—Romans 12:16 NLT

DISCUSSION:

 For this week I want to come to you and talk to you about pride, and I want to know if your defense mechanism might be pride. Jesus has pointed this out to me. It has not been easy at times to live down here in this realm after being in Heaven and seeing things the way that they are up there. If you go to Heaven and you come back, it's not long before you do the math and figure out the discrepancies that are happening. The problem is not just that everything's perfect up there, and it's not down here. It's the fact that you know what God wants, and you know that He can do it, and yet it's not done. You feel powerless at times. It's very frustrating when people respond the wrong way and take things the wrong way. I noticed that Jesus points things out to me, and it has to do with how I respond. I automatically have a mechanism that kicks in. I don't want to be wrong, just like you don't want to be wrong, but I find out that I'm pretty much wrong because I don't know everything, and there's no way for me to know everything. People get really sad, and you might be one of those who get sad when they’re wrong. You don't want to be wrong, but you don't have the capability to house all the information of the universe and how things work. I certainly can't understand people. I can't understand how everybody is going to be. I don't understand people, and I worked with them for 30 years. I was in contact with 800 people a day, and I never saw them again. For 30 years, I had to deal with every type of situation, and many types of people. What I learned in 30 years is that I know nothing, and I don’t understand anything about people. The reason is because each person is different, and they individually have a way of dealing with things. One thing I noticed when I began to say things to people and they became defensive; they were experiencing a lack of control, because they weren't familiar with the environment they were in, and they were on edge.

It’s the same way a Christian feels when they become born again, and their spirit is changed. They're a new creature. The Christian has to operate in both realms. They have to operate in the spirit realm, and the physical realm. It’s the hardest thing for a human being because they didn't even know they had a Spirit until they became born again. Most people do not know they are made of three parts, a spirit, mind, and body. They don't know that there's a spiritual part of them until they are born again and receive Jesus. Then it becomes alive, and they realize they have their mind, will, and emotions, but it's different. When I was born again, it shocked me that I wasn't in control. I've seen the most accurate prophecies coming through brand new Christians because they didn't doubt. They were ignited by the power of God in being born again, but after a while, I saw they had to start living in both realms. Then they began to doubt themselves.

The defense mechanisms that we're dealing with are the fact that we don't know everything, and we don't always know how to operate in both realms, and pride sets in. What I noticed about pride is that I would always blame someone else when something happens. It was never me, and it was always someone else. One day the Lord corrected me, and He said, you didn't do anything wrong, and it was the first time that I ever heard the Lord say that. He said this is a broken world, and things break. He said, if you’d humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, I will lift you up in due season and these things would get sealed up to where they would not seep through. I blamed it on my angel for letting things go through.

What is your defense mechanism? I'm just guessing that for most people, it's pride and that you are feeling out of control, and this is how you deal with things.

When we're in harmony with Jesus, and we're hooked up with Him, then we solely depend upon Him. It's a very short distance in your spirit between His voice, your voice, and your spirit. It's a local call. It's not a long-distance call.

For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

I was deceived, and no one had the guts to tell me. I needed to be humbled. My wife Kathi remembers this. She liked the worship at the Church that we were going to, so she would say, “I'm just going to go to the first service because the worship is actually better during that service.” Then I would go to the second service and meet her. She left, and I was in bed, and I fell asleep again, but when I woke up, I saw this huge hand over me, and I thought, wow, I'm dreaming, but then I tested myself, and I realized that I was awake, and God's hand was in the ceiling above my bed. He said, Stand up. I stood up on our bed, and I was underneath this big hand, and He said, “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and I'm going to lift you up in my timing.” I looked up at God's hand, and it was the hand of authority. It was the hand that had already formed me for my future, and I was underneath it. There is no way that I was going to fail. I remember seeing Kathi that day, and we went to the service, and I thought to myself if everybody had this experience and realized that God's hand, just His hand alone, is bigger than us and our life, and if we’d just humble ourselves under that mighty hand, under His authority, then we can walk in great authority.

Philippians 2:3: Let nothing be done through selfish, ambition, or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, esteem others better than yourself.

That's still in the Bible, even though it's not quoted. We are to esteem others better than ourselves, and we're to have that lowliness of mind as a servant. We have to be able to turn ourselves in. You might have to talk to yourself and say, I’m turning myself in to be transparent because this is how we mature to get to where we need to be, to receive and be used by the Lord. I know that we all have defense mechanisms, but the one that I have observed of myself and others is that pride can set in when we don't feel comfortable in an environment and we’re not in control. If God corrects you and steps in to talk to you, don't be defensive. Just say, “You know what, Lord? You're right.”

Discuss:

1. How do you deal with being wrong and then being corrected? Talk about pride and how you overcome it.

2. Talk about being under God's authority and being submitted to Him.

3. How do you respond in situations where you're not in control?

4. When submitting to God, you’re really submitting control. By submitting to Jesus Christ, you have the best person in control and you're not going to be manipulated.

Father, I thank You so much. We break the spirit of pride. We break that power of any demonic energy that is causing people to feel inferior. We break pride in Jesus name. We thank You, Father, that you've given a divine impartation, Lord, right now. Each person all over the world is going to receive an impartation to show them that they don't have to be defensive, that they don't have to have an explanation and that they can just turn themselves in and say, Lord, “You're right and I need to know what you know, and I just submit to you right now.” Holy spirit, just open the people's eyes right now and we thank You for success. Thank You for moving and causing everyone to triumph in Christ Jesus. In Jesus name. Amen.