How do you deal with pride?

[Razare]

I been watching Andrew Wommack's teaching on pride and it's come to me this is a big problem for me.

It wasn't long ago God showed me all the rotten stuff in my heart, and for me it goes beyond just saying, "I repent". "I repent" isn't good enough because if I got murder locked away in my heart somewhere, a couple meaningless words don't amount to squat.

And I have wondered what all my problems were since I became a Christian and this is it. I fall into temptation really badly and it seems like I have no help to resist but it's because I got pride.

And it's so bad it doesn't seem like I can do much. Like even work... I get pride from working, so do I quit? No, God doesn't want me to quit working, but he doesn't want me to be in pride when I work.

Pride is something I learned to do over 30 years and trying to change it is hard.

And then when I start coming out of my pride, I get upset because the "right way" seems like it's always out of my reach. I then often have a desire to just pour gasoline on parts of my life and burn it. Like my job. "Well if my job is making me prideful, I'll just quit it. I only got the dumb thing because it said to in the Bible."

Just seems like my life was rigged to fail miserably at all things Christian.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

Quitting things your are proud of is not the answer. The answer lies in the following scripture.

Mathew 26:41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

We all have sin in our lives to some degree, the way to beat it is to spend time in Gods presence, and I don't mean just a 5 minute prayer. We should be spending no less than an hour in God's presence each day. When we are in God's presence His nature and strength rubs off onto us. You will find He will give you a humble Spirit.

 

[ValleyGal]

Getting a sense of pride in your work is a whole lot different than the character defect of pride. There is nothing wrong with taking pride in a job well done - it speaks to confidence. But when pride goes to your head, or when your pride is a matter of character, then it needs to be dealt with. How to do this> I think there is only one way. Pride as a character defect is embedded in our sin nature. There is no getting over it, except to acknowledge that you have it and because of it, you rely on the saving grace of the Lord Jesus. Since it is embedded into mankind, there is no other way.

You can minimize its effect on the community around you, though. Think about the worst offense known to mankind, in fact, all the worst offenses known to mankind in one person.... and then knowing that the most wicked person with those offenses is the one Jesus died for - while that person was still in their wickedness, their sin, the height of their pride. And you are no better or worse, because we all have that same propensity for wickedness, and Jesus died for you, while you are in that wickedness, driven to the cross by such unimaginable love for you. How can such great love cover over the wickedness of the human soul just so you can stand before a holy God.

The sense that you have when you recognize the depth of your own propensity for wickedness - and contrast that when you are covered in Christ as you stand before a holy God.... hold onto that sense. That is humility, and it is the only way to overcome pride.

 

[Razare]

Getting a sense of pride in your work is a whole lot different than the character defect of pride.

Not in my case. I wont speak for the whole human race in this regard, but I can make an idol out of my job or the work I do. I'm in management so too there pride can get at me.

Pride as a character defect is embedded in our sin nature. There is no getting over it, except to acknowledge that you have it and because of it, you rely on the saving grace of the Lord Jesus. Since it is embedded into mankind, there is no other way.

I get what you're saying, but the sin nature died. When I first got born again, and a few times since then, the corruption that is of the world completely left me momentarily for brief periods, along with pride, malice, ect.

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. - Colossians 3:8

... count yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. - Romans 6:11

That indwelling sin Paul talks about is a real thing in Romans. What that is, is the anger, wrath, malice, slander, ect. that we've not cast off yet. And even if someone has cast it off, it will try to come back. But a person could live months or years without such things. The sin nature though, was crucified.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:20

This was revelation to my pastor when it dawned on him. Up until a couple years ago, he was believing he had 2 natures, Christ and a sin nature, and he had to feed the spirit more than the sin nature. But the sin nature died. Anything left over is like tattered rags on the outside... or like in my case, pride got into my heart. But I can resist it with God's help and get it out. I've already gone a great deal in that direction to resist it and be free of it in my heart by submitting to God. This is what Proverbs 4 talks about in keeping our heart.

Anyway, I just mentioned this to maybe minister to you.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[ValleyGal]

Our sin nature does not leave. Sorry. Instead, as we yield ourselves to the Spirit, he will start to transform us, but until we see Jesus face to face, we will always have a sin nature - and we must continually die to it. It's not something we died to once and for all, otherwise we would all be perfect and would not struggle with sin.

I advise Freedom Session. It helps you to deal with pride as a character defect. The only way to beat sin is with holiness. The only way to beat drunkenness is with sobriety. The only way to beat pride is with humility. And true humility is knowing the depth of your own human nature in contrast to the magnitude of God's holiness.

 

[aiki]

I been watching Andrew Wommack's teaching on pride and it's come to me this is a big problem for me.

It wasn't long ago God showed me all the rotten stuff in my heart, and for me it goes beyond just saying, "I repent". "I repent" isn't good enough because if I got murder locked away in my heart somewhere, a couple meaningless words don't amount to squat.

And I have wondered what all my problems were since I became a Christian and this is it. I fall into temptation really badly and it seems like I have no help to resist but it's because I got pride.

And it's so bad it doesn't seem like I can do much. Like even work... I get pride from working, so do I quit? No, God doesn't want me to quit working, but he doesn't want me to be in pride when I work.

Pride is something I learned to do over 30 years and trying to change it is hard.

And then when I start coming out of my pride, I get upset because the "right way" seems like it's always out of my reach. I then often have a desire to just pour gasoline on parts of my life and burn it. Like my job. "Well if my job is making me prideful, I'll just quit it. I only got the dumb thing because it said to in the Bible."

Just seems like my life was rigged to fail miserably at all things Christian.

In a way, God has rigged your life to fail miserably. You see, none of us can be the person God calls us to be on our own. It sometimes takes years, but eventually, if a believer is really concerned about going deep with God, they come to see that what Jesus says is true:

John 15:5
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

I used to get really caught up trying to deal with the symptoms of Self: pride, selfishness, lust, anger, etc. I would strive to be better, to control myself, to honor God, to squelch the impulses of my fleshly, carnal Self. But doing so was like trying to heal a leper by putting band-aids on his sores. It doesn't work. At all. In fact, the more I tried to make myself more godly, the more failure in doing so I experienced. But when I finally understood and acknowledged what Jesus says above, that spiritually I am utterly incapable of doing anything in and of myself, then I was in a place to see that God never wanted me to change myself. He tells me in His word that Self is unredeemable (Jer. 17:9; Ro. 7:18; 8:7, 8; Ga. 5:17), and that His solution to its terrible and incorrigible wickedness is not remediation but DEATH.

Romans 6:6-7
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Galatians 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Colossians 3:3
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

You see, the blood of Christ cleanses me from the stain of sin, but the Cross of Christ frees me from the power of sin. If I want to be free of sin, not just forgiven of it, I must reckon myself "crucified with Christ."

Romans 6:11-12
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

This approach deals with sin at its source. It is Self, the "old man" as the apostle Paul calls it, that has been crucified on Christ's cross, and as I count on this being so, God's Spirit brings me into conformity to this truth in my daily experience.

"Our sins were dealt with by the blood, we ourselves are dealt with by the cross. The blood procures our pardon, the cross procures deliverance from what we are in Adam. The blood can wash away my sins, but it cannot wash away my old man: I need the cross to crucify me -- the sinner." - Watchman Nee "The Normal Christian Life."

Selah.

 

[tturt]

Yes change is hard.

Tempted? "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
I Cor 10:13

Pride is when our focus is on us instead of Yahweh. When we apply Scriptures such as the following, we're able to put the focus on Him.
-"And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;" Col 3:23
-"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17
-"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Philippians 4:8

 

[Razare]

Pride is when our focus is on us instead of Yahweh. When we apply Scriptures such as the following, we're able to put the focus on Him.

I'll focus on God mentally, it amounts to a hill of beans. If anything it seems to be equivalent to worrying.

 

[tturt]

Perhaps asks Yahweh for this Scripture to be a reality for you. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Isa 26:3 Recommend Psa such as 145.