Wednesday 8 January 2014

SOURCE OF PRIDE

MEMORY VERSE: And Samuel said when thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? (1 Samuel 15:17)

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judg 7, Acts 11, Jer 20, Mark 6

BIBLE STUDIES: 1 Samuel 15:1-23

What is pride? Pride is the opposite of humility. What is humility? Humility is seeing yourself as little in your own eyes. When you see yourself as little in your own eyes, submitting to the will of God becomes easy. When you consider yourself as little before the Most High, letting the will of God to take precedence in your life becomes easy. Since pride is the opposite of humility, pride can defined as seeing yourself as a big man or big woman in your eyes. One of the reasons why the proud always amount to nothing at the end of the day is that they become so big that no one can advise them. They become big to the extent that no one can correct them. One of the things to watch out for in courtship is does that brother or sister listens to correction? Another thing to check is there anyone the brother or sister respects and listens to? Make sure you know at least one person who can speak to that bro or sister and he or she will listen to. Never get married to a brother or sister who no one can correct!

The Lord through the mouth of Prophet Samuel gave an instruction to King Saul to go and destroy the Amalekites. When Saul got to Amalek, he destroyed all except the sheep, oxen and Agag the king. Not only that, his soldiers took spoils from Amalek. When the man of God came to see King Saul, he found out that Saul did not destroy all as instructed by God. King Saul had become a big man; he could now decide which of God’s instruction to obey and not to obey. King Saul wasn’t a proud fellow when the Lord anointed him king over Israel. He was so humble that he even listens to his servant. No wonder the man of God reminded him that when he was little in his own sight, God made him the head of the tribes of Israel. Because of pride, God dethroned him and anointed David as king.

Pride entered into King Saul when he began to see himself as a big man. This man saw himself as a big man because he was measuring himself by the people around. Matthew 5:48 says be ye perfect as God is perfect. Every time you measure your life by the life of people around you, you may be tempted to see yourself as a big man especially if the Lord has blessed you. The elders have a saying, in the town of the blind; a one eyed man is the King. When you measure your prayer life by the prayer life of those who pray for only 30 minutes you might be tempted to see yourself as a big prayer warrior especially if you are the type that prays for two hours. To avoid these, always measure yourself by God. If you measure your prayer life by the prayer life of Jesus who fasted for forty days and night, you will always see yourself as little in your own eyes.

KEYWORD: When you measure yourself by people around you, you may be tempted to see yourself as a big man but wh

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