Devotionals messages: overcome Pride and Arrogance

Devotionals messages: overcome Pride and Arrogance

Posted on December 21, 2008 Updated on December 20, 2008

Pastor E. Adeboye

CHOOSING YOUR FIRE
Memorise: “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28)
Read: Job 30:15-20

“But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock” (Job 30:1).

God’s purifying fire can take any of these two forms: the fire of affliction or the fire of the Holy Spirit. If you do not allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to do the job quietly and steadily, you will be calling for the other fire to come and do it violently and painfully.

Job was blessed by God but he was a proud man. That invited the fire of affliction. By the time it was over, he was humbled. It is either you humble yourself or God will force you to be humble. If you do it yourself, you will be saved from several unnecessary troubles.

I learnt this the hard way. Even in my poverty, I was very proud until God dealt with me. As a young Christian, I was blessed with the ability to hear from God. Before leaving home, the Lord would tell me the route to take, and what to preach. Later, I became an interpreter for papa. It appeared the other pastors left me to do this alone. One day, one of the pastors informed me that I will be interpreting for him on that day. I was angry.

Within, I asked, Who does he think he is? Imagine the interpreter of the General Superintendent interpreting for that fellow! Eventually, I reluctantly did it, but after the sermon, the Lord clearly said, ‘So you are now too big to interpret for my servant?’

That was the last time I heard God speak to me. After that, everything switched to silence mode. When Satan realized I was no longer hearing from God, he tormented me. I prayed, wept, cried, fasted and asked forgiveness but Heaven was silent. It is preferable never to have heard from Him than to hear from Him and lose the gift.

I cried some more and made a covenant with Him that if I was going to offend Him tomorrow, He should take me home today. Thereafter, He lifted the embargo. Yet my covenant still stands today. If you see me saying ‘Yes sir’ to everybody, it is because the fire has burnt pride out of my life. Which of the purifying fires do you want?

Ask God to uproot the spirit of pride in your life