PRIDE

God had to show me, in a dream today, the log that is in my eye. This log is called pride. I was scamming through the Christian videos to get "encouragement" and "enlightenment" you know all that good stuff and I came across pride. Now, in my hidden selfish heart, my plan was to watch this video so that I can see where people fall under this so that I can have some good back-up. As I am listening, it was not at all what I was thinking I was going to hear. This video was not supposed to be about me...but the more I heard it, the more I kept hearing me. It got to the point where I wondered, how can anyone live and avoid running into this pride that he is preaching about. That would mean that everything I do is driven by pride. Could this really be true? How can I be saved and have this quiet pride dominate me? Maybe this man is over doing it with his message. Well, as usual, God put me to sleep and guess what my dream was about??? The whole dream was stupid, to me, until I woke up and realizes what it was all about and what God was showing me. The dream went from one scene to another so fast where in real life, I shouldn't have been able to keep up but in a dream, each one seems like all day. Each scene showed me acting, responding, thinking with complete selfishness. That's what drives pride. I had an excuse for everything that I was doing but I was being convicted after doing it. These were everyday simple things that I do that are normal (to me) that God was showing me, its pride. Pride had me take the attention off of the people who were doing wrong and put it on me by saying, "I'll be honest, I probably would have done it too". Instead of showing them the way (to God). Pride had me get a woman fired for being rude to me and I enjoyed it for a minute. Instead of forgiving her. Pride had me join a group of people who would accept me because I dare not step out of my comfort zone. Instead of going to all people to share the word of God. With all these things going on in my dream, I realize that pride is easily driving me. Pride makes me silent when I should speak up, and pride makes me speak up when I should be silent. Pride makes me point out others sin that I feel is far worse than me because they made me mad instead of edifying and exhorting them. This is not always but it's enough. If I was edifying or exhorting them, I would give the correction along with encouragement like a parent or a friend does. I am so thankful that God stepped in and showed me where I can understand plainly. I woke up with a bad migraine because so much was going on in my dream and God woke me up abruptly.

This is the thing that God showed me: When we were born, we were born selfish, and self-centered. We were born wanting to eat. Okay, we were born needing to eat but all babies quickly learn that when they want something, they want it now and will scream until they get it. When they get a little older, they know how to throw a "tantrum" until they get what they want. When they are in a store, it doesn't matter what mommy said that she doesn't have the money, they will pout, make a mean face, stump their feet, do whatever it takes until the mom, or dad, changes their mind because the child/teenager do not care about the financial woes, as long as the parent give them what they want. I can go on but we get the picture. Then, we found out about Jesus and become saved. Although our hearts are changing, we still have the flesh. We still know what to do to get what we want and sometimes, without even being conscious of it, we act (nag, pout, give the silent treatment, ignore others pain etc) out until we get what we want, whether it's from our parents, our friends, and our relationships. Our wants come above what they got going on. That is called selfish.

Selfish is the main ingredient in pride. We lie because of pride. Examples: We don't want anyone to know that we are not doing well in life so we will do whatever it takes to cover it up. But a person can only cover themselves for so long because people eventually find out what you are doing. And how can God use someone else to bless us if we continue to cover things up? I'm not talking blasting your problems to everyone but what I am saying is to not try to lie by hiding either. You keep doing it long enough and you will end up becoming someone you never wanted to be. Pride wants us to look low at everyone else so that we can feel better about who we are. There is more but I will not use up all the room on this page. So, what do we do about this pride? Well, first thing is, we must take away all thoughts about what we want and concentrate our attention to what God wants. We must evaluate our life and see if we are pleasing God by the way we live and behave. Our lives reflect God and everthing we do must glorify God. So we must check to see if we are glorifying God in the way we live and in all the things we do. We must be willing to give up and leave behind the things that are not pleasing to Him, even if it means quitting our job, leaving our friends behind who are hindering us, ending a relationship/not marriage, getting rid of things in your home like music, movies etc... that will hinder your walk with Christ. Pride and selfishness will have a major problem doing this but you first must be aware of it and then get rid of it. We want God to bless our lives and our families. He also want to bless us. We have to get off our high horse and become a servant. When you are low (humble), God will lift you up, but when you are high (prideful), God will bring you down. The word of God teaches that pride comes before the fall. I hope what I shared will be a blessing or a help to you. I love you all, have a blessed day.