Prayer vs. Pride
Isaiah 14:12-15 How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of the North Mountain
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.
Ezekiel 28 12-17 “‘You were the seal of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden,
the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you:
carnelian, chrysolite and emerald,
topaz, onyx and jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold;
on the day you were created they were prepared.
14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
you walked among the fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created
till wickedness was found in you.
16 Through your widespread trade
you were filled with violence,
and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God,
and I expelled you, guardian cherub,
from among the fiery stones.
17 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;
Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
I believe that the opposite of pride is prayer
Definition of pride (Websters) – The feeling that you are more important or better than other people
The first step to fix our problem of pride is to recognize that we have a problem.
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:5 The Lord detests all the proud of heart.
Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
Matthew 14:23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone
Luke 6:12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God
Mark 1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed
Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
If we are not praying we are losing the battle against pride
James Franklin was born in 1697 Boston (Picture)
James 4:6 That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.
Prayer changes things
- Changes situations
- Changes people’s hearts
- Changes our hearts
If we aren’t praying then, we are creating an environment for pride
If we aren’t praying, then we are setting ourselves up in opposition against God
