Ezekiel 28:12-17: (Lucifer) You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering; the ruby, the topaz, and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared…your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.

Daniel 5:20: (King Belshazzar) “But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.”

Obadiah 1:2-4: See, I will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’  Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.

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Satan was cast out from heaven by God specifically due to his pride. Pride led him to rebel against Yahweh. When Lucifer stood next to God, His light would shine upon Lucifer’s jewels placed upon him by God. It was God’s beauty reflecting off Lucifer that made him beautiful, yet Lucifer’s beauty was not his own. In like fashion, any beauty you or I may have, it is not ours therefore we are not to be prideful. Lucifer became blinded by the brilliant light reflecting off him. His wisdom became corrupt and ineffective and caused him to think more highly of himself than he ought. It’s sad that most want to be God or like God with all His power, yet few want to humble themselves as did Christ. Humility activates God’s power and authority in the believer.

As David E. Taylor points out in his book, Victory Over Pride, pride also hinders us from receiving correction, blessings, reproof, instruction, wisdom, knowledge, and the fullness of God. It is pride that hinders people from looking at others the way Jesus does with, which is with single eye of love and compassion. Pride binds and blinds! A sign of a mature Christian is one who can humbly receive correction or rebuke, deserved or undeserved, delivered correctly or incorrectly.

“And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins’ (Romans 11:26-27, NAS).”

If there is a way into a situation, there is a way out. No matter what our weaknesses, if we are humble enough to deal with them through Holy Spirit, when the weaknesses arise, we will grow stronger in Christ instead of weaker. This is what is meant in II Peter 3:18, “grow in grace”. Yeshua can exalt us as we lower ourselves as did Jesus. Many ministries have fallen from the place God ordained because of the division and strife caused by pride. We would all get further in life, relationships, businesses, ministry, etc., if we would humble ourselves to the degree that only Christ is living His life through our mortal bodies.

“God has exalted Jesus and gave Him a name above all names,” reads Philippians 2:9. We are to make ourselves of no reputation. If we humble our name, He will make our name great. If we exalt our own name, He cannot. Jesus never got into arguments, contentions or disagreements with His enemies when they were attempting to diminish Him. He was so confident in His identity in God that He didn’t need to defend Himself. He retained peace that surpassed all understanding and knowledge (Philippians 4:7). He has left us that same peace; we need simply to choose to retain it.

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 “The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor (Proverbs 15:33, NAS).”

 “Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud (Proverbs 16:19, NAS).”

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I hope you’ll come back next week as we continue to explore the subject of humility. If you’re interested in reading more on this subject, please go to my website and check out my books.

Peace and blessings,

Alexys V. Wolf

www.thefierysword.com

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