DO YOU HAVE A FORM OF RELIGIOUS PRIDE?

PART 1

A team of us were on our way to have a prayer meeting at a house when the Lord shared with me that there would be a female there that would be a resistance to us, and our words based on their belief system and their perceived relationship with Him. The prayer meeting progressed, and I shared with her specifically what I got for her and she responded how the Lord said she would. There was no argument though, as He had said to say it and let it rest. We prayed with everyone in the house, and I asked her if I could pray with her, and she said yes. Then I heard the Lord say religious pride. This was my first time hearing this phrase and so I started to research and to ask the Lord about it.

Religious pride is made manifest in a few ways. For some, they are so confident in their relationship with God that nobody else can have a message from God for them and when it’s in leadership they discredit any word that does not come from them or in their immediate circle. I recall even hearing a powerful minister of the Gospel say that God would not leave the head and speak to a congregant on matters pertaining to them or the church. This absolutely is in contradiction to how the Apostles operated. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:26 AMPC said,

26 What then, brethren, is [the right course]? When you meet together, each one has a hymn, a teaching, a disclosure of special knowledge or information, an utterance in a [strange] tongue, or an interpretation of it. [But] let everything be constructive and edifying and for the good of all.

The body of Christ is called a body for a reason and so each member has a part to play, and it is in God’s Sovereign right to disseminate His word through whomever and in whatever way He chooses. Even in Acts 15 when they were deliberating as to how to deal with the Gentiles, they simply relied on the Spirit of God to direct, and they were not disappointed. He did not speak through Peter the first Pentecostal preacher, nor John the Beloved but through James. Religious pride restricts the ability to discern accurately divinely inspired word when it does not come through a known source. As believers and as fellow heirs together of the grace of God, we must be able to hear the voice of God through His people of diverse colors, ranks, creed, age, status etc.

Another way it manifests is according to associations. So, I know a powerful preacher, or I am of a particular lineage or with a certain ministry, so I am all that. John the Baptist upbraided the religious sect in the book of Luke for these things:

Luke 3:8 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

Bear fruits that are deserving and consistent with [your] repentance [that is, conduct worthy of a heart changed, a heart abhorring sin]. And do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father; for I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise up descendants for Abraham.

The Greek word for say is “Lego” and the KJV Lexicon gives boast as another meaning. So, the Religious sect were being told not to boast about their lineage. They held the view that they couldn’t be lost, couldn’t sin and couldn’t be deceived. These beliefs were not because they were living a life according to the dictates of the Word of God but simply because of their lineage. What a deception! Our associations may open certain doors and allow for certain blessings. But when it comes to the saving of the soul, that is dependent on the intimacy of an individual with the One True and Living God.

Another way religious pride rears its ugly head is through perceived knowledge. The second sentence by the Apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 8:1 AMPC says:

Some persons because they went to Bible school or studied with great Bible Scholars or are very intellectual pride themselves in what they know and often become overly critical and speak in very condescending tones to people that they perceive are not as knowledgeable as they are. The above verse speaks to the importance of love where knowledge abounds, to give balance. When the Scribes and Pharisees brought the woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus in John 8 for Him to condemn, they thought they had every right based on what they knew was in the laws of Moses. Jesus simply brought to them a mirror so to speak, when he said let “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” We have to be conscious of the beams in our own eyes so we can see clearly to take out the speck in others. Since this is the cause, we ought to walk softly with each other, remembering our own frailties and need for mercy.

When we view each other in the true spirit of humility, we are able to not only be more tolerant of each other but we will be able to love, appreciate and value each other as fellow servants of God. The spirit of humility will help you to see and even be instrumental in unearthing the treasure within the vilest of persons!

*AMPC-Amplified Classic Edition