Yesterday we looked at how Unforgiveness can block our prayers and our healing. Today we will look at Pride. In the Bible, we see a huge correlation between pride and sickness and also a huge correlation between humility and healing. If you were with us on our Aging Gracefully Challenge, on Day 10 we fasted negative thoughts of Pride. If you were not with us, here is a brief recap from that challenge:
When the Bible speaks of “pride” it means arrogance, conceit and self-exaltation. It’s number one of the top seven things He hates. These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him - A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others]… Proverbs 6:16 . If we are prideful we will exalt ourself over others and even over God.
Pride was the reason Satan fell from heaven (Isaiah 14:11-15). He desired to be God, not to be a servant of God. When Satan tempted Adam and Eve with pride in the Garden of Eden he tempted them with what caused his fall - “you can be as God”. Satan’s pride is now part of our human nature.
In this challenge we will look at how pride blocks healing and causes disease:
- Number 12:10 We see sickness come on Miriam, Moses’ sister when she exalted herself against Moses
- Acts 12:23 We see King Herod struck dead because he took the praise of the people and didn’t give glory to God.
- Daniel 4:30 We see King Nebuchadnezzar take glory for himself and lose his reasoning.
We can also see how humility leads to healing and compliments from Jesus:
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Matthew 15:22 We see the Canaanite women come to Christ to heal her daughter. She went through the following humiliation:
- Jesus ignored her
- The Apostles said to send her away
- Jesus told her healing was for the Jews
- Jesus told her that it wasn’t right to give the children’s food to dogs
- She humbly replied “Even the dogs get the crumbs” and her daughter was healed and Jesus complimented her on her faith.
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Matthew 8:8 We read here of the Roman Centurion who came to Jesus for the healing of his servant:
- Jesus said he would go to the centurion’s home
- The centurion humbled himself and said “I’m not worthy to have you come to my home. Just say the word and he will be healed. The centurion recognized the authority Jesus had over evil.
- Jesus complimented him on his great faith.
Day 8 Challenge: Humble ourselves before God and admit complete dependency on Him. Humble ourselves before other people by serving them without expectation of anything in return.