Pastor John Collins, Love That Cross, Wyoming: Pride gets us no where with God
The
Giant Goliath held King Saul and his army in a siege. In his
arrogance, he taunted the army threatening anyone who would stand
against him. Young David, years from becoming the next king of Israel,
was there and stepped up to face Goliath. Goliath's pride and arrogance
would not allow him to see the threat that David really did present.
David's faith and humility in facing that giant pleased God, and God
allowed David to defeat Goliath by hitting him with a stone thrown from a
sling and then David cut off Goliath's head. Pride gets us no where in
the face of God.
Pride and humility.
We are a proud people
here in the United States. We have so much
that we have accomplished,
the rest of the world sometimes
looks at us in disgust
because we give the appearance
of not being satisfied. It’s never
enough and we draw attention to ourselves
where ever we go. Celebrities
are recognized
and lifted up as examples for us to live
by. Through all of the media, it’s “look what
I can do”. God resists the proud.
Pride will not get any soul into heaven.
“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a
fall.” Proverbs 16:18
Our faith as Christians
today doesn’t measure
up to the faith
of Abraham, of Noah, of Moses, of David.
These men were humble
to begin with and knew
the value and spirit of humility
before God. Our pride
gets in the way. How would God
choose from among us today? We often don’t have the strength
of faith
to worship
Him, let alone look beyond
what our human
hands and minds create
and put before God. Our offerings of ourselves lack
humility. We need to let go of pride
and ego,
let go of the
pride that we have accomplished
something and let God
and Jesus
Christ work in our lives.
Evangelist Pastor John Collins began a revival of awakening
in Wyoming.
That awakening stirs
the spirit of those who hear
him. From a pulpit or behind the microphone of a recording
studio, his words are Biblically
correct. Being Biblically
correct in a very politically
correct world is difficult
for most of the strongest
of Christians
today.
Pastor John Collins says it well and puts pride and humility into this perspective:
“Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would
be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little
child and set him by Him, and said to them, ‘Whoever receives this little child
in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For
he who is least among you all will be great.’” Luke 9:46-48
Who is worthy
to be lifted up? How does God
choose those that He would separate
and use for His purposes?
He chose Abraham
and Abraham was considered a friend
of God’s. He chose David
and David was a man after God’s
own heart. He sent His
Son who died for us all. Even those
who walked with Jesus thought of themselves
and the impact
that they would have on this world. This is so wonderful to
know that the human
instinct to desire to rise
above and be great
was felt in those men who
walked with Christ.
This allows us to recognize
this in ourselves and
work to overcome
that ego. They
were corrected
and they learned
what true humility
is. They witnessed
their Lord
humble Himself to the Cross. Yet
there are so many
that want to be great
in the name of the Lord. They
call attention
to themselves and think
highly of themselves.
But, God resists
the proud
and gives grace
to the humble. Believe me when I tell you that God knows what He is doing
and He knows our hearts.
Pastor John Collins of Love That Cross Wyoming Revival continues on: God has no use for pride.
God
does not want servants that think highly of
themselves and their eligibility. God wants people
to serve
Him that are humble of
heart. When we choose to walk with Jesus it should be with a pure heart and a true
devotion to obedience
to the Lord. We should never
seek our own acclaim.
We should not
care what others think of us.
We should be concerned
only with whether we are an asset to the kingdom of God
or a burden. If we have selfish ambition
in our heart and a desire to stand out and be important,
we are seeking status
in this life
and we are then unworthy
to be a true servant
of the Lord.
We must be careful when we desire to leave a name
for ourselves, to want to be
recognized for our importance
or to be valued
among men. A truly worthy
person that will serve God
well is a person that has no ambition in
his heart. This person thinks of
salvation when he looks upon the
souls of this world. This person has sadness in his
heart because of the condition
of the human race. This person worries
of the state
of others’ faith in their lives. This person considers opportunities to share
the gospel and help others come to Jesus.
This person wants
to see others
go to heaven and lives his life
as an example. This person will
sacrifice and find ways to be a light in a world
of dark. This person will please God.
“Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of
this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to
those who love Him?” James 2:5
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed
are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:3-6
Learning to be
humble takes a commitment
to become obedient
to God. In order to become obedient to
God, we need
to learn to draw near to Him in prayer
and through the words in the Holy
Bible. God wants each of us to have the opportunity
to come to know
Him, so that we all can go home to Him
one day. That is the reason
He sent His Son Jesus Christ,
for our salvation
through His sacrifice on the
Cross. Jesus humbly accepted
the punishment
of our sins,
died publicly in humility
and obedience. God won’t ask
us to do anything
that He won’t equip us to handle. We can become obedient and humble ourselves before God, just as His Son did. God wants us to come to know Him and His love, to
help us with our lives and be part of our lives here in this world. Pride and ego turns us from God. To be meek, to be poor in spirit means to be humble; we need to
learn the humility of Christ. Bring back God in our lives, come humbly to the
foot of the Cross.
