While the world wants to celebrate and extol “pride” this month, God’s Word calls us to humility. In fact, we are warned against self-righteous and conceited pride.

Many of us are familiar with 2 Chronicles 7:14 in which God calls us to pray for spiritual awakening. In it we find His call to humility.

…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Pride is the enemy of humility.

Instead, Christians are called to be a humble people. Consider the Parable of the Dinner Guests who were picking the bests seats of honor at the table. Jesus warns:

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  (Luke 14:11)

We are to deliberately decide, each day, to live in humility and complete dependence upon God. Psalm 5:5 tells us that those who are puffed up with pride shall not stand before Him, and Romans 12:9 instructs us to “abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” In Ephesians 5:11 we are told to have nothing to do with the works of darkness, “but rather expose them.” And we expose them with the Word of God. That is the standard by which we all will be judged.

What does pride produce in our lives? For one, pride fosters forgetfulness of God and His blessings (Deuteronomy 8:11-14).

Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

This sounds just like the culture in which we live today. We live in the most prosperous nation in the world and at the most abundant time in history. Yet many have forgotten and turned away from God.

If we love our neighbor as we should, we are compelled to oppose the celebration of sin and encourage faith, hope, trust and obedience to God’s Word. Consider the rhetorical questions the Old Testament prophet Micah asks:

With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high?
Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves?
Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He answers these questions in verse 8:

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.
(Micah 6:6-8)

Christians understand that “pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a the fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) We are to reject it and instead “humble [ourselves] under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt [us] in due time.”

God wants to work through us to change everything–especially the hearts of those who are being mislead and deceived by worldly philosophies. Let’s not forget that God specializes in hard cases. (Jeremiah 32:37; Luke 1:37; Ephesians 3:20; Luke 18:27)

We are to pray for one another too (Ephesians 6:18; James 5:16), because we tend to grow weary and discouraged. Therefore, we should be praying for the strength and resolve of those who are on the frontlines of this battle. We should also pray that God would remove all fear and timidity from Christians who have not yet engaged in the battle for truth, righteousness, and the innocence of impressionable children.

Here are some additional prayers to lift up before our holy God through the name of Jesus over the next several weeks:

Run to God, Our High Tower

• IF we are honest with ourselves, we don’t always want to walk humbly with God. Our flesh and ego get in the way far too often. We get puffed up and forget that we are called to live through the strength of the Holy Spirit and to follow His lead. Ask God to help us to hear Him clearly, for we do not want to walk in pride or selfishness. Ask Him to draw closer to you as you draw closer to Him in prayer, reading the Word and in Christian fellowship.

• In Philippians 2:3-4, we are taught to do “nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than ourselves…” In Ephesians 4: we are taught to be completely humble and gentle; bearing with one another in love. These are impossible to accomplish in our own strength. It’s only with God’s help that we have a chance. “For all things are possible with God.”  (Mark 10:27) Pray for the Spirit’s strength as you strive to keep your eyes on Jesus.

• Ask for God’s help to walk humbly with our brothers and sisters as well. It is all too easy for us to buy the lies the world is selling us and to walk in arrogance, because pride causes division, but we desire peace. We need the Lord’s help to humble ourselves in order that we do not let the schemes of the enemy deceive and overtake us. Rather, we must ask God to aid us in being contrite servants of the Most High, and loving servants of each other. May He help us to value others in this humble spirit so that we may foster unity and honor the Father.

• Thank God for His countless blessings in our lives, families, communities, and nation. Thank Him for the trials and challenges that draw us closer to Him. Thank God for the patience, strength, and faith to wait out the storm. (Psalm 92:1-2)

• PRAY for revival. (Psalm 85:6; John 8:32; James 5:16)