The Poison Of Pride ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When an invading army wants to advance on new territory for purposes of military conquest, one common strategy is to poison the water supply. People and animals have to have water or we soon die. Human bodies are composed of 90% water which depletes quickly. Sources of water are necessary for survival. Thats why throughout history human, and animal, communities spring up around oceans, rivers, and lakes. Where there is water there is life.
When we are born again, we are invited to drink of the Living Water and never thirst again. The image of water is used to describe the Holy Spirit and is applicable in describing our human spirits, too. Our individual spirits are our "water holes" where we must daily drink.
Now thinking of our spirits as a kind of water, it is the intention of the enemy to poison the water supply. In the natural, soldiers will dump in manure, or salt, or something that will make the water undrinkable. Our enemy is spiritual and he uses a spiritual poison against us...pride!
"Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before the fall." Prov. 16: 18.
Pride is poison to the heart. It offends God and kills the host. When entertained, or ingested, it begins to work death into the heart of man. It kills. It is arsenic to the soul. Pride is the very nature of Satan even as humility is the very nature of God. Whose testimony you accept is whose nature, and character, you begin to you take on.
Pride enters the spirit of man through the soul (the mind). The enemy begins to whisper lies which the heart begins to take hold of. One of my favorite writers, C.S. Lewis said, "The hallmark of hell is an unsmiling concentration upon self." It is this disposition of the mind that the enemy will exploit and begins to use against us.
Once I preached a sermon in a little church. The Spirit of God ripped through the place like a buzz saw. Afterward, one dear older sister came up to me, tears in her eyes, and said, "Brother Bryan, that may have been the finest sermon I ever heard." I laughed and replied, "Yeah, I know. The devil has been telling me that all morning!"
She got real still, smiled kinda glassy eyed, and walked quietly away.
Satan has an arsenal of weaponry against the saints of God but his "offensive" weapon of pride is the most lethal and effective. It is the true stink bomb because it stinks to high heaven! He is the true adversary. He has studied us, his intended prey, for thousands of years and understand our basic drives. He knows that we must feed upon the Bread of heaven daily or we will starve. He knows that we must continually drink of the flow of the Living Water, that is, of the Holy Spirit, or we will die of thirst.
As pride is an offense to God, he will try to poison our spirits by whispering ego stroking lies to us to get us off the holy ground of humility before God. If we make the decision to embrace his lies, pride begins its deadly work within and will kill us.
Humility is believing what God says about you. Pride is believing anything else.
Jesus said, "Guard your heart, for out of it comes the issues of life." He was saying, "Protect your water supply. Dont let the enemy poison you with pride".
When the lies come, and often they are a mixture of 90% truth, you must make a decision. Believe Gods testimony about you or the enemies. You have to decide who you will believe. As Bob Dylan once wrote (in a more lucid moment), "You gotta serve somebody." Who will you believe?
Living a life under a mantle of praise will protect you from pride. As you worship the Lord, your focus is off yourself. As you serve the brethren, your focus is off yourself. As you love others, your focus is off yourself. The enemy is defenseless against you in the presence of the Lord. He may whisper, "My, what a SAINT youve become in all this worship and service. Youre REALLY spiritual and must be special, you know."
My advice when such things occur is to simply laugh at him and go on. The Reformer Martin Luther wrote, "If the devil will not yield to Scripture texts, laugh at him. He is a proud spirit and cannot bare to be mocked." I have found this to be true.
Protect yourself and walk in humility before the Lord. Daily meditate in the Bible and read all that God has written about man and ask him to show you how it applies in your own life. Believe what he has written and believe nothing else. Dont allow the enemy to poison your "watering hole."
Be blessed, Bryan Hupperts Sheep Trax© 1998
