Guest Article

Pride Will Come Before the Fall

As part of the sanctification process that God would like to start with each one of us - one of the things that God will be doing, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is to either take out or prevent certain types of negative qualities from entering into our personalities.

Without question, one of the major qualities that God will be moving in on very strongly to either prevent from being able to enter into us to any significant degree, or to literally knock it right out of us if it has moved too far up into our personalities is the negative quality of pride.

This cancerous, lethal, and destructive quality, probably more than any other negative quality, has brought down more kingdoms, toppled more empires, caused more wars, destroyed more marriages, ruined more friendships and led more criminals into our jail systems than all of the other negative qualities combined and put together.

The spirit of pride has to be the absolute king of all the negative and destructive qualities that can enter into our personalities - and no one is safe and immune from it. All Christians, young and old, super saint or not, have got to keep a sharp eye on this negative quality, and do everything they can not to let this spirit get a foothold and grip into their personalities and mindsets.

As you will see in the one of the Scripture verses I will list below - the spirit of pride will always come right before destruction and a major fall. Even unbelieving heathens are aware of this basic truth from our Bible.

The saying that "pride will come before the fall" is an universal truth understood by everyone. But as understood and hated as this quality is by most people - many still succumb to its enticing and seductive nature, and many end up losing everything as a result of the consequences of wallowing in it for too long of a period of time.

For the record, I believe that there is a good kind of pride and a bad kind of pride. Many Christians, after reading what some of the verses from the Bible has to say about this toxic quality, try and remove all sense of pride from them and their lives. As a result, they end up reducing a lot of their own natural joy in the Lord.

Webster's dictionary, and some of the other different Bible dictionaries describe this good kind of pride as follows:

• Proper respect for one-self, self-respect

• A reasonable or justifiable self-respect

• Sense of one's own dignity and self-worth

• Delight or satisfaction in one's own or another's achievements

  
  

If your child comes home and tells you that he has just received straight A's on his report card - your first natural and instinctive response will be to want to tell them "how proud" you are of them and what they have just accomplished. If your husband comes home and tells you he has just received a nice promotion and pay raise at work for the good job he has been doing - again, your first natural response will be to want to tell him how proud you are of him and his efforts to try and make a better life for your and your family.

This is the good kind of pride. There is nothing wrong in having this good kind of pride for what your children may accomplish and for what you may accomplish in your own work for the Lord in this lifetime. I believe that God Himself wants you to have this good kind of pride for the blessings and opportunities He may bring your way.

If God has just blessed you with a nice new house, there is nothing wrong in being proud of that house and wanting to take good care of it. If God has blessed you with a wonderful marriage with a beautiful mate and beautiful children, there is nothing wrong in taking pride in all of them and what they may accomplish for the Lord in this life.

This good kind of pride that you may have in the actual work that you are doing for the Lord and with whatever blessings He may want to pass your way in this life all help to contribute to your own personal joy in the Lord. It helps to give you a nice sense of approval, and it also helps to motivate you to want to keep on pressing further on with the Lord in whatever He has called you to do for Him in this life.

However, as with anything else that may start out good - there is always the danger of possible excess. What starts out as a simple and a humble type of pride can start to grow into something much more deadly if a person does not properly keep on top of it.

One of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit is the fruit of self-control. Not only will you need to use your own self-control to help keep a proper grip and lid on this quality from getting out of control in your personality - but you will also need the self-control of the Holy Spirit Himself to help you keep proper control of it - especially those who are called by God to move into any type of leadership roles within His Body.

In the verses I will list below, you will see two key words being repeated several times. These two key words are the words "pride" or "proud" and the word "haughty."

Webster's Dictionary, and several of the different Bible dictionaries describe the negative kind of pride as follows:

• An unduly high opinion of oneself

• Exaggerated self-esteem, conceit

• Haughty behavior resulting from arrogance

• An improper and excessive self-esteem known as conceit and arrogance

• A sin of attitude and of the heart and spirit

• A puffed up and inflated ego

• Boasting and high-mindedness

• A conceited sense of one's superiority

• Highly exalted in attitude, opposite from the virtue of humility

  
  

All you have to do is compare the two different sets of definitions of the good kind of pride versus the bad kind of pride to see what the real differences are between the two of them.

What gets some Christians into major trouble with the Lord is falling and entering into the second category mentioned above. What can start out as a humble, justified, and reasonable kind of self-respect for one's self and one's own efforts and accomplishments in the Lord can quickly deteriorate and descend into the bad kind of pride where one starts to lose all sense of who he or she really is in the Lord.

The other key word that you will see listed in the verses below is the word "haughty." Here is what Webster's and some of the other Bible dictionaries have to say about this negative quality:

• Showing great pride on oneself and disdain

• Contempt or scorn for others

• Proud, arrogant, supercilious (disdain or contemptuous)

• An arrogant spirit

  
  

As you will see in the Scripture verses below, the Lord is using some very intense and strong language when describing this negative quality. Not only does God call pride an actual sin in His sight, but He goes one step further and calls it an actual abomination!

As I have stated several times in some of my other articles, whenever God the Father is using the word "abomination" to describe what He is thinking about something - He is using the most extreme and intense word that He possibly can to let all of us know, without any other possible interpretation, that we are to have no part of the activity He is describing as an abomination. We are to avoid it like the plague.

When God puts the qualities of pride and haughtiness in this abomination category - you know that He is giving all of us a very serious and major warning on this issue.

In the Scripture verse below where God the Father is telling us that pride and a haughty spirit will come before destruction and a fall - He is giving all of us major revelation. The history of our world, and what we see on a daily basis throughout the entire world, are all showing us this piece of revelation in actual operation.

The history our world is littered with the casualties that this negative and demonic quality and mindset has caused. It literally, and I mean literally, has completely toppled and destroyed kingdoms, countries, nations, alliances, companies, marriages and good friendships.

Probably the greatest destruction and fall that has ever occurred coming from this one negative quality may end up being the story of how Satan fell from heaven. The Bible only gives us partial information about this story.

As you will see in the three Scripture verses I will list below on how Satan managed to get cast out of heaven - the quality of pride was definitely one of the main causes that led to his own personal downfall in the Lord.

And to think that he was then able to get one-third of the rest of the angels to get cast out of heaven right along with him! I repeat - one third of all the angels who were living with him in heaven were also cast out - and they have now all permanently lost their place in heaven for all of eternity!

There is no more saving grace for Satan and all of these fallen angels. And to think that all of them were born and created up in this perfect heavenly environment - and then to throw it all away - all because one angel thought he could literally overthrow God Almighty Himself. Not only has this got to be the height of pure arrogance and pride - but it also has to be the height of pure stupidity!

As you will see in one of the Scripture verses below - Satan was one of the highest of all the angels God has ever created. He was allowed to literally walk on the mountain of God the Father Himself. He thus had to know how awesome and how powerful God the Father really is and that there was no way that anyone could ever begin to try and overthrow Him.

If God is all-powerful and there are no other Gods in existence - then anyone with half a brain can deduce that God cannot be defeated or overthrown. But Satan obviously was blinded by something else from being able to see this simple and logical truth - and that something was probably the spirit of pride and arrogance that he had operating in him by the time he started to reach this point of no return. I believe that is why God is telling us in this particular verse that the spirit of pride will come right before the fall - as pride is what will start to blind you as to what the real truth of a matter is.

A perfect example of this in our present day and age has to be the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. All this man had to do was to let the UN inspectors complete their investigation into his country for weapons of mass destruction that were never found - and he could have retained full control of his built up, corrupt empire. But his pride got in the way.

He had to show our country and the rest of the world that he could stand up and defy the strongest military might in the world. As a result of letting his pride get in the way and cloud his better judgment on giving into the UN inspectors, he literally lost his entire kingdom in just a matter of a few days!

He literally went from living in the most lavish and expensive living quarters that anyone could possibly live in to being found at the bottom of a hole in the ground all disheveled and unkempt.

We are talking about someone falling from the highest peak of a mountain as king and ruler of an entire country to the lowest depths that anyone can possibly fall to in this life - behind the bars of a jail loosing all of his freedom, all of his wealth and all of his contact with his family and friends.

You have all heard many preachers talk about Joseph going from the pit to the palace. Saddam Hussein managed to do just the opposite. In a matter of just a few days, he literally went from the palace to the pit, and now will probably be executed once his trial has been competed.

Saddam Hussein, Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin and all the rest of the despotic and evil dictators who have ever ruled on this earth will all go down as major history lessons for all of us showing us what pride, arrogance and a haughty spirit can do to a person and his life.

It will first completely destroy a person's soul and spirit, and then it will eventually destroy and ruin the rest of what life they still have left. And then for many of them - they will end up being cast into the most horrible place imaginable when they die and cross over - hell itself, and then eventually into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone after the Millennium has taken place, where the Bible says that the smoke of their torment will ascend forever and ever.

The fall of Satan and all of these evil rulers in this world will serve as major examples of how deadly the spirit of pride can be, and how it can eventually completely destroy a person and his life much the same way that an incurable cancer can invade and attack a person's physical body. Once a cancer has spread too far into a human body where medical treatment can no longer stop it, the infected person will die shortly thereafter. It is the exact same way with the spirit of pride.

Once pride starts to seep into someone's personality to any significant degree - it has to be dealt with and neutralized with the help of the Holy Spirit. If it is not, then it will continue to grow and spread through that person's personality and mindset.

From there, it will start to seep into their emotions, actions and behaviors. And once this negative quality starts to manifest into their actions and behaviors - then their judgment will start to cloud. And once their sense of proper judgment starts to cloud up, they will no longer be able to separate truth from error. The only truth they will be able to see is what they perceive the truth to be, not what God's real truth is or what anyone else may try and tell them what is right.

They eventually end up becoming their own little god - thinking they have all of the answers to everything and that the entire world revolves around them and what they are striving to achieve and accomplish. They are no longer willing to be accountable to anyone else in their life - including God Himself.

They have forgotten and forsaken all of their true friends in this life. They have forgotten where they have come from, and they feel they no longer need any of God's help or guidance to get them to where they are going. They are now totally self-sufficient and they think they can literally conquer the world through their own efforts and wisdom.

And then sooner or later it happens - they fall - and they end up losing everything they have managed to build up over all of those years due to their own stupidity and imperfections.

This scenario not only happens with rulers of different countries, but this same scenario also describes what happens to CEO's of major companies, to managers, to supervisors, to foremen and to anyone else in any type of leadership position. With any type of position of leadership comes power and authority - and with power and authority comes the possibility of pride and corruption.

Many people end up becoming criminals in this life as a result of too much of the wrong kind of pride operating in their personalities.

Their pompous, arrogant, conceited, know-it-all attitudes convince them that they are smart enough to be able to get away with breaking any law they see fit just to satisfy their own lusts and desires - even if it means committing cold-blooded murder.

Their inflated sense of pride and ego tells them they are too smart to get caught by the law - and then again, it happens. They are caught as a result of their own stupidity and imperfections, and many of them end up never seeing the light of day for the rest of their earthly lives.

And all of this was as a result of the spirit of pride and arrogance they had operating in their mindsets and how they thought about things. This is why the Bible tells us that we have to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We have to learn how to develop right thinking in our thought process.

As a result of some of these people never learning what to think right about in this life - many of them have either died before their time may have really been up, or they have ended up spending a good portion of their adult lives behind bars in an eight by six foot cell.

When God the Father says that pride will come before a "fall" - He is giving all of us a major warning that some of these falls could end up being be very severe. For many, it will mean an early departure from this life. For others, it could mean a certain amount of time behind bars, the destruction and dissolution of their marriages, or possibly losing their jobs or the good pay they were making.

There are many different things that we can "fall" from. As a Christian, do not ever tempt your fate with God the Father with what He is personally doing with you and your life. Stay humble and accountable in your walk with the Lord.

If you don't, and pride starts to enter your personality to any unacceptable degree with the Lord - God will be coming after you with two-by-fours and baseball bats upside your head to keep this deadly quality from becoming a part of your mindset and way of thinking in this life.

I have personally seen the Lord body slam several people to the mat when they got too far away from Him and started to get too big for their britches as a result of too much pride starting to seep up into their personalities.

God has His ways of humbling and chastening you, and He will not be putting up with any of His own getting too far away from Him - especially in the area of pride, arrogance and haughtiness. He has already lost a third of His angelic host to this deadly quality - and He will do everything He possibly can not to lose any more of His children to this sin and abomination.

Now here are some very powerful verses from Scripture giving you what God's opinion really is on this deadly sin and abomination.

1. Pride is a Sin and an Abomination

These first two verses perfectly set the stage for all of us as far as what God the Father really thinks of this negative spirit and quality that could infect anyone of us at anytime. God is specifically telling us in these two verses that anyone who has become too proud in his own heart is committing a sin and an abomination in His sight!

Burn these two verses into your memory banks, and make sure you never, ever let this deadly spirit get a foothold into your mind and heart.

1. "A haughty look, a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked are sin." (Proverbs 21:4)  

2. "Everyone who is PROUD IN HEART IS AN ABOMINATION TO THE LORD; though they join forces, none will go unpunished." (Proverbs 16:5)

   
   

Once again, God the Father could not make things any more clear. Not only is the spirit of pride a definite sin in His eyes - but He is now taking it one step further and calling it an actual abomination in His sight.

God has now drawn a major battle line in the sand on this one particular negative quality with the way He has worded these two verses. And He is letting all of us know, loud and clear, that He will not want any of us to have any part of this destructive spirit that will not only destroy our lives down here on this earth - but will also destroy and sever the personal relationship that we can have with Him.

2. God is Afar From Those Who Are Proud

This next verse will now take it one step further. Not only is God calling those who are proud an abomination before His very eyes - but this next verse will now tell us that God is "afar" from those who are proud. And when God says that He is becoming "afar" from you - you are in big trouble!

What this means is that your personal relationship with the Lord can be severely effected and possibly severed if you do not start to see the errors of your ways with this deadly quality. God will start to pull away from you in your own personal relationship with Him if you do not start to get yourself straightened out with Him on this issue of becoming too proud in your own heart.

If you have fallen into any kind of serious pride with the Lord, you still have some time to see the errors of your way and get back into right standing with the Lord. God will be willing to fully forgive you if you are willing to see that too much pride has entered into your mind and heart, and then be willing to confess and repent before Him from this deadly sin.

Humble yourself - and get this sin confessed, forgiven and removed from your soul before God is forced to take some kind of corrective action with you. He will only give you a certain amount of rope to run with before He pulls you in and takes the appropriate corrective actions to literally, and I mean literally, knock this deadly sin and abomination right out of your soul and spirit.

Here is the verse giving us this solemn warning:

"Though the Lord is on high, yet He regards the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar." (Psalm 138:6)

There is nothing worse that can occur in your walk with the Lord than to have Him start to pull away from you in your own personal relationship with Him. This particular verse is giving all of us a major warning and should be taken very, very seriously.

3. Pride Will Come Before the Fall

These next two verses will now put the icing on the entire cake on this one particular sin. In addition to God calling pride a sin and abomination in His sight, and then telling us that He will start to pull away from us in our own personal relationship with Him - He is now giving us one more final dire warning in these next two verses.

In the first verse I will list below, God is telling us that "pride goes before destruction" and a "haughty spirit before a fall." In the second verse, He states that "before destruction the heart of a man is haughty." In other words, the spirit of pride and haughtiness can lead to a destructive type of fall.

Again, Satan and Saddam Hussein are two perfect and classic examples of one man and one angel completely falling and losing everything they had built up over their years of living in heaven and on this earth - and they literally lost all of it in just a matter of a few days.

They have both fallen from the top of a major mountain down to the very bottom of that same mountain. They have both gone from the palace to the pit in one fell swoop! That's how far and fast someone can fall if they have been operating in the spirit of pride to any significant degree for any length of time.

You can either choose to climb to the top of a mountain operating under a full surrender with God the Father where He will be the One to lead you up that mountain by His Holy Spirit - or you can choose to attempt to climb that mountain all on your own, operating under your own knowledge, wisdom and pride.

Jesus has already told us that if we try and build a house all on our own efforts without any of God's help or guidance - we will end up laboring in vain when all is said and done.

Saddam Hussein managed to build up his empire all on his own efforts and pride - but that same pride ended up being his downfall, and he literally lost everything that took him years to build up - and all of it was lost in a matter of just a few days. His dramatic fall is a perfect example of what Jesus is trying to tell us with this statement. Saddam's efforts and accomplishments in this life all ended up being in total vain.

The story of Satan in particular should also serve as a major history lesson for all of us on what can happen to someone if the spirit of pride gets too far ingrained into their heart and mindset.

If one of God's highest created angels can literally fall from the top of a heavenly kingdom in the presence of God Almighty Himself - then anyone of us can fall in the exact same way if we don't stay on top of our walk with the Lord - especially in the area of our sanctification with the Lord where He is trying to mold, shape and transform us into the express image of His Son Jesus Christ.

These two verses in particular should be memorized by all Christians as God the Father is giving all us a major revelation with the statements being made in both of these verses. Here they are:

1. "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud." (Proverbs 16:18)   

2. "Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility." (Proverbs 18:12)

   
   

In the first verse, God is telling us that we will be better off hanging out with the more lowly and humble type of people in this life rather than trying to hang out with the type of people whose only goal in this life is to acquire more material wealth and riches. What wealth and riches you may be able to acquire in this life will all rot and perish the minute you die and cross over. Not once ounce, not one penny will be crossing over with you on your deathbed.

4. Let No One Glory in Men

These next 5 verses will add very nicely to all of the verses listed above. What happens to someone once the spirit of pride starts to enter into their personality is that they will then start to seek after their own glory. It now becomes all about them and them alone.

Christians who have fallen into this type of pride trap will not only start to try and steal the glory from anyone else that may be attempting to compete against them - but they will also try and steal the glory that would only be due to God Himself!

These next five verses are again, very strong words and revelation being given to us by the Lord, with all of it being for our own good. Here they are:

1. "... that no flesh should glory in His presence." (1 Corinthians 1:29)  

2. "Therefore let no man glory in men ..." (1 Corinthians 3:21)  

3. "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones." (Proverbs 3:7)  

4. But "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord." For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends. (2 Corinthians 10:17)  

5. Thus says the Lord: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23)

   
   

All 5 of these verses are laying it out very plainly and very clearly. We are not to glory in ourselves or to any other men and women in this life - and we are not to glory in our own accomplishments, in our own strength or in any of the riches and wealth that we may have acquired in this life. The only Person that we are to glory to in this life is to the Lord Himself.

The fourth verse puts it very nicely when it says that we are not to commend ourselves for our own good works. Any commending that will be of any matter and value to us will be what the Lord will want to commend us for - not what we may want to commend ourselves for or what anyone else may want to commend us for.

In other words, the only Person you should really be worrying about trying to impress and seeking approval from in this life is God Himself, since He will be the only One who will be judging and rewarding you when all is finally said and done.

It's really quite amazing how many people in our materialistic, greedy, and self-centered society are only working and living for whatever glory, fame, and notoriety they can get from other people in this life instead of trying to work direct for God and His seal of approval for what they are doing with their lives.

5. Stay Humble in Your Walk With the Lord

If God the Father does not want us walking with any kind of bad pride operating in our personalities - then what would be the exact opposite of having this kind of bad pride? These next 4 verses will tell you.

All 4 of these verses are telling us that we should be clothed with humility, that things should be done with a lowliness of mind, and that we should humble ourselves in the sight and under the mighty hand of God the Father. In other words, we all have to learn how to walk with a humble spirit and a humble mindset in our thoughts and in our actions towards ourselves, towards God and towards all other people.

Here are 4 very good verses from the Lord giving us this piece of revelation:

1. "Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5)  

2. "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3)

3. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." (James 4:10)  

4. "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all of your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:6)

   
   

Notice that if you are willing to walk with this kind of a humble spirit in this life - that God will lift you up and properly exalt you to some type of degree when the time is right.

In the type of materialistic, greedy and competitive world that many of us are forced to live in today - trying to develop a real spirit of humility is a tall order. But God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit on the inside of you, can work this kind of a humble spirit into your personality if you are willing to work with Him on it. This can be done, even in the type of competitive world we live in today if you really want God to help you in this area.

6. The Fall of Satan

As I stated at the top of this article, probably the greatest casualty of someone falling from this bad kind of pride operating in their personalities has to be Satan himself. The verses I will list below only give us partial information and partial knowledge as to what actually had occurred. We will have to wait until we all get to heaven to get the rest of this story.

But these Scripture verses do give us enough information to get a basic understanding of what happened in his story and what caused him to completely fall from grace in the first place with our Lord and Savior. When you really stop and think about this fallen angel's story - it really is beyond belief!

To think that God the Father gave him and the rest of these fallen angels a chance to literally make it up into His third heaven where He lives at compared to what the human race has to go through. We all live for trying to make it into this heaven. Satan and the rest of these fallen angels were all born into this perfect heaven. They had it all right from the very beginning - and yet they still blew it!

They had God, they had His perfect heaven in which to live and work in, and they also had no corrupting influences trying to come against them until Satan chose to rebel against God the Father after a certain period of time. What will be very interesting to find out is how long of a period of time it took before Satan started to corrupt in his personality, with the spirit of pride and lust causing him to want to try and rebel against God.

To think that all of these fallen angels had an equal chance and an equal opportunity to make it and remain in this perfect heavenly environment. All they had to do was keep their act together, stay humble and accountable in their walks with the Lord, do things God's way and stay out of trouble - and they all could have lived happily ever after for all of eternity in this perfect heavenly paradise. But for whatever reason, all of this was simply not enough. They had to have it all - and Satan apparently made some kind of a futile attempt to elevate and exalt himself above the throne of God Himself.

Since they were all living in God's presence in this third heaven for who knows how long - they all had to know that there was no other god or gods in existence, and that this one and only God was all-powerful and that He could not literally be overthrown. To have this kind of knowledge right at the beginning, and then to tempt their eternal fates by trying to literally overthrow this one and only Almighty God is totally beyond comprehension.

Either Satan and all of these angels were just plain stupid to begin with, or the spirit of pride was so blinding them, that they could no longer see the truth in certain matters and they thus thought they had a real chance to be able to literally overthrow our God.

I have to believe that these angels had the initial intelligence and knowledge to begin with to fully understand how the big picture was all set up with God the Father. I do not think they started out with any kind of major stupidity from being able to see this obvious truth. But somewhere along the way pride entered in, and once it did, it started to blind and corrupt them. And once that corruption started to take place within their own natural personalities, it didn't take long for them to malfunction to the dark side and then make an attempt to try and overthrow the Lord.

As a result of this treasonous and rebellious act, God the Father had no other choice but to cast all of these abominable angels out of His presence for all of eternity - never, ever to be given another chance to be able to get back in!

Just stop and ponder and think on the eternal consequences of this one angel's rebellion against God - to be forever banished from the only environment they had probably ever known. And all of this occurred as a result of one angel's failure to keep his act together with the Lord!

For whatever reason, Satan let the spirit of pride and arrogance seep into his mindset and way of thinking. And once this spirit of pride and arrogance got to the point of starting to blind him to the big picture truths they were all living with - then it was only a matter of time before he would literally decide to act on it and go for all the marbles himself.

And once he made his final and fatal move with the Lord - that was it. God pulled the plug, and he, and all the rest of the angels who tried to rebel with him, were all forever cast out of this perfect heavenly environment. Satan and all of the rest of the fallen angels who rebelled with him are now lost for all of eternity, and their final destination will be the Lake of Fire and Brimstone where they will all be thrown into at the end of the millennial rule with Jesus.

And to think that the catalyst that caused all of these events to occur was the spirit of pride! This is why the Lord is specifically telling us in the above verses that pride will come before the fall - and in this case, we are talking about the most extreme kind of fall imaginable - falling from heaven itself with no chance of ever being able to make it back in!

This is why all Christians have got to stay on top of this particular negative quality. If the spirit of pride can take out one third of the entire angelic host from the third heaven where God lives - then it can do the exact same thing to all of us living on this lower plane of existence. And we see it happening every day down here on this earth.

Day in and day out, someone who has let the spirit of pride get the best of him is committing acts of murder, robbery, rape, adultery, thefts, scams, corporate fraud and mismanagement of funds and money, etc. As a result of the spirit of pride totally blinding them - they think they are justified in committing some of these acts to begin with. And then to top if off, they think they are too smart to ever get caught by the criminal justice system.

And for some, they will get away with some of these crimes and never be caught by the law in this lifetime. But then they forget one simple little thing.

It will only be a matter of time before they physically die and cross over - and when they do, they will all have to meet God the Father Himself head on for a personal judgment - and for many of them, this judgment will be causing the greatest fall of all if they have not been saved before they had died - the fall into the pit of hell, and then eventually the fall into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone after the Millennium has taken place, where they will then spend the rest of their eternal lives with Satan and all the rest of his fallen angels.

To watch this kind of scenario play itself out, day in and day out, is just gut wrenching. To think that so many of these people have become so blinded by their own pride and arrogance that they will no longer listen to God or anyone else who may want to try and help them out. Unbelievable!

Now here are the two main verses from the Old Testament giving us this story about Satan and how he managed to completely fall from the grace and goodness of God the Father. The third verse is from the Book of Revelation, which will tell us that a third of the heavenly angels were also cast out with Satan.

1. "You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onlyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.

You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.

By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.

Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.

You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more forever." (Ezekiel 28:12-19)

2. "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!

For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.

Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you saying: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?" (Isaiah 14:12-17)

3. "And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born." (Revelation 12:3-4)

Satan was called Lucifer before he rebelled and was cast out of heaven. Lucifer means "light bearer." The name Satan means "adversary." As a result of his fall from heaven, Satan goes from being a light bearing anointed cherub to now being an enemy of God Almighty Himself!

Also notice that Satan was not born evil or wicked. The first verse says that he was the seal of perfection, that he was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, and perfect in his ways from the day he was actually created by God. The Bible also tells us that he was literally allowed to walk on the mountain of God Himself, and that he might have been able to walk very close to where God's actual throne is located.

And then it happened - sin and iniquity was found in him. The Bible does not tell us how long of a period of time there was from the time that he was walking right before God until he started to sin and transgress.

The nature of the sin appears to have been something to do with the trading opportunities that the Lord must have given to him. The above passage tells us that somehow violence started to rise within him as a result of the abundance of those trading opportunities.

The word "abundance" is telling us that Satan must have been very profitable with these trading opportunities. My guess is that all of this wealth and success must have started to go to his head.

The very first part of the first verse says he was covered with precious and valuable stones - and then it goes on to state what each one of these stones were. He was thus walking in some kind of significant wealth and prosperity. The verse also tells us that he had a certain number of sanctuaries under his rule as it says that he then ended up defiling a certain number of his own sanctuaries by some of the sins and iniquities he was committing.

Besides letting some of this wealth and prosperity start to get the best of him, the first verse then tells us that pride definitely started to enter into him when it says that his heart was "lifted up" because of his beauty. From that position, it then says that his wisdom started to get "corrupted" - and all of this was starting to occur as a result of the initial "splendor" he was walking in.

Put all of the above together, and it would appear that God the Father greatly blessed this angel with a profitable trading business and a significant amount of wealth and prosperity. But as a result of all of this significant abundance, pride started to enter in - and he then started to focus and concentrate too much on his own beauty, on his own wisdom and knowledge, and on his own glorious splendor.

The second verse then takes us one step further into what happened next. It was bad enough that Satan was starting to corrupt from all of the wealth and prosperity that God had initially blessed him with. But then he had to see if he could start to expand and enrich his own personal territory. And what does he try and target next - the throne of God Almighty Himself!

The wording in the second verse then tells us that Satan literally wanted to exalt his own personal throne above the throne of God. And not only did he want to personally exalt his throne to this unreachable height, but then it states that he wanted to "be like" the Most High God Himself! Not only are we talking total, complete and open rebellion against God - but now we are talking complete and utter blasphemy against the Lord - to literally think that he could become like God Himself!

And no sooner does Satan reach this point of no return with the Lord that he then gets casts right out of heaven! The first verse tells us that Satan was then cast out of heaven as a "profane thing" and that he shall be "no more forever." In other words, Satan no longer exists in the eyes of God. He is now totally lost forever and he will never ever have another chance to get back into the good graces of our Lord and Savior.

When God the Father says you no longer exist in His eyes as far as He is concerned when He says you shall be "no more forever" - God is pronouncing the most extreme judgment that He possibly can on a created being. And to think that this created angel went from being a beautiful, wise, perfect and anointed cherub to being cast right out of heaven with God telling him that he will no longer exist in His eyes. We are talking about a created angelic being falling from one of the highest mountain peaks anyone could ever hope to walk on down to the lowest level that anyone can be cast down into.

At this time, Satan is still allowed to roam in the air in the second heaven. But once Jesus comes back to set up His 1000 year Millennium Kingdom, Satan will first be cast into what is called the Bottomless Pit. And then after the 1000 year Millennium Kingdom has ended, Satan will then be cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone where he will then remain forever and ever with the rest of his fallen angels and the rest of all unsaved humanity that has ever lived.

And not only did Satan manage to get himself thrown out of the third heaven, but the third verse above also tells us that he somehow managed to get a third of the angels to get cast out right along with him when it says that his tail "drew" a third of the stars from heaven and threw them down onto the earth. I think the key word to focus in on is the word "drew" - that Satan somehow managed to draw a third of these angels into his plan and scheme to try and exalt him and his own personal throne above the throne of God.

To think that this one highly intelligent and beautiful angel could corrupt to such an extreme degree to where he thought he could literally overthrow our God the Father - and then to think that he could try to become just like Him - has got to be the greatest miscalculation and blunder any created being has ever made.

For the life of me, I simply can't understand how Satan could have become so blinded and so deluded to think that this was even a possibility to begin with. Once you examine and analyze all of the above facts of this angel's downfall - there can be no question that the spirit of pride had to have played a major part in his own personal corruption and eventual downfall.

I believe that his spirit of pride was so blinding and so distorting his view of the big picture, that he literally thought he could get away with trying to overthrow the Lord Himself - much in the same way that Saddam Hussein thought he could stand up and engage with the strongest military might in the world. Again, another major miscalculation and blunder as a result of the spirit of pride blinding him as to what the real truth was that was staring him right in the face.

I believe this is why God is telling us in the above verses that the spirit of pride, haughtiness and arrogance will come right before the fall and destruction of one's own personal life.

Conclusion

The spirit of pride can not only come after and enter into those who are working in higher positions of leadership and authority - but it can also come after and enter into anyone else - including any Christian. Christians especially have to really watch out for this deadly and infectious enemy.

What happens to some Christians after they initially get saved and start growing in the Lord is that some of this new found knowledge and power starts to go to their heads. All of sudden, they start looking "down" on unbelievers who are not saved and other Christians who are not walking in the same knowledge levels they are walking in. All of a sudden they start to feel "superior" over anyone else. They start thinking they have all the answers to everything and that they are never wrong.

And before they know it, they have elevated themselves onto a platform and are now looking "down" on the rest of the world. They have now become their own little god where everything revolves around them and their own agendas. All of sudden they no longer need to listen to the leadings of the Holy Spirit. They start to become so self-sufficient, they no longer need the Lord or anyone else to tell them what to do with their lives or how to live it.

They start to ignore and pull away from the convictions of the Holy Spirit. Their ego and pride can no longer handle any type of constructive criticism - even if that constructive criticism is coming direct from the Lord Himself. And before they know it, they have lost all touch with their real friends, and now God Himself has pulled away and backed off letting them run as far as they want to run.

And then it happens. With all of their good support structures now gone with God and their real friends pulling back from them, their own imperfections finally catch up with them, and their house of cards all of a sudden comes crashing down on them and they end up losing it all. For some, it will mean the loss of their marriages and good friends. For others, it will mean the loss of their good jobs or ministries they had going with the Lord.

This type of scenario can play itself out across all walks of life. You see this kind of scenario occurring in marriages, in friendships, and in all levels and segments of the workplace.

The reason that so many of their good friends will start to leave and abandon them is because no one wants to be around someone who is operating in the higher levels of this spirit. No one wants to be around someone who is always looking down on them trying to make them feel inferior all the time.

If God Himself will start to pull away and become "afar" from a prideful person as one of the above Scripture verses is telling us - then you can bet that most people who are not submissive doormats will have the exact same type of reaction. This is why the spirit of pride is such a killer. It kills anyone and anything that attempts to get close to it.

And the deadly thing about the spirit of pride is how slowly and methodically it can start to work itself up into a person's mindset and personality. Satan was not born with the high levels of pride that eventually lead to his downfall. This kind of pride is built up over a certain period of time.

How many of us have seen people start out on their ladder of success with the Lord with very humble and submissive spirits, and then all of a sudden half way up that ladder pride starts to enter in - and now they no longer need God or any of the other good supportive relationships that they may have had with their spouses, children and good friends.

This kind of train wreck can not only occur with those working in the higher positions of leadership and authority in this country - but it can also happen to anyone else - no matter what level of society they are living and working in. No one is immune from this deadly enemy - especially in the type of world we live in today where the pursuit of money, power and fame is the only thing that some people think about, not knowing they are just chasing the wind when all is finally said and done.

The fall of some of the major corporations in our country is another good example of the spirit of pride in full operation and the devastating effects it can have on all those who are close to it. Many people have lost all of their life's savings in some of these companies as a result of the greed and pride that was operating in some of the CEO's of these companies.

This is why the Lord is really sounding the alarm with the way He has worded all of the above verses. When God the Father says that the spirit of pride will come right before a fall - you know He is trying to give all of us a major warning that this deadly spirit has to be stopped dead in its tracks before it even has a chance to wrap itself around your mind and way of thinking.

The spirit of pride has to be dealt with very early on before it starts to grow too far and too big into your thought process. This is why the Lord is really emphasizing that each and every Christian enter into this sanctification process with Him so the Holy Spirit can start to take control and help you stay on top of your game as you continue to grow in the grace, knowledge, power, favor and blessings of the Lord.

God blessed Satan with incredible amounts of wealth and authority - and look what happened - he couldn't stay humble and appreciative of those blessings. And once he started to take his eyes off of the real source, God the Father, he then started to look on his own beauty and on his own wisdom, literally to the point that he thought he could become like God Himself.

Though we can all look at this story from the outside and wonder how anyone could have been so stupid to think that they could become like God Himself or to try and literally overthrow Him - realize that once this spirit gets a real foothold into your mind and thought process - it has a very subtle way of being able to alter and distort your view and perception of reality. And once it has grown into any kind of full fruition in your mindset - you can become totally blinded to any kind of real truth.

I will leave you with one very good verse that puts all of this in proper perspective. This verse is telling us that we should not be "boasting" about tomorrow because we have absolutely no idea what is going to be happening to us tomorrow. And not only do we have no idea on what is going to happen to us tomorrow - we don't even know what is going to happen to us in the next two minutes, much less what is going to happen to us in the next 24 hours.

As a result of the curse of Adam and Eve that is still in full operation on this earth, we all have to live with a certain amount of uncertainty in this life - never knowing when or how we are going to die, never knowing when we may get sick or be involved in a bad accident, or never knowing when we may lose our job or our marriages. Anyone of us at anytime can get hit with a torpedo shot straight from the pit of hell itself.

This one basic fact alone should help keep each and everyone of us totally humble and accountable in our walk with the Lord. It is only by the grace, power and protection of God the Father that we can even begin to make it through this life in one piece. This is why Jesus has told us that without Him we can do no absolutely nothing!

Now here is another good verse to burn into your memory banks.

"Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips." (Proverbs 27:1)

Once again, the Holy Bible is giving all of us incredible pieces of revelation and knowledge on how to properly walk and live in this life with all of the verses put together on just this one subject.

Michael Bradley Bible Teaching, Knowledge, Commentary and Over 150 Free Articles Copyright © 2005-2007 by Michael Bradley.

Bible Trivia

Give your noodle a workout with a new Bible trivia question every day: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/free_Bible_trivia.html

Resources

I'm always delighted to present each new resource that I find because it's my hope that every one that I include in my newsletters will help you grow in Christ. If you know of any resources that you would like to share with the other readers, feel free to write to me and let me know about it so I can include it in the newsletters.

><> Modest Needs - helps struggling individuals & families to retain their self-sufficiency by remitting payment for a 1 time, emergency expense on their behalf. These folks have been featured on CBS, NBC, CNN, and in USA Today, among other places. Contributions accepted.  

><> Time2prosper ezine - Ladies relax and recharge with Time2prosper ezine for Christian women. Resources, articles, coaching, empowering tips. Receive free stress break report. Recession proof your "spirit, soul and body."

><> Bible Forums -Christian Message Board.

><> Moms of Faith - We are a community of Christian Moms who love the Lord. We have a Daily Devotional to help keep Mom spiritually fit. We also have many valuable resources for Homeschoolers, WAHM's, New Moms.

><> Free Christian Prayer Support Website - Join others to strengthen your faith and pray for others in times of need.

><> Listen to the Old Testament and the New Testament Bible f.r.e.e online at: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/free_online_Bible.html

Quick Answers To Your Burning Questions About God Are you witnessing to an unbeliever and need some super duper quick answers about God and Jesus... like yesterday? Get this f.r.e.e e-book and use it as a witnessing tool to silence the doubters! Give it away to your friends! Get the book in PDF Format Get the book in MS WORD Format-Printer Friendly Version

Hurry! Send This Newsletter To a Friend!

><> Babe in Christ? Seeking answers about God? The Bossy Church Lady's website is packed with inspirational articles, tools, resources and scriptures that will answer your questions about Jesus. http://www.thebossychurchlady.net

><> Get a f.r.e.e e-book that will take you by the hand and explain everything you need to know about the end times! If you're a webmaster, snag the book and give it away to your visitors! The Bossy Church Lady's Take On The End Times

Until next time...
Love The Bossy Church Lady


To unsubscribe, go to http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/goodbye.html, enter your email address in the form and click the unsubscribe button or use the link at the very bottom of this letter to unsubscribe.


The Bossy Church Lady 9400 Elm Ct. Denver, CO 80260

Return To The Top Of The Page

The Bossy Church Lady's Newsletter For New Christians 01-03-2009 "'And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Matthew 22:39(NIV) Warm Fuzzies Thank you to all of my subscribers, without you, the new Christian, this newsletter wouldn't exist. I would love to hear from you, but please do not hit reply to contact me because I won't receive your response. If you need to contact me you can email me at sandra @ thebossychurchlady.net (without the spaces in the address). I'd love to hear what you think! And, if you want to share something with the other readers in a future issue of this newsletter--such as a testimonial, or a poem, devotional, a story that God has inspired you to write, or even if you want to advertise your own site-- you can send it to me at sandra @ thebossychurchlady.net (without the spaces in the address). Your privacy is important to me; therefore, I will not sell, rent, or give your name or address to anyone. At any point, you can select the link at the bottom of every email to unsubscribe. If your e-mail program is blocking the pictures in this newsletter or if you would rather read this newsletter online, go to: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/backissues.html (The current newsletter is always at the top of the pages.) In This Issue ><> A Reflection Of God by The Bossy Church Lady ><> Be Slow to Anger by Michael Bradley ><> Resources A Reflection Of God As children of God, we are but a tiny reflection of Him. The love we show others reflects the love we constantly receive from God. But, that’s not always true, is it? Being only human, things like strife, worry, doubts, health problems, a death in the family, and a whole host of other things which can knock a person down spiritually, mentally and physically not only shows outwardly in the things we do—or our actions, or lack of, such as neglecting to hug someone when we normally do, but our inward condition almost always shows in our facial expressions… how we forget to smile at another, look him or her in the eye, look at him or her with concern, listen fully to what he or she is saying. If we’re not careful, we can come across as being cold and indifferent, which is not how the Lord wants us to be. In 1 Corinthians 13:13, Paul said, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” And in Matthew 22:39, Jesus said that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. But how can we do that when the world is full of ugliness? Not only must we be childlike in our faith, but we also must be childlike in the love we give others. Watch how a small child loves. It’s unconditional. His or her love is given freely; unconditionally, with nothing held back. No matter what, that child loves others without expecting anything in return. That’s the way God loves us. And He doesn’t expect anything but our love in return. We need to be that way towards others. If we can do that, then we’ll love others like God loves them. We’ll love them like God wants us to love others. It doesn’t take much to show someone that you care. You can give someone a glimpse of Christ by saying something kind to him or her, by helping him or her tackle a difficult task, or even by just being there when he or she is facing hardships. Remember: The love we show others is only a small reflection of the love that God has for us, but it’s enough to uplift someone who may be facing difficulties. It’s enough to allow that person a glimpse of the love that God has for him or her. If we make a decision right now to refuse to allow the world to take away our joy, our deeply rooted joy that we have found by knowing that we’re dearly loved by Christ Jesus, then we will reflect that joy, love and peace outwardly towards others. If we can be constantly mindful of the love that God has shown us then we can let others who don’t know the Lord see the love of Christ through us. And that’s always a good thing. You can use this in any publication as long as you leave the following byline intact: Copyright 2009 Sandra Purdue, A.K.A. The Bossy Church Lady. Want to read more? Go to: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net where you'll find even more resources for new Christians. Guest Article Be Slow to Anger With the very fast paced way of living that many of us are forced to live with in this country - stress has become a major factor in many people's lives. As a result of the increase of stress in many of our lives, many people are turning to anti-depressants, drugs or alcohol to help try and calm themselves down and to help take their minds off all of the uncertainty of this life. For the people who will not attempt to rely on drugs, alcohol or anti-depressants to help them handle the high levels of stress they are forced to deal with on a daily basis - many people are then forced to deal with the side effects that high levels of stress can have on you. One of the main side effects that high levels of stress can have on you is that it will shorten up your fuses. You will find yourself losing your temper with much more frequency and over things that you normally would have never lost your temper over. You will also find yourself losing your temper much more quickly than you ever had in your past. As a result, we have some time bombs walking our streets and driving our highways that are just ready to go off at the slightest bit of provocation. Road rage is still a problem on some of our highways. Accidentally cut someone off or drive too slow for someone else's taste, and they will start honking, yelling and cussing at you - and in some of the more extreme cases, they will literally try and chase you down, all over something that was very trivial to begin with. To those of you who watch your local or world cable news everyday - there is case after case of people who have lost their tempers over something completely stupid and trivial, and as a result, they have either hurt themselves or hurt other people. Parents, in some cases, have literally beat their children to death over minor disputes or over a child that was crying too long. Boyfriends have beat up or killed their girlfriends over jealous disputes. Parents have physically fought with one another or with some of their coaches at some of their child's athletic events over minor disputes over a coaches decision or over a call made by the referee or umpire. In all of these cases - the lack of self-control over one's temper has caused some of these people to explode with rage and violence where they will literally strike out at the person that has set them off. This scenario keeps repeating itself over and over again on a daily and regular basis throughout the entire world. Even many Christians are operating with very short fuses. They are constantly yelling at their spouses, at their children and at their co-workers. As a result, many of their family and friends want nothing more to do with them and all they do is tolerate them as best as they can. Many marriages that have started out on a good and loving note have severely deteriorated over the years because one or both of the spouses have lost all reasonable control over their tempers. They have verbally and sometimes physically beat the love right out of their marriages. As a result, many have lost their marriages, their relationships with their children, and their good friends. No one wants anything more to do with them, and they all end up being totally alone, depressed and miserable - all because they could not keep proper control of their bad tempers. For those of you who are having problems with keeping proper control of your tempers in the high stress world in which we live in today - realize that there is help for you in this area from God Almighty Himself. Per the article that we have in our site titled " The 9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit" - there are two very powerful fruits and divine qualities that the Holy Spirit can start to transmit up into the core of your mind, soul and emotions. These two fruits are the fruits of peace and self-control. Unless you have the peace of the Holy Spirit operating in your mind and emotions - you are going to have a very hard time in handling all of the stress this life can throw at you. You have to have a supernatural source of peace flowing through you, and you can't get this kind of supernatural peace from your own emotions or from your own mental makeup due to your own imperfections. This kind of powerful supernatural peace can only be received direct from the Holy Spirit Himself. This is why the Bible tells us that these 9 fruits are from the Holy Spirit - not from us. The other fruit from the Holy Spirit that you are really going to need to combat this problem is the fruit of self-control. Unless you have the self-control of the Holy Spirit Himself flowing and operating through you, then you will find that your own level of self-control is not going to be enough to give you complete victory in this area - especially if you have had this problem operating in you for a long time and it has become a conditioned habit. The first thing you are going to need to do is to find out what the Word of God has to say on this matter. In this article, I will give you 9 very good verses from the Bible on what God's opinion really is on being quick-tempered and having a short fuse. As you will see in the Scripture verses I will list below, God the Father is telling us: To be slow to anger To be slow to wrath To cease from anger Not to be quick-tempered Not to let the sun go down on your wrath  To overlook a transgression against you Jesus Himself has told us to turn the other cheek when warranted. Many of the reasons and things people are losing their tempers over are completely unacceptable in the eyes of God. There is a time to engage - but there is also a time not to engage. I believe there is something called righteous wrath, righteous anger and righteous indignation. There are times that you can lose your temper - and rightly so. God the Father really let it blow with some of the judgments He pronounced back in the Old Testament against certain groups of people - but every time God the Father would lose His temper - it was always for a very good reason. The Bible tells us that God the Father is slow to anger, but if you manage to hit the end of His fuse - watch out! It was the same with Jesus when He was walking on our earth. Jesus did not mince any words when attacking some of the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocritical behavior. He also did not hold back when the money changers were trying to use His house of worship as a place to try and sell their goods to do business. You have to know when to engage with righteous anger and when not to. The Bible says that God the Father is slow to anger, and as such, He wants us to be the exact same way in our dealings with ourselves and with other people. As you will see in one of the verses I will list below, God the Father says that it is to our own glory and to our own benefit that we learn how to overlook transgressions that are made against us. In other words, it will be very pleasing to Him if we learn to let certain matters go that are not worth the time and energy to get all bent out of shape over. The Bible tells us that it should be our aim in this life to be well-pleasing to the Lord - and losing your temper over anything and everything is not being well-pleasing to Him. I'll first start off by giving you some of the better verses from the Bible that deal with the issue of having a bad and quick temper. I'll then end this article with a 2 step process that you can use if you really want to work with the Lord in trying to defeat and put to death this bad character flaw in your personality. The Scripture Verses Here are 9 very good verses from the Bible on what God's opinion really is on those who have bad and quick tempers. "The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and it is to his glory to overlook a transgression." (Proverbs 19:11) "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city." (Proverbs 16:32) "Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God." (James 1:19) "He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly." (Proverbs 14:29) "Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret - it only causes harm." (Psalms 37:8) "A man of great wrath will suffer punishment; for if you deliver him, you will have to do it again." (Proverbs 19:19) "Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls." (Proverbs 25:28) "He who is quick-tempered acts foolishly ..." (Proverbs 14:17) "Therefore, putting away lying, each one speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another ... do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil ... And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you." (Ephesians 4:25-32) Notice in the last verse that it says not to let the sun go down on your wrath. This is very good advice for all married couples who like to carry some of the arguments of the day into their beds at night. This last verse also says that we will grieve the Holy Spirit Himself if we have a lot of bitterness, anger and wrath operating through us. We are to learn to forgive others - just as God the Father has now forgiven all of us through the Blood that His Son has shed for all of us. If God can fully forgive all of our trespasses - then we can learn to fully forgive others who will trespass and transgress against us. If we can learn to forgive others, then we will be less likely to lose our tempers every time someone transgresses against us in some way. Notice God says that those who cannot be slow to wrath are not producing the righteousness of God in their lives. He says those who are impulsive and lose their tempers easily and quickly are foolish and are exalting "folly." The word "folly" means a "lack of understanding and a lack of rational conduct - foolishness." In other words, in God's eyes, you are showing Him foolishness and a complete lack of understanding in what you are losing your temper over. You are looking like a complete fool and idiot to both Him and to other people with some of the trivial and foolish things you are losing your temper over. Most of the time people are not laughing with you - they are laughing at you. The verse from Proverbs 19:19 says that a man of great wrath will suffer punishment. Sooner or later, your bad temper is going to get you in major trouble. You are going to either lose it with the wrong person or in the wrong situation, and when that happens, there will be severe consequences. For some - it will literally mean having an early departure from this life. Flip off the wrong guy on the highway who may have just cut you off - and he may be the last person you will ever see alive again in this life! The verse from Proverbs 25:28 says that a man who has no rule over his spirit and his emotions is like a city that is broken down without any walls. In other words, you will nave no protection from either God or your enemies if you engage with the wrong person at the wrong time. You are leaving yourself wide open to demonic or human attack if you are not going to learn how to control your temper with how you react and respond to others - especially with those who will attempt to cross you in someway. In the second verse above from Proverbs 16:32, God is saying that those who are slow to anger are better than the "mighty" and he who can take a city. By the way God has worded this verse, you can tell how big of a thing it is to Him that we learn how to control our emotions - especially our emotions of anger and wrath. Conclusion So now that you know that God does not want His children having quick and bad tempers, how do you start to get a grip on this - especially if your quick and bad temper has been with you for a long time, and it is now become a habitual and conditioned response in the way that you respond to certain people or certain situations I will give you a very simple 2 step process to be able to get deliverance from this condition. 1. Before God the Father will start to move to give you His supernatural help through His Holy Spirit to defeat this - you will have to agree to come into a full surrender of you and your entire life with Him. We have an article in our site titled " The Full Surrender" in the Bible Basics section of our site. In this article, I give you all of the Scripture verses pertaining to this full surrender that God is looking for from each one of us. I also give you a basic, simple, full surrender prayer in the middle of this article on how to enter into this full surrender if you have never done this before with the Lord. Once you have entered into this full surrender with the Lord, you will now be ready for step two. 2. In this next and final step - all you have to do now is go to God the Father in prayer and put your request before Him - asking Him to help you out with this specific problem. Tell God that you are having a problem in being able to control your temper with certain people and in certain types of situations. Tell God that you will now need His fruits of peace and self-control to be released up in you through His Spirit as two of the the 9 fruits of His Holy Spirit. Tell God that you will agree to work with Him once He starts to release His two fruits of peace and self-control into your mind and emotions. Once God starts to release these two fruits into you - then you will have to work with Him on this. You will not be a passive robot in all of this. What this means is that you will have to make every concerted effort on your own to try and control the release of your quick and bad temper. Every time you feel your bad temper wanting to explode up on you - you will have to use every ounce of mental will power to try and fight to keep it from exploding and releasing onto the person or situation that is triggering its release. Sometimes you will manage to keep it under control - other times you will not. But if you show God that you mean serious business with Him on this, and He sees that you are doing every thing that you possibly can within your own mental will power to try and defeat this - then God will start to come to your rescue and He will then start to release His peace and His self-control into you so that you can properly finish this job. Once God's peace and self-control starts to flow into your personality through His Holy Spirit - then it will become much easier for you to keep control of your bad temper. The Bible says it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that you will put to death the deeds of your body - and one of the deeds of the flesh and body that you will definitely want to put to death is a lousy, foul, and bad temper. This is a powerful supernatural type of help and work that you can receive direct from the Holy Spirit Himself if you are open and willing to work with Him on this as part of your sanctification process in the Lord. Michael Bradley Bible Teaching, Knowledge, Commentary and Over 150 Free Articles Copyright © 2005-2007 by Michael Bradley. Bible Trivia Give your noodle a workout with a new Bible trivia question every day: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/free_Bible_trivia.html Resources I'm always delighted to present each new resource that I find because it's my hope that every one that I include in my newsletters will help you grow in Christ. If you know of any resources that you would like to share with the other readers, feel free to write to me and let me know about it so I can include it in the newsletters. ><> Cross Way Publications - Christian Poetry - Established on the Internet in 1994, we serve as a free centralized database for Christian poets from around the world. ><> In Awe of Him: TJ Singleton - In Awe of Him is the Web Ministry of TJ Singleton, a reformed baptist preacher, who is seeking to build up the body of Christ through sound doctrine and the study of the scriptures. ><> Bible Forums -Christian Message Board. ><> Moms of Faith - We are a community of Christian Moms who love the Lord. We have a Daily Devotional to help keep Mom spiritually fit. We also have many valuable resources for Homeschoolers, WAHM's, New Moms. ><> Free Christian Prayer Support Website - Join others to strengthen your faith and pray for others in times of need. ><> Listen to the Old Testament and the New Testament Bible f.r.e.e online at: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/free_online_Bible.html Quick Answers To Your Burning Questions About God Are you witnessing to an unbeliever and need some super duper quick answers about God and Jesus... like yesterday? Get this f.r.e.e e-book and use it as a witnessing tool to silence the doubters! Give it away to your friends! Get the book in PDF Format Get the book in MS WORD Format-Printer Friendly Version Hurry! Send This Newsletter To a Friend! ><> Babe in Christ? Seeking answers about God? The Bossy Church Lady's website is packed with inspirational articles, tools, resources and scriptures that will answer your questions about Jesus. http://www.thebossychurchlady.net ><> Get a f.r.e.e e-book that will take you by the hand and explain everything you need to know about the end times! If you're a webmaster, snag the book and give it away to your visitors! The Bossy Church Lady's Take On The End Times Until next time... Love The Bossy Church Lady To unsubscribe, go to http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/goodbye.html, enter your email address in the form and click the unsubscribe button or use the link at the very bottom of this letter to unsubscribe. The Bossy Church Lady 9400 Elm Ct. Denver, CO 80260 Return To The Top Of The Page