Pride,
Fear & Anger
PRIDE:
No one enjoys feeling weak, whether it is emotionally, spiritually or
physically. There is something within the human spirit that wants to resist the
thought of weakness. Many times this is nothing more than our human pride at work. Just as weakness
carries a great potential for strength, pride
carries an equally great potential for defeat.
Charles Stanley
FEAR: Fear
of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually
destroy the hater. George Washington
Carver
ANGER: Anger and bitterness are two
noticeable signs of being focused on self and not trusting God's sovereignty in
your life. When you believe that God causes all things to work together for
good to those who belong to Him and love Him, you can respond to trials with
joy instead of anger or
bitterness. John C. Broger
Have you ever waited to hear God speak to
you? Sometimes we sabotage our chance to
hear God speak to us because we are focused on one or more of three
things. Pride, fear and anger are the
top three human behaviors that get in the way of conversations with God.
Pride gets in our way of communicating with
God and it closes off communication from the Father. If I begin to think that I don’t need His
help and that I can do it on my own, I have accepted pride as my savior and not
God. It is easy to fall into this
sin. We do a good job at work and
someone praises us and we start patting ourselves on the back. If God created me and gave me the talents I
have, then shouldn’t I be praising Him instead of myself for a job well
done?
Then there is the whole fear thing. This one gets me into more trouble than I
care to admit. Some of us are afraid to
hear God speak because that would mean I might have to change some things in my
life or give up things I really enjoy.
Too many times fear becomes our shield against others. How can we admit to someone else that we
failed? So instead of being honest with others because we fear rejection, we
let fear in and it takes over.
I’ve noticed that we live in an angry world.
All you have to do to see this in action is get on the freeway. There are people cutting each other off, not
letting other cars in front, yelling and shaking of fists at other drivers and
even in some cases road rage where weapons are involved. God can’t speak to us in our anger. We block His way in when we let anger rule
our lives. It is impossible to be humble
when we are angry.
When we incorporate any of these in our life
we close God off. We literally shut off communication with Him. How many times in our lives have we totally
missed God’s blessing because of pride, fear or anger?
It is not easy tackling any one of
these. Since I am guilty of all three, I
have broken it down into three parts.
Tackle one at a time. Examine
your life and determine where one of these or all of them is interfering with
God’s phone call. It is very much like
the phone being off the hook or a dropped call on your cell. If you don’t clear the lines to hear His
voice you will miss His call.
Prayer for the Day:
Heavenly Father, sometimes I allow pride, fear and anger rule my life. I get involved in worldly stuff and that
makes it easier for me to push You out and let the sin of pride, fear or anger
take hold. Help me to discern when this
is happening and to turn to You so that I will not be tempted to fall. Anytime I let one of these take over I lose communication with You. I want to hear
Your voice all the time and I can’t if I am lost in pride, anger or fear.
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