Does it feel like God Himself is resisting you?

Maybe He is…ikr you weren’t expecting that were ya?! 

God resists the proud because they resist His voice.

How to know if you are in pride:

1- you’re self sufficient

2-you think you can get by without others

3-you want the glory of being “the man” or “the boss-babe”

4- it’s everyone else’s fault, not yours 

5- you’re defensive toward anyone loving who’s trying to tell ya the truth that hurts

6-you’re unable to receive critique & justify every action, repelling accountability and wisdom

7-you’re willing to crumble to pieces on the inside before facing truth that may cost you something 

8-you’re unaware of blind spots

9-you have an extremely elated opinion of self while at the same time, very insecure at the core

10-you lie & live in denial of the truth

11-you compare and are jealous of anyone “ahead of you”

12-you won’t take responsibility but are quick to blame

13-you pretend there isn’t a problem & ignore the awkwardness, continuing in deception 

14-you seek out other ways of finding direction like open & closed doors & other external things because you refuse to listen to the voice of God

15-you look for what will benefit you instead of others in making decisions 

16-you’re unwilling to bend, adjust, & yield to others because you think you know more and know best and are right in most given situations 

17-you think you are smarter than most and have an edge that excuses you from having to work as hard as others to get to the top

18-you seek to be understood instead of to understand

19-you are inflexible and difficult to lead or coach

20-you are deceived and (of course) don’t know it.

I double dog dare you to take this into God’s presence and into His Word, asking Him to lovingly and gently move you to repentance for any of these that apply to you. I love how the Holy Spirit is so sweet and affirming even in dealing with us about the ugliest parts of us. So be bold and brave and take this into the Holy of Holies and ask Him to burn off the chaff and create in you a clean heart. I’ve done this with this list. Oh the freedom it is to come out of His presence with joy unspeakable and full of glory with the stench of pride eradicated from our lives! 

I encourage you to get an accountability partner if you need it to help sharpen you as scripture says and I’m sure they have a list maybe of another  kind they are working on like maybe overcoming an addiction or dealing with fear or impatience or something that you can be iron sharpening iron for each other. 

The greatest thing you can do to overcome pride is first realizing that it’s a problem, learning to yield to someone without being defensive so you can take steps to overcoming all the other self-defeating characteristics and relational killers that come along with pride. 

Our goal is to be on the giving end of loving ANYWAY more than having to be on the receiving end of it right?! lol Actually, one of the secrets to overcoming pride is getting on both ends of love ANYWAY & getting more aquatinted with receiving God’s love He wants to lavish on you, responding to Him with an open and vulnerable heart filled with love back toward Him. That flow of love between God and you is what enables you to love yourself as you are and not as you pretend to be or if you perform well or dependent on how others view you….but just relaxing into simply loving YOURSELF for who you honestly are an who God says you are, finally HEARING HIS VOICE about who you are and what He’s called you to. Then, it’s out of that love that you unselfishly, wholeheartedly love others well without pride, without a guardedness, without fear of any kind. It’s from that place, that God speaks to you of how you can serve humanity and live out a purposeful life that brings fulfillment and satisfaction. 

Perfect love casts out fear and when this happens FRFR, it abolishes pride and you go free in ways you’ve only imagined! You begin to live others-minded. This is such a picture of how it is better to give than receive. Pride is all about receiving but in doing so it robs you from the greatest joy of all-giving! 

Happy Monday, y’all! 

Adrienne, xo