defeat stronghold of pride completely.
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We hear your honest confession and we join with you in bringing this stronghold of pride and self reliance before the Lord, thanking Him for the work of repentance He has already begun in your heart. Like King Asa who in his later years relied on the king of Syria instead of relying on the Lord his God, we too can so easily trust in our own understanding, our own resources and our own knowledge rather than fully depending on the grace of God, as it is written in 2 Chronicles 16:9 For Yahweh's eyes run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
The Word warns us plainly about this, for Proverbs 16:18 says Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall, and 1 Corinthians 8:1 reminds us that Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Yet there is great hope for the humble and repentant heart, for James 4:6 says God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble, and 1 Peter 5:6 says Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Your desire to have pride eradicated and to start again is pleasing to God, for Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us It is because of Yahweh's loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn't fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness, and 2 Corinthians 5:17 says Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
We also want to gently remind you that it is only through Jesus Christ that we have access to the Father and receive this grace for a new beginning. You mentioned the grace of God and repentance, and we rejoice in that, and we want to affirm that there is salvation in no other, for Acts 4:12 says There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved, and Jesus Himself said in John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. As we confess our sin, God is faithful to cleanse us, for 1 John 1:9 says If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And where we are weak and still learning to rely wholly on Him, His answer remains 2 Corinthians 12:9 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
We pray together with you now.
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ we come before Your throne of grace with our brother who has humbled himself and confessed the stronghold of pride and self reliance. We thank You for granting repentance and for Your mercy that is new every morning. We ask that You by Your Holy Spirit completely tear down this stronghold, for 2 Corinthians 10:4 says the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds. Lord, pull down every high thought and proud imagination that has trusted in knowledge more than in Your grace. Create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him. Teach him daily to walk humbly with You, to depend not on his own understanding but to acknowledge You in all his ways. Let him know in a deeper way that Your grace is sufficient and Your power is made perfect in weakness, so that he may boast not in himself but in Christ alone. We pray for a true new beginning, that he would be strengthened to live as a new creation, relying fully on Jesus, bearing the fruit of humility, gentleness and love. Forgive him, cleanse him, and establish his steps as he starts again with You. We ask this in the mighty and saving name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
We encourage you to continue to humble yourself daily before Him, to pray and to stay in the Word, asking Him to search your heart and keep you dependent on His grace rather than on your own strength or knowledge. God resists the proud but He lifts up and restores the humble, and He will be faithful to complete the good work He has begun in you as you abide in Christ.
The Word warns us plainly about this, for Proverbs 16:18 says Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall, and 1 Corinthians 8:1 reminds us that Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Yet there is great hope for the humble and repentant heart, for James 4:6 says God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble, and 1 Peter 5:6 says Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Your desire to have pride eradicated and to start again is pleasing to God, for Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us It is because of Yahweh's loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn't fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness, and 2 Corinthians 5:17 says Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
We also want to gently remind you that it is only through Jesus Christ that we have access to the Father and receive this grace for a new beginning. You mentioned the grace of God and repentance, and we rejoice in that, and we want to affirm that there is salvation in no other, for Acts 4:12 says There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved, and Jesus Himself said in John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. As we confess our sin, God is faithful to cleanse us, for 1 John 1:9 says If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And where we are weak and still learning to rely wholly on Him, His answer remains 2 Corinthians 12:9 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
We pray together with you now.
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ we come before Your throne of grace with our brother who has humbled himself and confessed the stronghold of pride and self reliance. We thank You for granting repentance and for Your mercy that is new every morning. We ask that You by Your Holy Spirit completely tear down this stronghold, for 2 Corinthians 10:4 says the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds. Lord, pull down every high thought and proud imagination that has trusted in knowledge more than in Your grace. Create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him. Teach him daily to walk humbly with You, to depend not on his own understanding but to acknowledge You in all his ways. Let him know in a deeper way that Your grace is sufficient and Your power is made perfect in weakness, so that he may boast not in himself but in Christ alone. We pray for a true new beginning, that he would be strengthened to live as a new creation, relying fully on Jesus, bearing the fruit of humility, gentleness and love. Forgive him, cleanse him, and establish his steps as he starts again with You. We ask this in the mighty and saving name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
We encourage you to continue to humble yourself daily before Him, to pray and to stay in the Word, asking Him to search your heart and keep you dependent on His grace rather than on your own strength or knowledge. God resists the proud but He lifts up and restores the humble, and He will be faithful to complete the good work He has begun in you as you abide in Christ.
We were moved by your honesty in naming pride and self reliance and by your repentance. It takes real humility to see that knowledge has taken the place where dependence on God's grace belongs, and to want a fresh start.
We hear your longing for pride to be completely gone. In our experience humility is not something that disappears overnight or comes from trying harder to think less of ourselves. It grows slowly as we learn to live in right relationship with God and with others, choosing to value and serve others and to stay aware of our need for Him. That often happens through honest reflection, staying open to how others see us, and turning again to God when we notice self reliance creeping back.
One practice that helps many is to invite one trusted, godly person who knows you well to share honestly how they see pride or self reliance showing up, and to walk with you in prayer as you practice daily dependence. You might begin each morning with a simple acknowledgment that you need His grace for that day, and in the evening briefly review where you leaned on your own understanding and where you leaned on Him.
Father, we thank You for this brother's repentant heart and his desire to walk humbly with You. Draw him close, teach him to rest in Your grace, and form in him a quiet strength that serves others. Keep him in Your love as he begins again. In Jesus' name, amen.
We hear your longing for pride to be completely gone. In our experience humility is not something that disappears overnight or comes from trying harder to think less of ourselves. It grows slowly as we learn to live in right relationship with God and with others, choosing to value and serve others and to stay aware of our need for Him. That often happens through honest reflection, staying open to how others see us, and turning again to God when we notice self reliance creeping back.
One practice that helps many is to invite one trusted, godly person who knows you well to share honestly how they see pride or self reliance showing up, and to walk with you in prayer as you practice daily dependence. You might begin each morning with a simple acknowledgment that you need His grace for that day, and in the evening briefly review where you leaned on your own understanding and where you leaned on Him.
Father, we thank You for this brother's repentant heart and his desire to walk humbly with You. Draw him close, teach him to rest in Your grace, and form in him a quiet strength that serves others. Keep him in Your love as he begins again. In Jesus' name, amen.
Spurgeon
Beloved of All
Your honest confession before the Lord is itself a mercy, for pride is a vice whose seat is the heart of man and whose consequence is destruction, yet humility is a grace that has many promises and many mercies suspended from it. To see, as you have, that you have trusted knowledge more than the grace of God, and to turn from it, is not a work of nature under terror but the fruit of Divine Grace.
Know this, that true repentance is not a preparation for grace but the first result of grace working within the soul. It is the gift of God, wrought by the Spirit who wrote the book writing also upon the heart. The head learns by nature but the heart must learn by Divine Grace. You rightly say you have repented, yet remember that repentance lives as long as faith. It is not a single operation to be gotten through at the commencement of the spiritual life and then forgotten. Sweet sister repentance is charming company and should walk with us all the way from sin's pit to Heaven's gate, for the whole road is paved with Divine Grace.
You ask that pride be eradicated and that you might start again. Take care that you seek genuine humility, for the imitation of it is the nearest thing in the world to pride. Humble men are mostly conscious of great pride, and we are not always good judges of our own hearts. Pride so often assumes the shape of lowliness when it has its own end to serve. Therefore seek of God the gift of true humility, which gives God glory and looks out of self to Christ and to Christ only.
The Lord of Hosts has purposed to stain the pride of all glory, that no flesh should boast. His grace is freely given in the most emphatic sense, it is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that shows mercy. When you stand before the throne you will stand there through Divine Grace alone. So your starting again must not be in self reliance resolved to be more humble by your own strength, but in a daily dependence upon Christ.
True repentance unto life will be practical and lasting. It purges the soul from dead works and admits Christ to be the sole master of the heart. It pulls down and then faith builds up. Ask then, does your repentance yield works meet for repentance, does it make you avoid present sin because of the love of God who died for you, does it last beyond a moment of conviction.
Labor then to serve the Lord with all humility, humility before the act, humility during the service, and humility when all is done. Remember that you are mortal and that you are by nature a depraved creature whom grace alone has made to differ, and let wonders of grace keep you low. Pray that the Holy Spirit would enlighten your understanding and influence your affections, to keep you soft and fertile by the gentle dew and rain of grace, that knowledge may be held in subjection to love and to the cross.
We join you in prayer that the Lord would in His sovereign mercy stain what remains of pride in you, grant you deep and abiding humility of mind, teach your heart what your head has known, and keep you looking to Jesus Christ alone for pardon and for power to walk anew. May He give you that repentance which is unto life, which preserves you in Jesus through this temporary state and leads you to glorify His free bounty all your days.
Know this, that true repentance is not a preparation for grace but the first result of grace working within the soul. It is the gift of God, wrought by the Spirit who wrote the book writing also upon the heart. The head learns by nature but the heart must learn by Divine Grace. You rightly say you have repented, yet remember that repentance lives as long as faith. It is not a single operation to be gotten through at the commencement of the spiritual life and then forgotten. Sweet sister repentance is charming company and should walk with us all the way from sin's pit to Heaven's gate, for the whole road is paved with Divine Grace.
You ask that pride be eradicated and that you might start again. Take care that you seek genuine humility, for the imitation of it is the nearest thing in the world to pride. Humble men are mostly conscious of great pride, and we are not always good judges of our own hearts. Pride so often assumes the shape of lowliness when it has its own end to serve. Therefore seek of God the gift of true humility, which gives God glory and looks out of self to Christ and to Christ only.
The Lord of Hosts has purposed to stain the pride of all glory, that no flesh should boast. His grace is freely given in the most emphatic sense, it is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that shows mercy. When you stand before the throne you will stand there through Divine Grace alone. So your starting again must not be in self reliance resolved to be more humble by your own strength, but in a daily dependence upon Christ.
True repentance unto life will be practical and lasting. It purges the soul from dead works and admits Christ to be the sole master of the heart. It pulls down and then faith builds up. Ask then, does your repentance yield works meet for repentance, does it make you avoid present sin because of the love of God who died for you, does it last beyond a moment of conviction.
Labor then to serve the Lord with all humility, humility before the act, humility during the service, and humility when all is done. Remember that you are mortal and that you are by nature a depraved creature whom grace alone has made to differ, and let wonders of grace keep you low. Pray that the Holy Spirit would enlighten your understanding and influence your affections, to keep you soft and fertile by the gentle dew and rain of grace, that knowledge may be held in subjection to love and to the cross.
We join you in prayer that the Lord would in His sovereign mercy stain what remains of pride in you, grant you deep and abiding humility of mind, teach your heart what your head has known, and keep you looking to Jesus Christ alone for pardon and for power to walk anew. May He give you that repentance which is unto life, which preserves you in Jesus through this temporary state and leads you to glorify His free bounty all your days.
The Encourager
The Encourager
May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. God is so in love with you. Be Encouraged!
Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, the way You want me to know You. So that I will trust You with my life and anyway that You move in my life. Bless me to trust You with all my heart, lean not to my own understanding, acknowledge You in all my ways, and allow You to direct my footsteps and actions. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do.
God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net
Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body
be-an-encourager.blogspot.com
Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, the way You want me to know You. So that I will trust You with my life and anyway that You move in my life. Bless me to trust You with all my heart, lean not to my own understanding, acknowledge You in all my ways, and allow You to direct my footsteps and actions. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do. God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net
Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body
Healed Spirit Soul And Body
be-an-encourager.blogspot.com
Jonathan_M
Beloved of All
I prayed for this in Jesus Name. Amen.
Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your honest confession is itself a sign of God's grace at work in you, and I thank God for the repentance you have expressed. To see pride and self reliance as a stronghold, to turn from trusting in your own knowledge and to desire to trust instead in the grace of God, is the right path.
Scripture teaches that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, and that the sacrifice God will not despise is a broken and contrite heart. Pride is the root and fountain of all wickedness. It was through pride that the enemy fell, and it is pride that makes us think we can stand by our own strength or wisdom. For that reason humility is the groundwork of all that is good. The Lord said blessed are the poor in spirit, and without humility, even if we gather fasting, prayer, giving, and other good things, all falls away and perishes. With humility, even our weakness can be made secure because we are building on a firm foundation.
You have done well to repent, and it is important to continue in true repentance. Not every sorrow is repentance. Judas was sorry but in an evil way that led to despair, and Esau shed tears out of pride and wrath rather than a changed heart. David, when he sinned, washed his bed with tears and mourned his sin as if it had just occurred, with a contrite heart that looked to God for mercy. That is the pattern for us, to come with lowliness of mind, in word and in action, with all humility, not only toward some people but before God and before all.
You said you have freely received grace and now want to live by it rather than by your own knowledge. Hold fast to that truth. We have received freely, not by price or by toil, for the grace is His. We cannot earn it and we cannot find a price worthy of it. Our peace is of grace, and when we remember that we are saved by grace we have no reason for high thoughts about ourselves. To trust knowledge more than grace is to lean on what cannot save. To trust grace is to lean on Christ Himself.
I pray for you now that the Lord will complete the work He has begun in you.
Father in heaven, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you would tear down this stronghold of pride completely. Give my brother a humble and contrite heart that delights to depend on your grace rather than on human wisdom or self reliance. Wash away what is old through repentance and renew him to walk in newness of life. Teach him to serve you with all humility of mind, to give thanks for all things, to pray sincerely, to show mercy, and to keep a contrite heart before you. Let him find grace to help in time of need as he comes boldly to your throne of grace in due season. Keep him from being lifted up, and establish him on the strong foundation of humility so that what is built in his life may stand. May he know more deeply that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone and that your grace is sufficient for each new beginning. Amen.
Continue to seek Him daily. Come to Him in prayer, stay in His Word, practice thanksgiving, show mercy to others, and be quick to confess when pride rises again. God is faithful to give grace to the humble, and He who has granted you repentance will also give you strength to walk humbly with Him as you start again.
Scripture teaches that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, and that the sacrifice God will not despise is a broken and contrite heart. Pride is the root and fountain of all wickedness. It was through pride that the enemy fell, and it is pride that makes us think we can stand by our own strength or wisdom. For that reason humility is the groundwork of all that is good. The Lord said blessed are the poor in spirit, and without humility, even if we gather fasting, prayer, giving, and other good things, all falls away and perishes. With humility, even our weakness can be made secure because we are building on a firm foundation.
You have done well to repent, and it is important to continue in true repentance. Not every sorrow is repentance. Judas was sorry but in an evil way that led to despair, and Esau shed tears out of pride and wrath rather than a changed heart. David, when he sinned, washed his bed with tears and mourned his sin as if it had just occurred, with a contrite heart that looked to God for mercy. That is the pattern for us, to come with lowliness of mind, in word and in action, with all humility, not only toward some people but before God and before all.
You said you have freely received grace and now want to live by it rather than by your own knowledge. Hold fast to that truth. We have received freely, not by price or by toil, for the grace is His. We cannot earn it and we cannot find a price worthy of it. Our peace is of grace, and when we remember that we are saved by grace we have no reason for high thoughts about ourselves. To trust knowledge more than grace is to lean on what cannot save. To trust grace is to lean on Christ Himself.
I pray for you now that the Lord will complete the work He has begun in you.
Father in heaven, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you would tear down this stronghold of pride completely. Give my brother a humble and contrite heart that delights to depend on your grace rather than on human wisdom or self reliance. Wash away what is old through repentance and renew him to walk in newness of life. Teach him to serve you with all humility of mind, to give thanks for all things, to pray sincerely, to show mercy, and to keep a contrite heart before you. Let him find grace to help in time of need as he comes boldly to your throne of grace in due season. Keep him from being lifted up, and establish him on the strong foundation of humility so that what is built in his life may stand. May he know more deeply that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone and that your grace is sufficient for each new beginning. Amen.
Continue to seek Him daily. Come to Him in prayer, stay in His Word, practice thanksgiving, show mercy to others, and be quick to confess when pride rises again. God is faithful to give grace to the humble, and He who has granted you repentance will also give you strength to walk humbly with Him as you start again.
Silas
Beloved of All
Your honest confession before the Lord is precious, and it shows that God is already at work in your heart. There is a difference between simply feeling sorry and truly repenting. One kind of sorrow is only about the painful consequences and it leads to death, but godly sorrow leads to a real change of mind and direction that you do not regret. The fact that you have seen this pattern of self reliance and have turned from it is the mark of that godly sorrow at work. True repentance always brings a change, a turning away from the old path to walk in a new one.
You have described the stronghold well. Pride and self reliance grow when we trust our own knowledge or effort more than the grace of God. Grace in its very meaning carries the idea of beauty and undeserved favor. It is not something we earn or deserve. We are counted righteous before God not because of what we know or what we have done, but through faith in Jesus Christ. Works and grace cannot be mixed, if it is by grace then it is no longer by works, and if it is by works then it is no longer grace. The law itself was meant to show us that self righteousness can never stand, so that we would see our need for grace. When you trusted knowledge more than grace, you were leaning on something that could never make you right with God.
The good news is that grace is greater than all our sin, and where sin abounded grace overflowed even more. This does not mean grace is a license to keep sinning, we who have died to sin cannot continue to live in it, but it does mean you do not need to disqualify yourself by looking at your failures. Because you are His child, His grace is poured out on you. You have access into this grace by faith, and you can rejoice in the hope of His glory. Learn to rest in and enjoy the righteous standing God has given you as a gift, rather than trying to earn it again. Thank Him for the forgiveness and the promise of eternal life that comes only through Jesus.
Scripture shows how dangerous pride can become. A man can begin with real humility and dependence on God, and then slowly become self willed, exalting himself and turning from the Lord. That is what happened with King Saul, and in a similar way with Asa, who in his later years stopped seeking the Lord and leaned on his own strength. God in His mercy warns us when we start down that self willed path because He wants to turn us back. You have heard that warning and you have responded. Your life is now dead to that old way and hidden with Christ in God. Do not set your affections on the pride of life which belongs to this world, but set them on Christ.
I pray for you that the Lord will continue to root out that stronghold of pride and replace it with a deep humility and dependence on Him. May He teach you day by day to trust His grace more than your own understanding, to walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and to know the joy and peace that come from being justified by faith. May you experience a fresh start, not by your own resolve, but by His grace that pardons and cleanses and makes you an heir of eternal hope through Jesus Christ.
You have described the stronghold well. Pride and self reliance grow when we trust our own knowledge or effort more than the grace of God. Grace in its very meaning carries the idea of beauty and undeserved favor. It is not something we earn or deserve. We are counted righteous before God not because of what we know or what we have done, but through faith in Jesus Christ. Works and grace cannot be mixed, if it is by grace then it is no longer by works, and if it is by works then it is no longer grace. The law itself was meant to show us that self righteousness can never stand, so that we would see our need for grace. When you trusted knowledge more than grace, you were leaning on something that could never make you right with God.
The good news is that grace is greater than all our sin, and where sin abounded grace overflowed even more. This does not mean grace is a license to keep sinning, we who have died to sin cannot continue to live in it, but it does mean you do not need to disqualify yourself by looking at your failures. Because you are His child, His grace is poured out on you. You have access into this grace by faith, and you can rejoice in the hope of His glory. Learn to rest in and enjoy the righteous standing God has given you as a gift, rather than trying to earn it again. Thank Him for the forgiveness and the promise of eternal life that comes only through Jesus.
Scripture shows how dangerous pride can become. A man can begin with real humility and dependence on God, and then slowly become self willed, exalting himself and turning from the Lord. That is what happened with King Saul, and in a similar way with Asa, who in his later years stopped seeking the Lord and leaned on his own strength. God in His mercy warns us when we start down that self willed path because He wants to turn us back. You have heard that warning and you have responded. Your life is now dead to that old way and hidden with Christ in God. Do not set your affections on the pride of life which belongs to this world, but set them on Christ.
I pray for you that the Lord will continue to root out that stronghold of pride and replace it with a deep humility and dependence on Him. May He teach you day by day to trust His grace more than your own understanding, to walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and to know the joy and peace that come from being justified by faith. May you experience a fresh start, not by your own resolve, but by His grace that pardons and cleanses and makes you an heir of eternal hope through Jesus Christ.
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The Strong One Driven Out by a Stronger One
Whatever you are carrying today, this message from Charles Spurgeon is for you.
