Welcome to Heart Notes! So glad you are joining me!
There is one consistent prayer that I have prayed for myself over the past ten years or so. It is a prayer that God has answered time and again, and often the answering of it is exquisitely painful.
It is not a prayer for more money or possessions.
It is not a prayer for good health.
It is not a prayer for my job, or even my ministry.
It is not even a prayer for my family, although I pray for them daily.
The burning desire of my heart is that God would reveal to me any PRIDE that resides in my heart. I beg Him to show me any evidence of a better-than-thou attitude; an ‘I’ve got it, God’ way of thinking.
I want to live in complete dependence on Christ. Any inkling of pride renders that impossible. Any time I think that I know better than God about anything, pride is eating my lunch. Any time I look condescendingly on another person, I’m awash in pride. Any time I leave God out of the decision making process for my everyday life, I have allowed pride to take the reigns.
AND God hates pride. He said so in the Scriptures….several times.
So what is the antidote to pride? We find it in today’s Heart Notes verse:
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10 (NIV)
I must willingly, intentionally humble myself before Him. I must ask Him to reveal pride, and then be willing to lay whatever He shows me at His feet in repentance and humility.
This prayer….asking God to show me pride in my heart…it’s a dangerous prayer to pray, because He will answer it. And it won’t always be fun. But, it will always be profitable. It will always bring me closer to Jesus, and that makes all the pain worth it.
