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Crushing Strongholds #028 Pride Goeth Before Destruction · One Voice Many Conversations

0:02
SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to another episode of Crushing Strongholds.
0:07
SPEAKER_00: This is a podcast where we turn pain into power and trauma into triumph.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: It's also a place where we get to expose the lives of the enemy.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: And how do we do that exactly?
0:16
SPEAKER_00: We do that by the truth and the grace and the word of Jesus Christ.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: And we also do that by sharing testimonies on this podcast where I have guests come on and they like to tell you about strongholds that they were able to crush.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: And the best way to dismantle a stronghold sometimes is by getting your testimony out there and telling people what you've walked through, the fire that you've endured, the hardships that you've faced, the struggles that you have gone through, conquered, and overcame.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: And that's what the heart of this podcast is all about.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: And not only that, but it's also sharing the word of God and standing firmly on the gospel of Jesus Christ and just demonstrating my faith and reaching out to those people that or anyone out there that might be struggling or having a hard time getting through or over a stronghold of their own.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: So welcome in everybody.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: My name is Mickey.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: I am the host of this podcast.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm a Christian life coach.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: And I have an interesting topic of discussion today.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm going to dive right in because I don't want to keep you guys all day, but I really want to hit a few points.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: I've got about four scriptures I want to share with you today.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: So if you guys have your word of God, the word of God, get it out.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: Put it in your hand.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: Get the Bible.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: Put it in your hands.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean, these are great.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay, don't get me wrong.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Having a cell phone is is okay.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: It's great.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: But if you're using Google or AI to look up scripture or to get into the word of God, I just don't advise it.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: I advise that you should literally hold the word of God in your hand.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: There's so much power to this book.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: And you don't get the same um or feeling that you do if you're holding a tablet or if you're on a computer or if you have your phone.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: The word of God is it manifests through through the book, okay?
2:18
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot that comes through this, okay?
2:19
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna dive into that right now.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna talk about a a little bit of a sensitive, touchy subject, and that, my friends, is the word pride.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had pride?
2:29
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had pride?
2:31
SPEAKER_00: Come on, we all have.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: I have had a lot of pride in my life.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: A lot.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: At my age, I can say that I walked in a lot of pride.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we're just gonna dive in today.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: I want to share um Proverbs 16, 18 with you out of the King James Version.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: That's where I'm reading from today.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna just dive right in and we're gonna read it and we're gonna take off, okay?
2:49
SPEAKER_00: It says in Proverbs 16, 18, pride goeth before destruction.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: And uh and an haughty heart, a haughty spirit before a fall.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: Pride goeth before destruction, and and haughty spirit before a fall.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay, what does this mean?
3:09
SPEAKER_00: This teaches us about arrogance.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: Anybody arrogant out there?
3:14
SPEAKER_00: How about anybody have any excessive self-confidence?
3:18
SPEAKER_00: Huh?
3:19
SPEAKER_00: Is that you?
3:21
SPEAKER_00: Are you you know what?
3:22
SPEAKER_00: When when we talk about these words, um, I just want to share that um it if we have this attitude and this behavior, this this arrogant mindset and this, oh, I do such a good job at this, I'm so great at this, I'm so good, I'm so good, I'm so good, I'm so good, I'm so good.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: Okay, um, it's definitely a precursor for disaster.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: It's pride, and that's what Proverbs is talking about.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: It says pride goes before the fall.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: So when you step into pridefulness, you need to be aware, you need to be cautious, you need to be um known and let the alert go off that destruction follows.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Okay, the haughty spirit before a fall.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: So if you're haughty, what does that mean?
4:08
SPEAKER_00: What does haughtiness mean?
4:10
SPEAKER_00: That means you're very proud.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: Being proud, okay.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, you're envious, um, your arrogant, your your so self-important attitude, um, it will inevitably lead to downfall and destruction.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: And I don't wish that for you.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: I don't even wish that for myself.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you, I have put myself in some situations where um things could have turned out a little bit differently had I not been so full of pride.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
4:42
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna keep on talking about this.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: Let's just keep on talking about it.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: And I know this is a word that people don't like to talk about.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, we like to celebrate it, but we don't like to talk about it.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: So let's let's go on, let's go on with this, okay?
4:54
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at some other verses that are gonna support what I'm talking about today.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: James 4, 6, again in the King James Version, um, it says, But he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: God resists people that are pride, prideful.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: If you're proud, God's gonna resist you.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Do you want that?
5:19
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Christian today and you're listening to this, do you want that?
5:24
SPEAKER_00: As a Christian, we don't want that.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: We don't want God to resist us.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: We want God to accept us.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: And he does accept us, but he doesn't accept that behavior.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna resist us when we're acting like that.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
5:38
SPEAKER_00: Now, if we if we ask for forgiveness and we ask for grace, God's gonna give it to us.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: If we humble ourselves and say, God, okay, I've been really prideful lately.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Can you help me, Lord?
5:51
SPEAKER_00: Can you forgive me?
5:52
SPEAKER_00: And you show that humility?
5:55
SPEAKER_00: Or even better yet, let's say you're having a conversation with somebody and you talk to yourself way up here.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: You just talk, talk, talk, you just put yourself up to this level, um, this self-loathing level over yourself, and you knew after the conversation that, man, I really, I really, I really like put myself out there.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: I put myself up there.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: You just have this really um cocky, arrogant, overly confident attitude.
6:25
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever done that?
6:26
SPEAKER_00: I've done that.
6:27
SPEAKER_00: I've done that in conversations.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: And um here recently, God has really been convicted me a lot about doing that.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, this is how bad the conviction was.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: I went on to a friend of mine's podcast.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: I was super excited.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: I got to go on his podcast instead of everyone that comes onto mine, I got to go onto his, and I was like, Yay, you know, I got the invite and I was super excited.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: And and he's he starts off, you know, with this little um opening, and then he says, So, so tell me about you.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: I want to know about you.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: Tell tell all the listeners about you.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: And it literally like went straight up into my head, and the enemy, like, literally, my mouth just started moving, and and all these things about myself came out.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay, all these things.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: And yes, it was true, it was truthful, but it was arrogant.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: And I I talked down about my mother because it made me look better.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: Something my mother used to do.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: My mom used to talk down to me because she thought it made her look better.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: My mom used to talk down about me to everyone because she thought it made her look better.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: So I almost did the exact same thing my mom did.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: But after I got off the podcast and I thought about it, and I was all happy and excited.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh, I got to share my testimony, and I got to um talk about being in foster care and some of the things I overcame and how I overdid it, and and how I got through it.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
8:02
SPEAKER_00: God was like, shame on you.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: Because God got me through it.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: And I did bring God into the conversation.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: Don't get me wrong, I did bring up God because I am a Christian, and I know God got me through it, but I was pretty boastful.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: I was giving myself one great big pat on the back, okay, during my my testimony on this guy's podcast.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, you know what?
8:24
SPEAKER_00: I was so irritated with myself that I went and prayed about it.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: And God said, tell him to take it down.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: Tell him not to launch it, tell him not to put it out there.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: Ask him to forgive you and don't do it.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: So I had to step into some humility, and it it I was like, how am I gonna say this to this guy?
8:46
SPEAKER_00: He just spent an hour and a half of his time letting me come on his show, and now I'm gonna tell him not to put it out there because I couldn't control you know my pride.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: God said, Yeah, that's what you're gonna do.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: And that's what I did.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: And um, I had to step into humility and be like, I I I don't want this to be a prideful moment, because God does deserve all the glory.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: So let's look at Proverbs 11, 2.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: When pride cometh, then cometh shame, but with the lowly is wisdom.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: So when we step into pride, shame follows.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: We end up becoming ashamed of ourselves.
9:29
SPEAKER_00: That's where shame comes from, by the way.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: If you're walking in shame, it's because of some of the prideful decisions you've made in your life, the prideful behaviors and attitudes that you've demonstrated throughout your life.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: That's where some of that shame comes from.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: And and I'm not sure if like all of your shame comes from that.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: I would think not, but when we're walking in that pride, um, we're gonna feel a lot of shame.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: But we need to, we need to be lowly and we need to gain wisdom.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: And how do we do that?
9:59
SPEAKER_00: We get in the word of God and we say, God, give us your, give me, give us, give me your scripture, and show me, Lord, show me what to do.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Help me not to walk in this mindset and in this attitude and in this behavior, and help me not to behave this way.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: So it's basically, you know, Proverbs 11, too, basically is highlighting that God literally opposes people that are proud.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: He opposes it.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: But he gives grace if you're wise.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: So, how do we become wise?
10:33
SPEAKER_00: We have to walk in that humility.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: We have to walk in the humility, okay?
10:37
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at Galatians 6 7.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: It says, Do not be deceived.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: God is not mocked.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: What does this mean?
10:48
SPEAKER_00: It teaches that we cannot mock, we cannot make a mockery of God through uh mere pretenses.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: We can't do that, okay?
10:56
SPEAKER_00: We can't do it by ignoring his word and his laws, and um especially if we attempt to do so like purposely and willingly, we need to not do that.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, it results in self-deception and the consequences that we get individually, we will reap.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna reap what we sow.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so to mock God means to disgrace not disgrace, you could say disgrace, to mock God, it means to disregard his sovereignty and his laws and his word and his truth and the biblical principle, and and that is such actions, they have repercussions, they have repercussions for our behavior and our attitudes.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's go on, shall we?
11:48
SPEAKER_00: So, what does pride actually look like?
11:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay, pride doesn't have a single a single visual um appearance, basically.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: You can't walk around and go, hey, there's pride right there.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes when I'm walking around with arrogance, now I will say I've seen people that God has given me discernment over, and I could see them acting prideful.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: But that's not this that's not what this is saying.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: It's like we don't walk around with the appearance of pride.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: It's it's only visible through both external behaviors and internal attitudes.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: So how you behave on the on the surface, on the outwardly, and how your attitude is on the inside, how that comes out and comes across, that's that's pride.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: That shows that, okay?
12:43
SPEAKER_00: So we need to be careful when we're boasting and how we're acting.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: And um, another thing that I want to talk about with pride is if you have an unwillingness to apologize or take criticism, or if you show a lot of envy, or or you have a problem with being critical over everyone else's opinions or over anyone for anything, if you're overly critical, okay?
13:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's pride, my friends.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: That's pride.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: We need to stop doing that.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: We are not supposed to do that.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: We need to be able to admit our mistakes and we're supposed to accept criticism.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're the one giving the criticism, you need to make sure that you're doing it correctly, you're doing it through the word of God, and that it's not going to be hurtful, it's going to be meaningful.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: It's a lesson for them to learn and grow from, not for you to knock them down and bury them in the dirt.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: Criticism is not meant for that.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: But if you are giving criticism, you need to give it right the right way.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
13:43
SPEAKER_00: Kind of like this lesson in pride today.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm not criticizing you if you if you if you struggle with any of these, because I have struggled and I still do struggle.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: And um it's not always easy to stop.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: Pride is really a hard thing to get over, okay.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: But while we're out here in the world, we're celebrating the word pride.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: I see people with the word pride across their shirt, and I think, oh my goodness, if they only knew what the word of God says about that word, that one word, they wouldn't wear that shirt.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: Now I don't walk up to them and get in their face and be like, hey, you shouldn't wear that shirt because God is totally against that.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: I don't do that.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna do and act and how they want.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: Now, if I get an opportunity to share God's word with them, I'm absolutely gonna share God's word with them.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna tell them about the gospel of Jesus and how much Jesus loves them.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: And how much we should be glorifying God.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: So, but I will I will tell you this.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: The Bible clearly says pride is not okay, pride is not to be celebrated.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing great about pride, nothing is good, nothing comes from pride that is good, nothing but destruction.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: God's word says it.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: Pride goes before the destruction.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: The destruction, my friends, is going to happen.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: You may say, well, it's not happened to me.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't happen to me, doesn't happen to me.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: Well, guess what?
15:17
SPEAKER_00: Better hang on.
15:19
SPEAKER_00: It's coming.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
15:21
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not gonna go all into all of this because we could get like we can go on and on and on and on for for a minute, I'm telling you.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: But I do want to share another another scripture with you, okay?
15:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, let's look at this one more scripture.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: It's Ephesians 2.9 in the King James Bible, King James Version, I mean, um, it says, For grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourself.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
15:48
SPEAKER_00: The word boast is a prideful word.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: If you're boasting, you're being very prideful.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: You can't save yourselves.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: You definitely can't save yourself from hell.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: Only Jesus Christ can.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: Only through your faith.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: And it says, and not of yourself.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: That means not you.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: You cannot do the saving.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: You can't save yourself.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Now, you could omit the destruction if you stop being prideful, but we're only saved through the grace of Jesus Christ.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: We have to be careful.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: We need to be careful, and we want to honor God, we want to please God.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: And also, even when we're in the process of pleasing God, we're not supposed to boast about that either.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm a Christian.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: I went to church today, and I learned this lesson, and and and I'm doing this, and I'm doing that, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: And um, when you start talking with that haughty attitude of um all the things you do for God instead of giving God all the glory for what He's allowed us to do, that's a prideful spirit.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: We need to watch out for that.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: So just be just be aware.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm just sharing today because I want you guys to be aware of what this word really means and what comes along with it.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: So I am going to share a brief a brief testimony with you, okay?
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, when I was a foster parent, and I went from being a foster child to being married, going through divorce.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: So I had a broken home, a broken, broken husband, or broken marriage, I mean, and a broken family with my children, because my children had to live in a a lifestyle of brokenness between two divorced parents.
17:32
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: So my my my children suffered for that.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, I wanted to be a foster kid or a foster parent when I was 14 in a foster home that I was in.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: And I prayed about it, and God opened the door.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: And I talked to my kids, and I wanted to talk to them and make sure that they were okay with it, they were on board with it.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: They all were supportive, and I was very appreciative of that.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: But after God opened the door and I started having kids come in and kids come in, kids come in.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: I was a foster parent for seven years.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: I had 151 foster kids come through my door.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: I bragged about that a lot.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: I boasted about it constantly.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: How I took in 151 foster kids.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: No, God brought me 151 foster kids that needed nurturing, that needed caring for, that needed love, that needed to be taken to school, that need to be picked up, that need to be cooked, cooked to dinner, that needed an opportunity to sit down at a dinner table and be taught how to bless the food.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: To be taken clothes shopping so they could have clothes to wear.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: God gave me this opportunity, and I took advantage of it by boasting about it.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: And I was getting compliments, y'all.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: I was getting so many compliments from people from the outside watching, from the schools, from the resources, from the caseworkers, the social workers, the state, the judges, the lawyers.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: Even the parents of the kids, when they got their kids back, would give me compliments.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: And I let it go right to my head because most of my life I never got compliments.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: I got insults, I got put down, I got knocked down.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: I was told and belittled most of my life that I was never gonna measure up, I was never gonna do anything good.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: So because I was doing this, this one act of kindness in my life, and I felt like I was demonstrating something good in the world, I started boasting about it.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: And no, God didn't take it away from me, but I went through a lot of struggles.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: And I made mistakes, and sometimes I made a fool of myself, sometimes I did stupid stuff.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, sometimes I struggled with these kids.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes um, out of 151 kids, I will say that a handful of them I clashed with.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: Like I there's there was, you know, there was no way I was gonna get along with this kid, period.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: And I bragged about that too, that I only clashed with a certain amount of kids, you know, but the rest of them, you know, I got along really good with.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: So to the point where these kids still call me, they message me, they come and see me, I go visit them, we get together, I know their family, I know their moms, um, I hang out with them.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, God really blessed me with an abundance of family because I never had family other than my own children.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: He gave me an extended family, and I took advantage of it by boasting about it.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: And see, we've got to be careful because God opened the door, and God can shut the door.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: So we need to be careful that destruction can happen.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: We need to be mindful, we need to give God the glory.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: I stopped saying I, I, I, and I started saying, Him, him, him, he, through him, he deserves the glory, he deserves all of it.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: I took my eyes off from me and put my eyes back on Jesus, and and I realized all of the stuff he'd done in my life for me, and still does.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he has to put up with me for crying out loud.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: So, um, and he does.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: But I had to humble myself to him, and I had to go and I had to repent and I had to apologize.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: And God has worked through me, okay?
21:21
SPEAKER_00: Just like I was sharing the testimony of being on my friend's podcast, God humbled me.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: He convicted me big time.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: And now that I'm in God's word, I'm getting convicted.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: Where at times I wasn't convicted when I acted pridefully because I wasn't in God's word.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't seeking out God, I wasn't trying to please God, wasn't giving God the glory.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: I was taking the glory.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: Glory that wasn't mine to take.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: So I just want to share this with you today because I got I want you guys to be careful.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: So going into closing, we're gonna wrap up here.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: I promise we're wrapping up.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, think about your own life.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: Where in your life are you decided?
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Are you demonstrating a prideful heart?
22:04
SPEAKER_00: Take 10 minutes out of your day, each day this week, and self-evaluate.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: And if you're a Christian, you really need to self-evaluate and ask God to show you.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: Say, God, show me where am I being prideful?
22:20
SPEAKER_00: Help me, Lord.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: Show me.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: Give me discernment.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: Humble me, Lord.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: Humble my heart.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: Teach me thy ways, not my ways.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: I I know there's an expression that my mom used to say, she used to say, it's my way or the highway.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you ever said that to your kids before.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: I have.
22:39
SPEAKER_00: I've repeated it to my kids too.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: It's like, nope, it's my way or the highway.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: You do as I say, or you hit the door running.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: But um literally, it's not my way.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: It needs to be God's way, or in other words, Yahweh.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: It needs to be his way in all things that we do.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: We need to be mindful of that.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: We need to be very cognizant, and we need to stand firm on the foundation that God gave us because he can take the foundation out from underneath us.
23:09
SPEAKER_00: Look at the story of the guy who built his house on the sand.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: What happened?
23:17
SPEAKER_00: It crumbled out from underneath them.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: Gotta build your house on the solid rock, and that's Jesus.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: So I hope you all got something out of this today.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: I really just felt like I wanted to share this with you guys.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, I hope that you guys have an opportunity to take some time for yourself and self-meditate and sit at the feet of Jesus and just ask God.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: Ask God to show you.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: Ask God to show you where you're demonstrating that prideful heart.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: Ask him to remove pride from your heart.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: Now it's not always easy.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna mess up.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: I have messed up.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: I still mess up every day.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: But I'm thankful that through God's grace, he keeps showing me and loving me and teaching me through his word.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: And the more he teaches me, I think it's the better I'm getting.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm getting better.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: But I've still given all the glory to him because he's putting up with me and with all the mistakes that I make.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: And he still loves me.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Just like when your kids make a mistake and they bring home an F on their on their report card.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: You don't stop loving your child.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: But you want them to straighten up whatever that is, whatever's going on with that grade, and you want them to work on correcting it, fixing the mistakes.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: And that's what life's all about.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: We get we get chances to correct our mistakes.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: But don't be too proud that you don't do it.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people are so proudful they don't think they need to correct anything in their life.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: They think they're all that in a bag of chips.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: I hope that's not you.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: I really hope that that's not you.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: So, in closing, I just I just want to say that um God loves you, Jesus loves you, Jesus sat on the cross for you.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: If you need prayer for anything, you can go to crushingstrongholds.com and there's a place on there where you can sign up for prayer.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, I will pray with you.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: If you um want a clarity call, you want to learn more, you want to get some help with crushing some strongholds in your life, you need to just get over that hurdle.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you just need a power hour conversation with somebody that's just gonna give you some motivation and help you build up your confidence and help you learn how to not walk in pride.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: You can go to crushing strongholds again, and that information is on there.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: Go in, subscribe, fill out the welcome area, put your name and in the notes, just put whatever you like.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: Just put, I need prayer, pray for me.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: You can even put your prayer request in there, and I'll reach out to you.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: I will reach out to you and I'll pray for you.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: And um, I hope that you, like I said, I hope you all got something out of this today.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Let's work on our pride, let's be overcomers.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's not go around celebrating it and boasting it.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: Let's come to where God is and give God the glory for all that He's done in our life.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: So, with that, let's I just want to say thank you for joining me for another great episode of Crushing Strongholds.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: I hope you all have a great and fantastic day.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: And um, God bless and take care.