Do you feel like God is resisting you, or do you know someone who seems to be blind to the Truth of God’s Word?
It could be that the heart of the problem is pride.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they died a spiritual death. When they died, they became in a certain sense disconnected from God (see Genesis 1 to Genesis 3).
In essence, they lost the connection they had with God and the power of darkness took control over their hearts.
This is why the Bible teaches that when we become saved God adopts us into His family as His children (see Ephesians 1:5), and we are delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of Jesus (see Colossians 1:13).
This is also why Jesus said that unless you are born-again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God (see John 3:3).
The Nature Of Satan
In John 8:44 Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You are of your father, the devil, and it is your will to practice the lusts and gratify the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar [himself] and the father of lies and of all that is false.”
Satan is at his very core prideful and self-righteous (see Ezekiel 28:12-18 as well as 1 Timothy 3:6). This same pride and self-righteousness is part of the nature that man took on when Adam sinned, and it is the cage around the sinner’s heart that keeps it in captivity because man is also born in sin.
As David wrote in Psalm 51:5, “I was brought forth in [a state of] wickedness; In sin my mother conceived me [and from my beginning I, too, was sinful].”
When we understand that those who are not born-again are therefore in a sense children of Satan, we begin to understand why it could be that pride is the heart of the problem.
Deception & Pride
While Satan uses deception to blind the world from truth, his ultimate goal is to keep the sinner’s heart full of pride.
Pause for a moment and reflect on this.
It is vital to understand that Satan’s ultimate goal is to keep the sinner’s heart full of pride.
This pride not only causes the sinner to reject Truth, but is also what prevents the Father from drawing a person closer to Him. In John 6:44 Jesus said, “No one is able to come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me attracts and draws him and gives him the desire to come to Me…”
This almost sounds like a contradiction to the verse that says God wants all people to be saved. The reality is God does want all people to be saved. However, pride is the original sin, and God resists the proud but gives grace to those who humble themselves before Him.
God Resists The Proud
To explain to us how serious the problem of pride is, James 4:6 says, “God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).”
Proverbs 16:5 emphasises what James said and says, “Everyone proud and arrogant in heart is disgusting, hateful, and exceedingly offensive to the Lord; be assured [I pledge it] they will not go unpunished.”
• Disgusting…
• Hateful…
• Exceedingly Offensive…
These are strong expressions indeed.
Why would God be resisting a person? God resists the person when they are demonstrating the very nature of Satan, due to pride.
Just to be sure we understand the seriousness of pride, Peter confirmed this in 1 Peter 5 and said, “For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)—[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble.”
Do you feel you are constantly being resisted by God? Do you perhaps wonder if your prayers ever make it past the ceiling, as you struggle to get breakthrough in your life?
If so, it could just be that you have a problem with pride.
God Gives Grace To The Humble
All are invited to repent and receive salvation, but we need to do so on God’s terms and not ours.
God’s terms clearly stipulate a humble heart as a prerequisite for salvation (also read God’s Terms Of Redemption).
Therefore, if you feel that God is resisting you, or if you struggle to make right with God, it might be that you still have pride in your heart and need to first humble yourself before the Maker of the Universe.
If you are a Christians who share your faith with others, it can be frustrating when it seems you are not getting any results. If this is you, it could be that you are not using the methods God has put in place that were designed to break down a person’s pride. See the series of posts on Why Jesus Said He Is The Only Way
After all, the Bible says that no one can come to Jesus for salvation unless the Father first attracts and draws them (see John 6:44).
In order for the Father to attract and draw them, they first need to humble themselves so He would no longer be resisting them.
