refuge, my place of safety. His faithful promises are your armor of protection..”
#Soulfire

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Keep An Eye On You


Galatians 6:1

” Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”

This one goes deep and should capture some very interesting comments. Oh don’t we love to tell others where they’re wrong and where they’ve failed and how they’ve hurt us or offended us? Don’t we love to ‘set them straight’ and tell them they’ve missed the mark? We get so caught up in the wrong that others have done, that we fail to identify the pride in our own lives.

Definitely pride has to dissipate before we reach the point of correcting or admonishing someone we believe is wrong. I love how Christ knelt down before pride and guilt when the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery, before him. He knelt and scribbled in the dirt. We don’t know what He wrote but I can’t help think it was more of an act of humility before pride, than it was anything else. Can we kneel or bend down before our offenders or is it more likely that we use words or revenge to set them straight and weigh the balance of the scales. Admonishing is a gentle correction done in humility, not a harsh judgment call of condemnation. When admonishing, there is danger of becoming ensnared in sin, namely pride. Perhaps becoming entangled in argumentative spirit, which again, is pride. Admonishing requires preparation time. It requires prayer and  godly wisdom.  That wisdom God gives us if we ask. We dare not admonish another unless we’ve been bathed in prayer, and have grown in wisdom. It’s only true humility that’s wise enough and strong enough to help another up.

David, was a man after God’s own heart. A shepherd boy chosen by God to become King and be used mightily for God’s glory. Yet, he rose to pride and fell far into sin. He covered it up in denial, and thought all was well, until God broke the silence, opened the curtain and sent Nathan the prophet to take centre stage. Nathan knew the story of what happened and wisely grabbed David’s attention with a story close to David’s heart…that of a sheep story and of the rich stealing from the poor. David was angered and grace was absent as he quickly called judgement of death upon the thief. It was then, Nathan’s words hit like a bullet. “You are the man!” David had been caught off guard in his condemnation. He was guilty in the first degree. He had no defence and uttered no response. The truth was out and he had nothing to say. The lesson for us? Let’s be challenged to be on guard and watch the pride in our lives, lest we fall into hidden sin and the sin of self righteousness. Self righteousness will call bitter judgement upon someone else, but, as it did with David, it may return like a boomerang as we fall into the hands of God’s judgement ourselves. How are we living? Has the huge plank been removed out of our own eye? Let’s make sure that it is, before we consider ourselves, spiritually fit enough to set someone else straight. Let’s take care to bathe our minds and our hearts in prayer and saturate our souls with God’s word. Ask for His wisdom and guidance. Perhaps a true, honest, self evaluation is all that’s needed to see the faults of others dissipate and pale in comparison to what we see portrayed in ourselves.

~k
#Fragmentedsouls #SoulFire

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Pitiful Pride


Romans 14:11

“It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’””.

Sometimes personal opinions get in the way and cause problems within the body of believers, within our churches don’t they? We tend to have this ‘I’m right, your wrong’ attitude when it comes to how we should live our lives and put our faith into action. In our verse today, Paul addresses some of these issues because Jewish custom and culture was very different than Gentile culture and it showed in their manner of eating, and in other areas as well. Some were looking down their noses with contempt at others of the faith, who saw things very differently. Paul’s point here, is that these things do not matter in the big picture, because faith isn’t grounded on these issues. True Faith is grounded on the pure and simple gospel message of the cross , the Lord and the Christ who died to make atonement for our sins possible and bring salvation to the lost. It is God, who is the true and righteous Judge, who will deal with the flaws and shortcoming of His people, when every knee bows before Him and every tongue confesses Him as Lord. God will deal with it as He sees fit. Paul reminds the believers that each brother and sister in the Lord, is responsible for themselves personally, before God and judgment from others is unnecessary and uncalled for. In other words, we are not to judge! Plain and simple!

However, because of pride, we get caught up in this haughty mindset and take judgmental authority upon ourselves in order to straighten every one out. We begin to rebuke, criticize, condemn and slander, even cry ‘hypocrite’ to new or even seasoned believers, for not adhering to our self – made ‘laws’ that we govern our own lives by. Such non – graced action quickly leads to dissension, quarreling and divisive behavior, when it’s really no concern of ours, how others, who profess their faith in Christ, live their lives. Paul makes it clear that we are not too look with scorn on those weaker in faith or on those who live out their faith in the Lord differently than we do.


Have you been judged, criticized and ridiculed for something? Has it hurt you or made you leave the unity of the body of believers? It’s the enemy’s tactic for causing strife and bitterness. It’s sad and it shouldn’t happen! Or maybe you’ve been the judge and held the gavel over someone’s head while pronouncing them guilty as charged. That’s pride and is also the enemy’s tactic for causing division. It’s wrong and Paul says we have no business doing that! Instead, we need to take account of ourselves before God and make sure that our own hearts are right!

Now it can get really personal and this is where our true colors of the faith show. It’s where our mature, strong faith in Christ will show up or not! If our behavior causes others to question and doubt, then, we, who are strong in the faith, need to put the questionable behavior behind us and act in such a way that it will glorify Christ and speak lovingly to others. Why? Because as mature Christians, we need to take responsibility for our actions. Forgive and receive forgiveness if need be and put our self-righteousness behind us. Our main goal as a Christ One is to win the lost and be excellent representatives for the Lord and His work. If something we do, hurts someone, then we have a responsibility to own up to it and stop it! It’s our responsibility to maintain peace and share joy, compassion and love within our circles of influence. No, we don’t look at someone else but let’s look into the mirror and yeah, everyone let’s heed Paul’s words of wisdom and quit passing judgment on our brothers and sisters because according to us, they don’t measure up, and let’s make sure we don’t give others any reason to question our own testimony for the Lord. Friends, if we could all live in such a way, our world would be wonderful and our churches? Well…they would not be divided, for each one would settle their accounts before God, give grace where needed and maintain peace and unity within the body of believers.
#soulFire

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Humpty Dumpty

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So hey, it’s a big world out there and it’s a fragile world with a lot of broken pieces scattered in all directions. A lot of broken people and a lot of Humpty Dumptys that have fallen to their despair from walls of pride. Some beautiful souls have fallen, paralyzed by fear and insecurities and some broken and beautiful souls, have fallen into temptation, becoming prey to the world and present circumstances. So many broken hearts and hurts in relationships stand in need of mending and repair. So much brokenness ~ so much pain; Yet all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put them back together again. The souls at stake are our souls, precious souls and beautiful souls and some are the innocent souls of children caught in the cross fire and strife of it all. What are their options? How did it all begin and where does it all end? Will it ever end? Tender and compassionate hearts can help but it’s only our all-knowing God and the One who specializes in transforming hearts and lives and making beauty from ashes can lead you through it! It took some time to get there so it will take some time to get out but a decision to walk with God in obedience is your best option. We don’t have to be perfect to be blessed and we don’t have to be perfect to be used by Him. So for those failures that haunt your soul ~ give them over and choose today to make a difference regardless of your circumstances. God is in the business of getting us out of deep trouble and leading us into the safety of His home and the shelter of His arms. Rest there ~ with Him and find peace for this troubled hour and troubled heart.

The Sovereign, omnipotent King and the one True God ~ creator of life itself, has all the brilliant credentials and the awesome mastermind to put you back together again. Begin now! Be clay in His hands! Walk with Him and listen to His counsel.

Isaiah 61: 1-3
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,and provide for those who grieve in Zion– to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor.

❤ ❤ ❤

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