Two Thoughts

I have two thoughts that have to do with evangelism, as well as other parts of our Christian lives. One of them is the issue of pride, and the other is the issue of prayer. They are both very, very important issues in our walk with the Lord.
   Why is pride so bad? Are Christians proud? What does the Bible say? The Bible does talk about pride, and uses the word pride often. It also uses other words like haughty, or lifted up. Pride goes before a fall, every time. Pride is the root of our sin. Many of our sins are rooted in prideful thinking. Most of all God will resist the proud.
  How do we know if we have pride? The question is not if we have pride, but where pride is in our lives. We have to find it and dig it out. I know when I get angry, many times the issue really is pride. It has to be dealt with. It can't continue. I have to take the log out of my eyes before I can help others to get their own logs out. Mine has to be removed first.
  I do have a concern I see though. I see a lot of zealous Christians who are faithful in preaching the Gospel. I see a perseverance through challenges and difficulties. I see a vision in these people. But what I don't see is a true compassion for people. They would say that the most compassionate thing we can do is to preach the Gospel. When many of these people are challenged in what they are doing, I see a defensiveness come up. This is a fruit of undealt with pride. I don't see these people taking an interest in other people and showing compassion to them. I once saw a group of people who went to a third world country to preach the Gospel. They prided themselves in not giving out water bottles, or anything to these poor people. They said the only thing they needed to do was to preach the Gospel. How well do you think the people responded to this? What do you think about just preaching the Gospel, and leaving any other kind of service out?
  The second thought I have is the one on prayer. I have to admit, I am starting to see what looks like the Enemy trying to get my to not get to my prayer time. It has happened so often now, that I am able to work with it. I have to make the time to pray earlier than I have been doing.
   Prayer is one of the spiritual weapons, according to Ephesians 6. Satan hates it when you pray. You might be thinking that your prayer is not very meaningful, or you might not be strong in faith. But that is exactly where God wants to meet you. Satan would lie to you and tell you all kinds of lies about your praying. He doesn't want you to pray. He also doesn't want you to know that God is all powerful, and He is a powerful, mighty God. Satan will tell you that God doesn't hear you or that you aren't good enough and God won't hear your prayers. He will keep the Gospel from your eyes and heart. Please go to the blog page on the Gospel Conversation http://thegospelconversation.blogspot.com .
  Tied in with prayer is the subject of faith. Satan wants to attack your faith because your faith will destroy the lies he is trying to tell you. You need to bathe your mind in Scriptures. You need to get to know this wonderful, all powerful God who created you, and sent His Son to redeem you and deliver you from your sins. The power of the Cross can break all the powers of Satan, and it will break any hold it has in your life. This is another area that we need to cultivate humility in. God will help us, but we must have humility or God will resist us. We need God's help more than anything. We can come boldly to the throne of grace. We need to pursue this with all our hearts. Remember, we have an Enemy who doesn't want us to know all this. Let's learn what God says and go for it! We can turn the world upside down when we do!