TRICKS OF THE DEVIL I – Friday August 11th 2017
Memorise: Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18
14:12 How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art
thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
14:13 For
thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north:
14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
14:16 They
that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying,
Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake
kingdoms;
MESSAGE:
A
trick is a cunning act or scheme intended to deceive or outwit a
person. One of the greatest tricks by which the devil deceives men today
is to cause their hearts to be lifted up in pride. Through pride, the
hearts of mankind have rebelled against the knowledge and authority of
God. Pride comes with arrogance, pomp, presumption, conceit,
self-satisfaction, boasting, high-mindedness and haughtiness. It is
especially dangerous because of its silence and the stealth by which it
operates. When pride is well seated in the heart and has taken full
charge of a person, it becomes extremely difficult to pin down. However,
we thank God because the light of God’s word is bright enough to expose
it in all its forms. To understand pride, we need to consider the first
entity in whom pride was found: Satan. Isaiah 14:13-14 reveals the thoughts of his heart that made God depose him from his exalted position in Heaven:
“For
thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”
A
careful consideration of the above scripture shows that pride is
basically a sin that has its roots in the attitude the heart. Hence, Proverbs 21:4
speaks of “a haughty look” and “a proud heart” as sin. Open Heavens 11
August 2017: Friday daily devotional by Pastor E. A. Adeboye- Tricks of
the devil I. The first thing
to watch out for in a man or woman with pride in their heart is the
emphasis on their person in their speech. The speech of such people is
normally laden with the personal pronoun ‘I’. In a single short
statement, Satan made reference to himself five times: “I will ascend, I
will exalt my throne, I will sit, I will ascend above, and I will be
like the most High.” Secondly, the proud displays an unwarranted
attitude of confidence and inordinate ambition, such as displayed by
Satan. He was not satisfied with where God placed him, and he actually
wanted to supplant God Himself. He was so confident of himself that he
thought he could ascend into Heaven and exercise dominion over all the
angels of God, all by himself.
However,
pride cannot remain internalised and hidden. It often finds
expressions: through speech (such as boasting), through looks and
through behaviour, such as acts of impatience and contemptible treatment
of others. The Bible highlights the inevitable downfall of a proud
person, and we should learn from what happened to Satan (Proverbs 16:18, Ezekiel 28:16-19). The proud will not escape God’s terrible judgement; therefore, be warned!
Prayer Point
Father,
please expose every hidden tendency of pride and related attitudes in
my life and completely destroy them, in Jesus’ Name.
Open
Heavens Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the
General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the
largest evangelical Church in the world and also the President of Christ
the Redeemer's Ministries.
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