How can I be humble? Stronghold of pride.

[Zach7]

Hi, I am 22M and have been in a relationship with Christ for about a year now.

He is now putting me through a season of prayer and heart-healing; I have been hurt a lot by others in my past.

I recently discovered that pride is my stronghold. I have been living my entire life under the shelter of pride that it has been my "normal." However, it is now coming between my relationship with God and needs to go.

How can I destroy the stronghold of pride in my life and fall in love with humility before God?

What my pride looks like:
I used to think so so highly of myself daily. Concerned only about my appearance before others.

I used to meditate on New Age beliefs I cultivated, affirming myself as God (all men and women as God).

I used to believe in my own "philosophy" and imaginations rather than lean on the Word of God; which resulted in me lowering and "dehumanizing" God.

All my life I have been very controlling. I constantly have the desire to control and analyze things. This results in me questioning and doubting God and the security He provides me.

I constantly have the desire to understand "how" things work in the world. Rather than focus on the fact things "are." The blessing of an experience.

I have trouble obeying God's personal commands. Surrendering my pride.

I have constant, nagging intrusive thoughts that are prideful, hostile to God, and disobedient. I do my best to ignore them and they have slowly been going away.

...

I now understand that humility is one of Jesus's most defining and significant characteristics that I need to cultivate.

However, I feel afraid to surrender my pride and "control."

I would like to fall in love with humility before God and surrender completely. My pride is a constant battle.

Do any of you have any tips on how I can do this? What do you do to cultivate humility before God?

Thanks for reading. God bless!

 

[Allen of the Cross]

I used to be vain and prideful myself. I would like to start out by saying: you will never stop sinning on this earth. You will sin until the day you die, just like me, just like everyone else. Don't destroy your mind trying to rid yourself of sin. Still, wanting to be holy is good. Now...

Pride is not thinking highly of yourself. Pride is thinking of yourself. You can be self-confident and humble. Another word for pride is self-centeredness. To cultivate humility, think about others more. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, talk to someone about Jesus. These things break us out of our self-centeredness and bring us into an others-first mindset. (These things can earn us rewards in heaven, too.)

Remember, "JOY." It's helped me a lot: Jesus, Others, Yourself. Put Jesus First. Put Others before Yourself. This is a recipe for pleasing God.

 

[GospelS]

Just fix your eyes in Jesus and keep falling in love with Him more and more with each passing moment. He will enable you to be humble. Also keep thanking and praising Him for every little thing. This will bring a lot of change in your heart, mind, body and soul.

 

[ReesePiece23]

Go out and embarrass yourself - on purpose, in public, at least once a day. Embrace the ridicule and learn to laugh at yourself.

Honestly.

 

[Ivan Hlavanda]

First step to humbleness is to realise you are not humble at all. It goes like this for example 'God who am I you even consider such sinner like me? First you need to realise you are not humble. If you want your heart cleansed you must first now your heart is wicked.

I'll give you a good example from my life. When I first read the Gospels and read all the description of a Christian I thought 'this is impossible, I can't even follow one of them, for so wicked I am and so weak in my mind I thought I'd never be a Christian, I am just going to hell...exactly. First you need to realise you are not humble to even ask for humbleness, the rest is the work of Spirit. But first, you need to know that you can do nothing to be humble and this should make you sad or even cry, this needs to come first before you can be made humbled.

And don't worry that there are things in life you won't be able to surrender. I said the same, but the Spirit did all the works, and I have now surrounded things I never thought I would. Hope this helps. God Bless

 

[Dave L]

Hi, I am 22M and have been in a relationship with Christ for about a year now.

He is now putting me through a season of prayer and heart-healing; I have been hurt a lot by others in my past.

I recently discovered that pride is my stronghold. I have been living my entire life under the shelter of pride that it has been my "normal." However, it is now coming between my relationship with God and needs to go.

How can I destroy the stronghold of pride in my life and fall in love with humility before God?

What my pride looks like:
I used to think so so highly of myself daily. Concerned only about my appearance before others.

I used to meditate on New Age beliefs I cultivated, affirming myself as God (all men and women as God).

I used to believe in my own "philosophy" and imaginations rather than lean on the Word of God; which resulted in me lowering and "dehumanizing" God.

All my life I have been very controlling. I constantly have the desire to control and analyze things. This results in me questioning and doubting God and the security He provides me.

I constantly have the desire to understand "how" things work in the world. Rather than focus on the fact things "are." The blessing of an experience.

I have trouble obeying God's personal commands. Surrendering my pride.

I have constant, nagging intrusive thoughts that are prideful, hostile to God, and disobedient. I do my best to ignore them and they have slowly been going away.

...

I now understand that humility is one of Jesus's most defining and significant characteristics that I need to cultivate.

However, I feel afraid to surrender my pride and "control."

I would like to fall in love with humility before God and surrender completely. My pride is a constant battle.

Do any of you have any tips on how I can do this? What do you do to cultivate humility before God?

Thanks for reading. God bless!

A lot of this sort of thing goes away in time as you try to keep up with Christ. Living the Sermon on the Mount as a career choice takes you to new lows in the eyes of others. The feedback you receive from them will help take the wind out of your sales. Living on the bottom rung for years on end can remove self-esteem in a world that measures everything in dollars and cents.

As you learn to see yourself in God's eyes, you have no chance of coming out looking good. Reading the Bible cover to cover every year ensures this. There is more but this is where the healing begins and the blindness ends.

 

[grasping the after wind]

Go out and embarrass yourself - on purpose, in public, at least once a day. Embrace the ridicule and learn to laugh at yourself.

Honestly.

It works even if you aren't doing it on purpose. The trick is to not be afraid of being embarrassed. I once heard a comedian say he believed we enjoyed being embarrassed, Otherwise why would we so often recall the moments we were embarrassed and feel embarrassed all over again.

 

[bèlla]

I begin with the acknowledgment of my divinity and that I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. This removes any hint of specialness and places the credit where it rightfully belongs.

The benefit of adopting a God-first ideology is the recognition the same holds true for others. This allows me to celebrate our mutual gifts and talents without feeling envy over the qualities I lack. He’s made me rich (in the measure He deems best) and I’m content.

In light of this, I accept responsibility and acknowledge the necessity of using what I’ve been given. I broach this through purpose, entrepreneurship and charitable projects that align with my mission and makeup. I make no attempt to steal someone’s thunder. I operate in the range He directs and equipped me for. I understand I’m part of the plan. Not all of it.

I use encouragement as a tool for support and inspiration. It’s an area of gifting I employ in my work, relationships and interactions. Sharing a positive thought, motivating, or cheering someone on enables me to step outside myself and be fully present for others. And by using the tools He’s bestowed; I’m strengthening both on practical and spiritual planes.

Finally, telling the truth is a must. I’m honest about the blessings I’ve received and how society perceives them within the world. Ignoring advantages can make us oblivious to the challenges others have who don’t possess the same.

In this way, I’m more empathetic and mindful of my words and actions that may cause offense (unintentionally) or give the impression I’m insensitive. Love and consideration are the strategies I employ most to keep pride at bay.

~Bella

 

[crossnote]

Hi, I am 22M and have been in a relationship with Christ for about a year now.

He is now putting me through a season of prayer and heart-healing; I have been hurt a lot by others in my past.

I recently discovered that pride is my stronghold. I have been living my entire life under the shelter of pride that it has been my "normal." However, it is now coming between my relationship with God and needs to go.

How can I destroy the stronghold of pride in my life and fall in love with humility before God?

What my pride looks like:
I used to think so so highly of myself daily. Concerned only about my appearance before others.

I used to meditate on New Age beliefs I cultivated, affirming myself as God (all men and women as God).

I used to believe in my own "philosophy" and imaginations rather than lean on the Word of God; which resulted in me lowering and "dehumanizing" God.

All my life I have been very controlling. I constantly have the desire to control and analyze things. This results in me questioning and doubting God and the security He provides me.

I constantly have the desire to understand "how" things work in the world. Rather than focus on the fact things "are." The blessing of an experience.

I have trouble obeying God's personal commands. Surrendering my pride.

I have constant, nagging intrusive thoughts that are prideful, hostile to God, and disobedient. I do my best to ignore them and they have slowly been going away.

...

I now understand that humility is one of Jesus's most defining and significant characteristics that I need to cultivate.

However, I feel afraid to surrender my pride and "control."

I would like to fall in love with humility before God and surrender completely. My pride is a constant battle.

Do any of you have any tips on how I can do this? What do you do to cultivate humility before God?

Thanks for reading. God bless!

I could sell you a book ‘50 steps towards humility’, but in actuality that is God’s Dept. which He accomplishes through trials.

 

[Jesus is my Superhero]

Compare yourself to Jesus, not another person ever.

Trials and hardships will humble anyone. As a Christian you will become very intimate with these aspects of life.

Fasting will humble your flesh and your mind. If it doesn't, you aren't doing it right.

 

[Tempura]

Humility is a wonderful thing to want. Often painful to learn, but in the process we will not lose anything we really need.

I have been hurt a lot by others in my past.

If I may say something about myself, this is one thing that often hinders me. The inability to let go and actually forgive. They always come back, the memories, and they sting. In my heart I place myself above these people who hurt me. In a way I hold their forgiveness on my part as a hostage, and I can't feel the love I should have for them. My weakness is real. But it's not about waiting for a feeling, or even about my ability. I just take it to Christ, ask Him to forgive, guide and bless these people and give me a more loving+forgiving heart. When I do that, I actively admit and face my own weakness and pride, and I want to let go of my burdens, so I go to Christ with it all. There was a time when this seemed to happen every day, getting all these painful memories. Then, it changed a bit. I started to get memories of people I have hurt. Now I am the one who needs forgiveness. I remembered even little things that I haven't thought of in decades. Same thing, I have to go to Christ, ask Him to bless and heal these people of any wounds I might have caused, to get strength to apologize to them if I ever meet them again, and for Him to forgive me and grant me a more loving heart.

It's strange how it is when we are wounded, if someone has offended against us. Especially if it happens a lot. We can easily, and understandably turn many things in life into a power struggle in our minds, just so we could have even a little bit of self-esteem or control and then we're endlessly comparing ourselves to others, others to other others even and then we try to find a footing in the middle of it all with all our resentment-based strength. But it can get out of hand, and pride is everywhere. What we thought would relieve us of our pain, can bring more of it in the long run.

There is plenty of humility found through our own weakness. The weaker we realize we are, the harder everything seems, but I believe it's God's work and guidance, more of a blessing than a curse. The more the Holy Spirit works in us and leads us to know more about God, Christ, and ourselves, the more we will be aware of our sin too. It can be a tough place to be, and things may seem quite dark. But there is plenty of humility, patience, hope and faith to be gained. We only have to see what we are in the secret places of our hearts, if we are to understand and combat pride. When we are brought low, and we will, there's not as much room for pride then when we have to actually depend on God's grace to meet our brokenness. If we do that, we don't want to judge others quite as easily. Also, if we are people who suffer from our constant need to be in control, we will be humbled when we get to the end of ourselves in that regard too. But where we fail, we still trust Christ to succeed.

I think Martin Luther said well about true humility. Trying to paraphrase from memory here. Something like this: "true humility in human heart is so fragile that it cannot bear the sight of itself, or else it will praise itself and turn into pride". Meaning we can't really get to a place where we look at ourselves and truthfully proclaim ourselves humble. The less we are satisfied with our own humility, the more humble we are. It's kind of a paradox. Yes, it can be a battle and there are plenty of traps we're going to walk in. But no fear, Christ has won all things.

You want good things, you already see plenty of the things that hinder you. I believe all of that comes from God, not merely your own brain. You're in good hands. Christ with you.