Article of the Month WHAT IS PRIDE

Pride is a characteristic of Satan. It is the sin of Lucifer. It is an evil spirit. Pride is not of the Father (I John 2:16) and it is of the world (I John 2:16) . If any one has pride that is because of the influence of the evil spirit. In other words, it is the spirit of pride that influences human beings to be proud in a variety of ways, with a lack of awareness of its serious consequences. The Bible warns us very severely that after pride, destruction will follow. Satan comes to human beings to steal, kill and destroy.

     ·         Pride is arrogant (Isaiah 13:11, Proverbs 8:13)
·         Pride does not submit (Proverbs 8:13)
·         Pride is haughty (Isaiah 3:16, Isaiah 16:6)
·         Pride exalts self (Psalm 17:10)
·         Pride brags and boasts
·         Pride ill treats others
·         Pride insults and ridicules others
·         Pride rages, puffs up, gets furious and is easily provoked
·         Pride is violent and it attacks (Psalm 73:6)
·         Pride argues and fights
·         Pride engages in contentions and wars (Proverbs 13:10)
·         Pride persecutes and is merciless (Psalm 10:2)
·         Pride rejoices in iniquities
·         Pride violates God's Laws
·         Pride is avaricious and covetous
·         Pride does not humble itself
·         Pride is blind to the truth (Revelation 3:17)
·         Pride is wise in its own eyes (Proverbs 3:7)
·         Pride takes revenge
·         Pride hates and abhors
·         Pride accuses others
·         Pride is foolish
·         Pride does not take counsel of others
·         Pride resists, reacts and retaliates
·         Pride trusts in something in which one has pride
·         Pride does not trust God
·         Pride is evil
·         Pride is rude
·         Pride gets angry
·         Pride is selfish
·         Pride does not love others
·         Pride does not return to the Lord (Hosea 7:10)
·         Pride is not patient (Ecclesiastes 7:8)
·         Pride does not have true love
·         Pride has a feeling of superiority
·         Pride puts others down
·         Pride thinks too highly of its own self
·         Pride is self-conceited
·         Pride stirs up strife (Proverbs 28:25)
·         Pride is not humble
·         Pride is discontent and dissatisfied
·         Pride commits acts of sacrilege and desecration

Some people have spiritual pride. They think that that they are more spiritual than others. This is what we call a "holier than thou" attitude. To some extent they have almost all the characteristics of pride listed above. Some scriptural examples are given below:

      ·         I am clean (Job 33:9)
·         I am without transgression. (Job 33:9)
·         I am innocent (Job 33:9)
·         There is no iniquity in me (Job 33:9)
·         I am not as other men (Luke 18:11)
·         We have never been in bondage (John 8:33)

WHAT CAUSES A PERSON TO HAVE PRIDE?

Generally a special blessing or favor of the Lord serves as the root cause of Pride. When God blesses us and exalts us above others we should be thankful and grateful to God. We should be sympathetic towards the less fortunate ones and try to be a blessing to them. But some people are very proud because of what they have or what they are.

God gave Lucifer, the archangel the highest position in heaven and the maximum amount of beauty and riches. But unfortunately, pride got hold of him and as a result of which, he wanted to ascend even above God. This pride was the cause for the downfall of Satan.

Now in the world in which we are living, again it is the little extra blessing that God blesses some people with, becomes the root cause of their pride. In some people we can see:

      ·         The pride of higher education
·         The pride of wealth
·         The pride of power
·         The pride of a rich heritage
·         The pride of good looks or beauty
·         The pride of superiority
·         The pride of position
·         The pride of skills or abilities
·         The pride of higher technology
·         The pride of affluence
·         The pride of superior caste or race
·         The pride of the family background etc.

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF PRIDE?

The Bible severely warns about the serious consequences of the sin of pride as follows:

      ·         God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6 and I Peter 5:5)
·         Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18)
·         When pride cometh then cometh shame but with the lowly is wisdom. (Proverbs 11:2)
·         A Man's pride will bring him low in wisdom but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. (Proverbs 29:23)
·         A man's pride shall bring him low; but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. (Proverbs 29:23)
·         Sin is the iniquity of Sodom (Ezekiel 16:49)
·         Those that walk in pride shall be abased. (Daniel 4:37)
·         Pride (of Israel) does not return to the Lord their God and does not seek him. (Hosea 7:10)
·         The pride of heart deceives (Obadiah 3, Jeremiah 49:16)
·         He that is lifted up with pride will fall into the condemnation of the devil. (I Timothy 3:6, Proverbs 16:8)
·         The pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. (I John 2:16)
·         Pride causes a person to lose God's grace (James 4:6, I Peter 5:5)
·         Pride causes us to be abased (Daniel 4:37)
·         Pride brings dishonor (Proverbs 29:23)
·         Pride brings condemnation (Proverbs 16:8)
·         Pride causes a person to come down (Ezekiel 30:6)
·         Pride makes one feel wretched (Revelation 3:17)
·         Pride makes a person miserable (Revelation 3:17)
·         Pride makes one poor (Revelation 3:17)
·         The pride of her power shall come down (Ezekiel 30:6)
·         For the power of Jordan is spoiled (Zechariah 11:3)
·         Pride compasseth them about as a chain (Psalm 119:21, Proverbs 6:17)

In the Bible we can see clearly several examples of people who became so proud because of some superiority they had either in power or riches, and how it brought their down fall in a terrible way!

· Lucifer was in Eden, the garden of God and every precious stone was his covering. He was the anointed cherub, and was upon the holy mountain of God. The multitude of his merchandise and his beauty corrupted his wisdom and pride brought him the downfall. (Ezekiel 28:13-18)

· Hezekiah, the king of Israel rendered not according to the benefit done unto him, because his heart was lifted up. Therefore, the wrath of God was upon him. But when he humbled himself the wrath of God did not come upon him. (II Chronicles 32:25-26) He had exceeding much riches and honor.

· Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, said to Moses "Who is the Lord?" meaning that there was no one above him. (Exodus 5:2) The Lord showed to Pharaoh who He was and Pharaoh had no choice but to let the children of God go from Egypt from the captivity and bondage they were in. The pride of Pharaoh brought several plagues and destruction to Egypt.

· Naman, the captain in the army of the King of Syria was wroth and went with rage because of his pride of the position that he had (II Kings 5:11) when Elisha sent his servant to tell him to go to Jordan and dip himself seven times to be cleansed of his leprosy. Finally only when he humbled himself and obeyed the man of God, he got healed.

· God made Uzziah, the king of Judah to prosper as long as he sought the Lord (II Chronicles 26:16) . But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. He dared to go into the temple and burned the incense in the altar. When Azariah, the chief priest and four scores of priests that went along with him confronted the king and told him that he trespassed and violated God's law, Uzziah was wroth. But right away in the presence of the priests, the leprosy of Uzziah rose up to his forehead.

· Haman, a man in a high position of authority, was full of wroth (because of his pride of authority and position that he had). Finally, he was hanged in the same gallows that he built to hang Mordecai.

· Nebuchadnezzar, bragged out of pride, saying 'Is not this great Babylon that I have built by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty (Daniel 4:30) . Immediately a voice came from heaven saying, " The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will (Daniel 4:31-32) . The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar; and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws (Daniel 4:32-33)

· The King Belshazzar, did not humble his heart to the Lord though he knew Him, but lifted up himself against the Lord of heaven, and they brought the vessels of Gold, silver, brass iron and wood, and drank wine in them with his lords, wives and concubines, and praised the gods of silver, gold, brass, iron and wood, and did not glorify the God in whose hand was his breath whose were all his ways (Daniel 5:22-23) . Because of that, a hand appeared and wrote as follows: "MENE, MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN" meaning " God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Thy kingdom is divided, and given to Medes and Persians (Daniel 4:24-28) . In the same night Belshazzar was slain.

All these true stories of the downfall of great kings and those in positions of authority illustrates the powerful truth that pride will bring evil, great downfall, destruction, shame, iniquity, abasement, deception and condemnation. These few examples cited from the Bible warns us severely about the grave consequences of the sin of pride which manifests itself and operates in a variety of ways.

	Therefore, it is very important to examine ourselves in the light of the word of God, and make sure that we never fall into the trap of the sin of "pride."
Self-Evaluation Questionnaire to measure the degree of our pride in life

6. Do you trust in your own knowledge, ability and resources rather than trusting in God? Yes__No__

7. Are you discontent or dissatisfied with anything in your life and complain? Yes__No__

(Through your negative responses you can identify the areas of your weakness with

Pride is the result of the evil influence of Satan. If we do not recognize the subtle and deceptive ways he uses to instill into us the spirit of pride, we will become the victims of Satan. Our beliefs, attitudes and behavior may seem to be right, reasonable and proper in our own minds and understanding.

But when we allow the spirit of pride to operate in and through us, it will slowly cause us to become....
n Haughty
n Arrogant
n Impatient
n Rude
n Contentious
n Violent