Excerpt from The Power of the Spirit by William Law, a mentor in heart and spirit to Andrew Murray and many others.



The enemies to man’s rising out of the fall of Adam are many. But the supreme enemy, called Antichrist, is self-exaltation. There has been much speculation to see where and what Antichrist is or by what marks he may be recognized. To know with certainty what he is not, one need only read this short description which Christ gives of Himself: “I can do nothing of myself; I came not to do my own will; I seek not my own glory; I am meek and lowly of heart.” Now if this be Christ, then self-exaltation, being in the highest and fullest opposition, must be that spirit of Antichrist that opposes and withstands the whole nature and Spirit of Christ. And although that particular man who is to be the ultimate embodiment of this spirit may not be yet upon the earth; nevertheless, no man need look any further than his own heart to find the same Antichrist which John said was “already in the world” in his own day. What therefore has everyone so much to fear, to renounce and abhor, as every inward breathing of self-exaltation, and every outward work that proceeds from it?



Now at what things shall a man look to see that working of self from which pride gains its power to hinder the birth and life of the humble Jesus in his soul? Shall he look at the thirst for riches and honor to see the pride that has the most of Antichrist in it? By no means. These are shameful enough marks of the vain heart of man; yet, comparatively speaking, they are but the skin-deep follies of that pride which the fall of man has begotten and brought forth within him. To discover the deepest root and iron strength of pride and self-exaltation, one must enter into the secret chamber of man’s soul, where the Spirit of God, who alone gives humility and meek submission, was denied through Adam’s sin, thus bringing that death which came upon all men, for all have sinned. Satan’s own spirit of self-exaltation became the strong man that kept charge of the house, till a stronger than he should regain possession.



Here in man’s innermost being, self had its awful birth, and established its throne, reigning over a kingdom of secret pride, of which all outward pomp and vanities are but its childish, transitory playthings. “It is not those things from without that defile a man,” said Christ, “But out of the heart comes all the evil of man’s defilement.” The inward strong man of pride, the diabolical self, has his higher works within; he dwells in the strength of the heart, and here every power and faculty of the soul offers continual incense to him. Memory is the faithful repository of all the fine things that self has ever done, and lest any of them should be lost or forgotten, memory is continually setting them before self’s eyes. Man’s intellect has all the world before it, yet goes after nothing but as self sends it, ever seeing new projects to enlarge its dominion. Imagination, as the last and truest support of self, lays unseen worlds at his feet, and crowns him with secret revenges and fancied honors. This is that satanic, natural self that must be denied and crucified, or there can be no disciple of Christ. There is not plainer interpretation than this that can be put upon the worlds of Jesus, “Except a man deny self, and take up the cross and follow me, he cannot be my disciple.”



So great is the blindness which pride brings to the soul, that helpless creatures feel exalted because of natural abilities that are given them by God, and boast of such things as though they were their own. No man has the power to do anything, except by a life that every moment is loaned to him from God: he has no more power of his own to breathe or move a hand than to stop the earth or extinguish the sun. This is the dependent, helpless poverty of man’s state, which is a good reason for humility. Since God who “gives to all men life, and breath and all that we possess”’ to ascribe glory to ourselves for these things is to be built both of stealing and lying. For pride takes to ourselves those things which only belong to God, and in denying the truth of our helpless dependence upon Him, we pretend to be something that we are not.

Greetings brothers and sisters:
This truly touched my heart. I know in my willful , self pleasing, self seeking flesh, I still have much to repent of. It's easy for me to think of myself as doing so many good things when in truth I am nothing with out Him! I truly want to take up my cross and follow after Jesus not just in this moment but in every moment for the rest of my life!Living obediently to Him and not to self.....just thought I would share.

Blessings
Maryjane

One looks at this as a call to humility.

How we do need it, and how God looks for it in His people.

Can a holy person lack humility? Is that why God says without holiness no one can see the Lord?

The fight with pride in the heart of man has raged since the Fall, and continues to this day.

As we are obedient to God, and surrender to the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ, that humility will win and pride will be defeated.

With God, all things are possible, Matt 19v26.

God bless.