Deal with Pride

Are you able to admit when you are wrong? How about confessing your part in a disagreement? Are you able to come before someone and share your flaws, problems, addictions, hang-ups, or struggles?

If you answered yes, then chances are you are becoming humble. If you answered no even to one of these questions you might have to deal with your pride.

James 4:8 NIV says “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want God opposing me. I want his grace instead.

No one can be humble when they are full of pride. One must first empty out the pride before humility can grow. How do we empty out the pride?

Step 1: Start by identifying all the ways pride shows up in your life. This may take some time. You may want to start a journal to keep track of the times you spot it. If you don’t think you have pride, ask God to help you see. Look for situations where your thoughts are constantly about you. Bingo! There’s pride.

Also watch for times when your feelings get hurt and no one recognizes your good deed and log that down too. Yep, more pride.

Listen to your words. Are they bragging or boasting about your hard work or your efforts? Now, you’re starting to see pride.

Step 2: Deal with pride appropriately. Once pride is identified, learn to confess it to God through prayer as soon as possible. This will help get rid of pride before it becomes a stronghold. Learning to pray on the spot to confess your pride when it happens also develops a lifestyle of prayer which will draw you closer to God.

Step 3: Find a faithful friend. The last step in this exercise is talking things over with a trusted Christian friend of the same sex as you. Sometimes lessons aren’t learned completely until they’re shared with another believer who can help you see what you might have missed. Other times the believer is there for moral support. James 5:16 NIV says “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”

It’s difficult being completely honest with our self. We need the strength of other believers to encourage us onward so we don’t grow weary of doing what it right.

Proverbs 28:13 NIV says “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

If we want to learn to be humble, we identify pride in our life then confess it to God and others through prayer. Openly facing our flaws and asking for God’s grace is the path towards humility. Of course, none of this is possible without the power from Jesus Christ in us. Through Him we can do all things.

Father God, thank you for your hand upon us. Thank you for the work of the Holy Spirit in us to guide us in all truth. Thank you for your perfecting hand shaping us to be like Jesus. In His precious name we pray Amen.

~Elizabeth Marks~