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ChrisJD
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Joined: 2006/2/11
Posts: 2895
Philadelphia PA

 Re: Pride, self-conceit, and self-exaltation

Please forgive me if this has been posted here before. It came up in the random article and grabbed my attention.





[b]Pride, self-conceit, and self-exaltation[/b] from [i]Pearls from Philpot[/i]



Pride, self-conceit, and self-exaltation, are both the chief temptations, and the main besetting sins, of those who occupy any public position in the church.

Therefore, where these sins are not mortified by the Spirit, and subdued by His grace; instead of being, as they should be, the humblest of men; they are, with rare exceptions, the proudest.

Did we bear in constant remembrance our slips, falls, and grievous backslidings; and had we, with all this, a believing sight of the holiness and purity of God, of the sufferings and sorrows of His dear Son, and what it cost Him to redeem us from the lowest hell; we would be, we must be clothed with humility; and would, under feelings of the deepest self-abasement, take the lowest place among the family of God, as the chief of sinners, and less than the least of allthe saints.

This should be the feeling of every child of God.

Until this pride is in some measure crucified,
until we hate it, and hate ourselves for it, the
glory of God will not be our main object.


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Christopher Joel Dandrow

 2007/4/9 20:21Profile
HopePurifies
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Joined: 2007/4/12
Posts: 181
Georgia, USA

 Re: Jonathan Edwards - Undiscerned Spiritual Pride

I'm very glad this is a sticky... this is a direct and convicting message.
God has been more gracious to me than I could ever imagine, and I ridiculously was becoming prideful. Horrid.
I don't remember which preacher said it on here, but he mentioned that Christ was pretty much silent for 30 something years in the temple- even though He was God and could have just taken over. And that Christ honored His parents- though He was perfect and they weren't. And then of course He let His own creation crucify Him because He loved us. Pride is so ugly, so unlike Christ.


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Melanie

 2007/4/21 21:05Profile
PaulWest
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Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 Re:

Quote:
I don't remember which preacher said it on here, but he mentioned that Christ was pretty much silent for 30 something years in the temple- even though He was God and could have just taken over. And that Christ honored His parents- though He was perfect and they weren't. And then of course He let His own creation crucify Him because He loved us. Pride is so ugly, so unlike Christ.



What an outstanding post. The Lord bless you, brother/sister. This is a very timely, God-ordained word for me; I can always count on God reaching me through the saints, and this little missile hit ground zero.

Brother Paul


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Paul Frederick West

 2007/4/21 23:17Profile
crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Pride

Quote:
I don't remember which preacher said it on here, but he mentioned that Christ was pretty much silent for 30 something years in the temple- even though He was God and could have just taken over. And that Christ honored His parents- though He was perfect and they weren't. And then of course He let His own creation crucify Him because He loved us. Pride is so ugly, so unlike Christ.



Couldn't help respond to the same here. That the Lord was largely silent those 30 odd years and even when He was in the midst of "My hour has not yet come", in other words when it had come ... His silence on so many matters, turning a question around and asking another, never ruffled or out of sorts ... Calm. It is something that I do think on quite a lot, just how far from that I can be, we can be.

Indeed pride is so shot through everything, it ought to be silenced.

Amen Melanie, welcome to SI by the way.


_________________
Mike Balog

 2007/4/22 1:27Profile









 Re:

i understand the very act of writing this could be initiated by pride; because in false humility i can imagine something that is not revealed to me completely as something i have in my heart. but sisters, brothers, i know for sure those things i am convicted of. here they are:

Quote:
our aim should be to die to the flattering delights of self-love, by becoming humble and in love with obscurity and contempt, and to have a single eye to God.

(NOT IN ME).....
obscurity is especially hard....it's extremely hard for me. i am sometimes confused about this because my natural tendencies is that i am withdrawn or some would call it an introvert.

but of all i read in the thread that really hit home is:
Quote:

Thousands imagine that they are humble,
who cannot bear to see an equal more honored
and favored than themselves!



i have been convinced now for about a year that i am going to be satisfied and truly happy (Lord please i beg you to test my heart on this one) without ever having a ministry per se of some public outlet if God is not going to usher one for me(thanks alot to Mr. Ravenhill's rebuking for that one...if you want to know more about this rebuking, just go listen to the message he preaches about John the Baptist or Elijah...will look up the titles after this response and edit the titles in here)
but the issue really is, about seeing others being called, and wondering are they really fit for that? if so, how come i don't get the call? and then, a little begrudging and then, oh yeah, a little jealousy. let me put it this way, finally some in the church i go to have been moved to call to pray publicly. now, this is totaly new to the church. we don't have a public prayer ministry. but God has laid a burden on some to pray as a church together. now, this prayer is happening every 3 weeks once, for about 2 hrs. do i think this is enough? no....but, who am i? i want to go sit with the pastors and tell them listen i don't know if this will cut it, but then, i look at my heart and wonder how many times i have prayed for the leaders of the church? i just started doing that 7 days ago. so, there is a meeting for prayer again today. i am tempted to participate there (will be the first time attending it) and was planning to go. but somehow, i don't want to be in any way or form a showmanship. so i have decided to go alone in a room and pray for the group prayer.(in part, this will prevent i hope me being distracted from praying because of the extra-activities or misguided teaching(i know, this even is another off-shoot of a prideful heart, but i believe there's some serious erroneous teachings)
what do you guys think? i made this decision this morning. i am not sure if God will be honored with that though, because in another post, i read, separating oneself is also kind of prideful. i would love to hear comments and more than that, please please please, pray for this prayer meeting. we need God badly, i mean badly. we live in a city that is almost number one in murder rates in the whole US, number one in use of opium(forgot what the drug is that they extract from opium)...the city is baltimore) but as far as i know there's nobody that grieves in our church. please pray. please...just at least for this session tonight.

 2007/4/23 6:56
ChrisJD
Member



Joined: 2006/2/11
Posts: 2895
Philadelphia PA

 Re: pride in Zion

"In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain." -Zephaniah 3:11


[i]...I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain[/i]



I happened across this passage earlier this week and I thought to share it here. As I read and thought upon this passage while waiting for the train, my mind went back to the word in Jeremiah where it says...


[i]Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.[/i]



And further on he says...


[i] But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.[/i]



I wonder if this passage does not speak to us here, especially in this area of pride?


Is there anything that has given us an opportunity to become haughty in Zion, or that we have begun to have confidence in, instead of in God?


Maybe it is confidence that we are a teacher, or a preacher, or a gifted singer or maybe mighty in gifts of healing or power or some other thing which is supernatural. Zion is a place which is full of brightness, and light, and glory. Our danger is that we touch it, or take it as our own.





In a message given by Keith Daniel which is titled [i]Absolute Surrender[/i] he says


"God isn't looking for a dynaminc preacher, there's too many. He wants a holy man of God... that can't preach... and grip the crowds... that can't touch the glory because there's nothing in him, that doesn't want to look at the glory, that want's one thing...God!"



The next verse in this passage in Zephaniah reads...


[i] I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.[/i]











[i]If you will beleive it, as I went back to this recording to transcribe this very short portion, by some matter of chance, or not, I opened the message to this exact place without searching for it or having known where it was. First try. What are the chances of that? And then the thought just occured to me too that in this part of the message, he's talking about Jonathan Edwards.[/i]


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Christopher Joel Dandrow

 2007/4/25 23:02Profile
crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: Jonathan Edwards - Undiscerned Spiritual Pride

Just for recalibration and pondering again ... bump.

[i]The spiritually proud person is full of light already and feels that he does not need instruction, so he is ready to despise the offer of it. On the other hand, the humble person is like a little child who easily receives instruction. He is cautious in his estimate of himself, sensitive as to how liable he is to go astray. If it is suggested to him that he does go astray, he is most ready to inquire into the matter.

Proud people tend to speak of other’s sins--the miserable delusion of hypocrites, the deadness of some saints with bitterness, or the opposition to holiness of many believers. Pure Christian humility, however, is silent about the sins of others or speaks of them with grief and pity. The spiritually proud person finds fault with other saints for their lack of progress in grace, while the humble Christian sees so much evil in his own heart, and is so concerned about it, that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts. He complains most of himself and his own spiritual coldness and readily hopes that most everybody has more love and thankfulness to God than he.

Spiritually proud people often speak of almost everything they see in others in the harshest, most severe language. They frequently say of an other’s opinion, conduct, or coldness that it is from the devil or from hell. Commonly, their criticism is directed against not only wicked men but also toward true children of God and those who are their superiors. The humble, however, even when they have extraordinary discoveries of God’s glory, are overwhelmed with their own vileness and sinfulness. Their exhortations to fellow Christians are given in a loving and humble manner, and they treat others with as much humility and gentleness as Christ, who is infinitely above them, treats them.[/i]


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Mike Balog

 2007/8/27 9:26Profile
crsschk
Member



Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: Pride

[b]High, supercilious thoughts of yourselves[/b]

(Thomas Watson, "The Duty of Self-Denial" 1675)

"Vain man would be wise." Job 11:12

In the Hebrew it is "Empty man!" Man is a proud
piece of flesh! He is apt to have a high opinion of
himself.

Such as view themselves in the flattering looking-glass
of self-love, appear bigger in their own eyes than they
are! They think their spark--is a sun! They think their
drop--is a sea!

That you may deny all high, supercilious thoughts
of yourselves, consider that self-conceit is a great sin.
Chrysostom calls it "the mother of hell." It is a kind of
idolatry, a self-worshiping. This should pull down the
plumes of pride and self-conceit!

"What makes you better than anyone else? What do you
have that God hasn't given you? And if all you have is
from God, why boast as though you have accomplished
something on your own?" 1 Corinthians 4:7

Consider that, whatever noble endowments you have,
are borrowed. What wise man would be proud of a
jewel which was lent to him? The moon has no cause
to be proud of her borrowed light.

Consider what a hell of sin you carry about you! Sin is
the accursed thing, Joshua 5:13. It is the quintessence
of evil. It was typified by the menstrual cloth, which
was the most unclean thing under the Law. This may
demolish all proud imaginations.

Grace can never thrive where pride and self-conceit grow.
As a body with cancer cannot thrive--so neither can the
soul thrive, which is cancered with pride and self-conceit.
A proud head--makes a barren heart!

A supercilious conceitedness is odious to God. The more
one values himself--the less God values him. Such as
have a high opinion of their own excellencies, are on the
fast track to eternal ruin! The Lord sometimes lets vain,
conceited people fall--not only foully, but finally! "The
doves," says Pliny, "take pride in their feathers, and in
their flying high. But they soar so high, that they are
prey to the hawk!" Just so, when men fly high in pride,
they become prey to the prince of the air!

All this should make us kill the worm of self-conceit!

Let Paul be our pattern. Though he was the chief of the
Apostles, he says, "I am less than the least of all God's
people." Ephesians 3:8. "I am nothing." 2 Corin. 12:11.
This illustrious Apostle, a star of the first magnitude,
shrank into nothing in his own eyes!


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Mike Balog

 2007/9/3 0:28Profile
crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: The Heart God Revives

[i]By Nancy Leigh DeMoss[/i]

Proud people focus on the failures of others.
Broken people are overwhelmed with a sense of their own spiritual need.

Proud people have a critical, fault-finding spirit; they look at everyone else’s faults with a microscope but their own with a telescope.
Broken people are compassionate; they can forgive much because they know how much they have been forgiven.

Proud people are self-righteous; they look down on others.
Broken people esteem all others better than themselves.

Proud people have an independent, self-sufficient spirit.
Broken people have a dependent spirit; they recognize their need for others.

Proud people have to prove that they are right.
Broken people are willing to yield the right to be right.

Proud people claim rights; they have a demanding spirit.
Broken people yield their rights; they have a meek spirit.

Proud people are self-protective of their time, their rights, and their reputation.
Broken people are self-denying.

Proud people desire to be served.
Broken people are motivated to serve others.

Proud people desire to be a success.
Broken people are motivated to be faithful and to make others a success.

Proud people desire self-advancement.
Broken people desire to promote others.

Proud people have a drive to be recognized and appreciated.
Broken people have a sense of their own unworthiness; they are thrilled that God would use them at all.

Proud people are wounded when others are promoted and they are overlooked.
Broken people are eager for others to get the credit; they rejoice when others are lifted up.

Proud people have a subconscious feeling, “This ministry/church is privileged to have me and my gifts”; they think of what they can do for God.
Broken people’s heart attitude is, “I don’t deserve to have a part in any ministry”; they know that they have nothing to offer God except the life of Jesus flowing through their broken lives.

Proud people feel confident in how much they know.
Broken people are humbled by how very much they have to learn.

Proud people are self-conscious.
Broken people are not concerned with self at all.

Proud people keep others at arms’ length.
Broken people are willing to risk getting close to others and to take risks of loving intimately.

Proud people are quick to blame others.
Broken people accept personal responsibility and can see where they are wrong in a situation.

Proud people are unapproachable or defensive when criticized.
Broken people receive criticism with a humble, open spirit.

Proud people are concerned with being respectable, with what others think; they work to protect their own image and reputation.
Broken people are concerned with being real; what matters to them is not what others think but what God knows; they are willing to die to their own reputation.

Proud people find it difficult to share their spiritual need with others.
Broken people are willing to be open and transparent with others as God directs.

Proud people want to be sure that no one finds out when they have sinned; their instinct is to cover up.
Broken people, once broken, don’t care who knows or who finds out; they are willing to be exposed because they have nothing to lose.

Proud people have a hard time saying, “I was wrong; will you please forgive me?”
Broken people are quick to admit failure and to seek forgiveness when necessary.

Proud people tend to deal in generalities when confessing sin.
Broken people are able to acknowledge specifics when confessing their sin.

Proud people are concerned about the consequences of their sin.
Broken people are grieved over the cause, the root of their sin.

Proud people are remorseful over their sin, sorry that they got found out or caught.
Broken people are truly, genuinely repentant over their sin, evidenced in the fact that they forsake that sin.

Proud people wait for the other to come and ask forgiveness when there is a misunderstanding or conflict in a relationship.
Broken people take the initiative to be reconciled when there is misunderstanding or conflict in relationships; they race to the cross; they see if they can get there first, no matter how wrong the other may have been.

Proud people compare themselves with others and feel worthy of honor.
Broken people compare themselves to the holiness of God and feel a desperate need for His mercy.

Proud people are blind to their true heart condition.
Broken people walk in the light.

Proud people don’t think they have anything to repent of.
Broken people realize they have need of a continual heart attitude of repentance.

Proud people don’t think they need revival, but they are sure that everyone else does.
Broken people continually sense their need for a fresh encounter with God and for a fresh filling of His Holy Spirit.

© Revive Our Hearts. Used with permission. www.ReviveOurHearts.com
[email protected]


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Mike Balog

 2007/9/18 9:51Profile
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Undiscerned Spiritual Pride

Old disciples of Christ must behave in every thing agreeably to the Christian doctrine. That the aged men be sober; not thinking that the decays of nature will justify any excess; but seeking comfort from nearer communion with God, not from any undue indulgence. Faith works by, and must be seen in love, of God for himself, and of men for God's sake. Aged persons are apt to be peevish and fretful; therefore need to be on their guard. Though there is not express Scripture for every word, or look, yet there are general rules, according to which all must be ordered. Young women must be sober and discreet; for many expose themselves to fatal temptations by what at first might be only want of discretion. The reason is added, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Failures in duties greatly reproach Christianity. Young men are apt to be eager and thoughtless, therefore must be earnestly called upon to be sober-minded: there are more young people ruined by pride than by any other sin. Every godly man's endeavour must be to stop the mouths of adversaries. Let thine own conscience answer for thine uprightness. What a glory is it for a Christian, when that mouth which would fain open itself against him, cannot find any evil in him to speak of!

Matthew Henry


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Mike Balog

 2007/9/21 0:33Profile





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