How to overcome the spirit of Pride!

1. Renew your mind:

There is no better way to renew your mind than by tapping into the Word of God. It is the Bread of Life, a Double-edged Sword, and the absolute Truth and can change even the most arrogant personalities. In Romans 12:2 it states “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

What the Lord is pointing out to us in this verse of Scripture is what we need to do in order to completely recondition our minds. We have to acknowledge the fact that transformation can only come by us changing our mindset to line up with God’s Word and His will for our lives. It will not happen overnight so you have to be serious and intentional about wanting to make those long-lasting adjustments. It can be done so do not get discouraged just remain consistent with reading your Word, prayer, and fasting.

So what does the Lord actually think about Pride? In Proverbs 16:5 He goes as far as calling it an abomination or simply put a disgrace, a disgusting thing, and something that He absolutely hates. The reason our Father is so against this particular characteristic is because it is extremely difficult to fully surrender to the Lord if you are filled with conceit. He wants nothing more than to have an authentic relationship with us and pride is one of the number one things that will get in the way of that.

One way to recognize that you are fully submitted to the Lord is by putting Him first. Your own wants and desires don’t supersede His. An example of this is : He places it in your heart to forgive someone that has done something wrong to you, you have no problem obeying His voice. It is the knowing that He truly has your best interests in mind even when it doesn’t seem like it.

2. Cast down thoughts that are contrary to God’s Word:

One of the main devices that the enemy uses against believers of Jesus Christ is the spirit of pride. Once that spirit gets a foothold in your life, it is difficult to get rid of it. The devil will consistently shoot fiery arrows at your mind that are filled with conceit, arrogance, and self-absorption until you begin to take on those negative characteristics. His goal is to make you come into agreement with his plan for your life and detour you away from God’s.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 gives us the perfect depiction of what is going on in the spirit realm as the enemy is fighting against us. It states, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

Here we can see that the Apostle Paul is making it clear to us that our weapons are not something that you can see with the naked eye but our weapons are spiritual. They are given to us by the Lord and when used correctly they have the ability to cast down those demonic thoughts that are infiltrating your mind.

The number one spiritual weapon that we are fortunate enough to have is the Word of God, our Sword, Hebrews 4:12. So how does one go about pulling down the overwhelming strongholds and arrows that the enemy throws our direction? The way that you cast down thoughts that are contrary to the Lord’s Word is by using His Word.

For instance:

In this case we are attempting to get rid of the overpowering thoughts of pride. So, let’s say that the devil is drilling your mind with thoughts like “you got yourself where you are today, God didn’t help you,” or “there is nobody that is better than you, everyone else is beneath you.”  

You need to combat those flaming arrows with Scriptures like:

• Colossians 3:12 “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;”
• Ephesians 4:2 “with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.
• James 4:6 “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
• “God resists the proud,
  But gives grace to the humble.”
• James 4:10 “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Every time those negative damaging thoughts creep up in your head, fight them back with your Sword. Remember Jesus Christ Himself used the Word of God to fight the devil back so how much more do we have to do with same. The Bible makes it known to us that if we resist the devil; he will flee from you, James 4:7!

3. Die to yourself daily:

One of the mistakes that we make as Christians is to think that we can have God and have everything our way at the same time. Burger king’s slogan is not going to allow you to overcome your selfish pride so that you can live a life fully surrendered to the Lord. It will never work. We have to remember that we are in a full on spiritual battle every single day against a powerful adversary that you cannot see with the naked eye, Ephesians 6:12.

Your flesh and spirit are raging war against each other and you have to learn how to die to your own desires so that you can be used by God the way that He wants to use you. Jesus gives us a description of just how difficult it can be to die to your flesh in Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Here we can depict the antidote that Christ is giving us so that we can successfully die to our flesh: pray! When you incorporate prayer, fasting, spending time with the Holy Spirit, and getting into your Word the devil won’t stand a chance. He will attempt to keep you bound by the spirit of pride but the more that you engage in these powerful tools the easier it will be to die to your flesh daily.

Why is the enemy so adamant about getting you wrapped up in pride to begin with? The reason that the devil wants your egotism to grow to astronomical rates is because when you are filled with yourself, there is no room for God. That is exactly where he wants you to be but the devil is liar. You can overcome that consuming spirit that wants to prevent you from being used mightily by the Lord, but you have to be willing to put in the work!