Dying to Ourselves

The absence of pride can lead to a humble surrender to the Almighty God. Dying to ourselves means giving up our selfish desires and giving God permission to mold us like clay, He is the potter, and we are the clay vessel, but we need to be willing for a change to come.

We need to submit to Him to be used by Him the way He intends. Pride is synonymous to arrogance when it comes to thinking we can do it all by ourselves, but that doesn’t mean pride can’t be used to describe dignity or honor. Loftiness is a word that comes to mind which translates to a feeling of superiority. If you really want to meet someone with a “holier than thou” attitude, a prideful person is the one to go to.

In my experience I have both met these kinds of people and I myself have been guilty of it. Whenever someone thinks of pridefulness, their mindset can reflect how they would define it. Are you taking pride in your appearance (not to be confused with vanity), or are you just caught up in doing everything your way?  We need to put our trust in the Lord, not ourselves. Throughout history Pride has given men the illusion they can rule the world and led to the most beautiful angel, Lucifer being cast from heaven. The devil encourages our pridefulness and vanity. Remember that history repeats itself! In Proverbs 16:18— “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall,” this is proof enough.

Surrender to the King of Kings!

According to God’s Word in the book of Proverbs, verse 8:13 states— “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.” God expects us to humble ourselves. All throughout the book of Proverbs, Pride is a symbol of evil, foolishness, perversion, and violence. The Holy Bible says in Proverbs 29:23— “A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.” We should all humble ourselves; this doesn’t mean that we must settle and be content with just anything, but it means that what matters to God should matter to us. What we experience can lead to our hearts hardening, but the Great I Am wants our hearts to be “soft” and receptive to the Word and his unconditional love for us. Our hearts can be restored, even if we have journeyed through the darkest abyss in the valley of the shadow of death, our heart can be healed though surrender of our burdens.

He instructs us in Psalm 55:22— “Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” If we set our problems, any problem no matter how small or big at the throne of our Heavenly Father, he will take it into his hands. Remember what King Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed in Daniel 3:25—”Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” After this miracle the king witnessed, it led to him praising God.

Unfortunately, that is what it takes for us sometimes, we must hit rock bottom, lose it all like Job, or witness a miracle. God reaches people, He works in mysterious ways, but there will still be those that deny His power or even His existence. Those people are angry at God or too full of pride to accept that there could be a divine power influencing their lives. If you are that person, ask yourself why you are blaming God? God’s will for us is detailed in Jeremiah 29:11— “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

God loves us, and He wants us to thrive, not just survive day by day. He wants us to live for Him and find joy even in the storms of life, even when the darkness pervades our mind, even when we feel like we are falling, even when we lose loved ones, when we go through breakups and divorce, or any trial that challenges us in some way. God is always there, and God is ALWAYS good.