Pride and Self-Esteem Part 2.

 Day 4

1 Peter 5:6 NKJV. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time

Philippians 2:1-30 NKJV. “Therefore if there is any ^[a^]consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, ² fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. ³ Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. ⁴ Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

The Humbled and Exalted Christ

⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it ^[b^]robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but ^[c^]made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Light Bearers

¹² Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

¹⁴ Do all things without ^[d^]complaining and disputing,^[e^{] 15} that you may become blameless and ^[f^]harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

¹⁷ Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. ¹⁸ For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.

Timothy Commended

¹⁹ But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your ^[g^]state. ²⁰ For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. ²¹ For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. ²² But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. ²³ Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me. ²⁴ But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly.

Epaphroditus Praised

²⁵ Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need; ²⁶ since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. ²⁷ For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸ Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. ²⁹ Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; ³⁰ because for the work of Christ he came close to death, ^[h^]not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.”

I have never understood what it means to boast in Christ. The Bible says not to boast in ourselves, but in Christ. Well, while I was doing laundry yesterday, Holy Spirit revealed to me what He meant. A) it means don't brag about what you can do. Let someone else brag about that. But it also means we are to brag about what God has done. Holy Spirit reminded me that it's the same as bragging about what hubby has accomplished. And being the humble man he is, he is never going to say that he did it on his own. But to brag on God means to say, 'Look what God did for me.' to some, this might sound obvious, but for me, it hadn't quite clocked in yet. Now it has.

Pride doesn't just show up in big attitudes. It shows up in people who think they know everything. It shows in how they walk and the energy they bring when they walk into a room. When you want to be the first in line for something or need to be the first person to buy something.

In your day-to-day life- how can you show humility? By admitting when you are wrong, listening, being teachable.

We can also deal with pride by asking Holy Spirit for help and by laying it down at the foot of the cross.

Day5
Matt 20:28 NKJV. The son of man came to serve, not to be served.
One of the truest ways to see humility is to see someone quietly serving. Serving at church, serving at work or at home.  No one who walks in pride is truly willing to serve.
Are you serving when no one is watching? I think so.

Day 6
2 Cor 5:17 NKJV. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
New creation
1 Peter 5:6 NKJV. ⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

Humble yourself before God and He will lift you up.
Christian self-esteem. We can't allow our self-esteem to be rooted in our own actions. Otherwise, we can become puffed up. On the flip side, if we are having a bad day and our self-esteem is rooted in ourselves, it can be detrimental. Because we will start to feel bad that we can't do something. I have fallen into that trap many times. I will start thinking that I am not worth it. Hubby will try to remind me of what Christ did for me and what He says about me, but at that point I'm too far gone, so to speak, and those Biblical truths no longer matter, so to speak. I will likely spend a few hours feeling bad about myself. It often happened on Sunday afternoons.
Add in my Saturday morning struggle with comparison along with expectations vs reality for all I can/want to accomplish on a Saturday morning, and you have the making of a great weekend (so much sarcasm in that sentence). Praise God, He has done a lot of work in me, and now weekends are no longer getting the better of me.

If we build our self-esteem on Christ and what He has done for us. We need to continue surrendering to Him and spend more time with Him. Get to know Him and your self as an extension of that.

Day 7
2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as ^[a^]by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Romans 12:2 NKJV. “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.”

Renew your mind. Something I have been asking God to do for me recently. I have allowed the bad habit of swearing to creep in, and I have been asking God to help renew my mind.

John 1:12 NKJV.  “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the ^[a^]right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:”

Avoid comparison.

When we start comparing ourselves to others, we take our eyes off Jesus.  It also leads us to feel bad because that person you are comparing yourself to either has done more or better than you on a particular thing.  Or we do it the other way, and think more highly of ourselves. When we look to Jesus, we are changed from glory to glory. But when we compare ourselves to others, we either feel puffed up or feel bad about ourselves.

At the end of the day, we need to rewire our brains via the Word of God and the help of Holy Spirit to teach us to view our self-esteem through His eyes and not the world’s eyes. Plus, God never changes, and therefore what we wants from us and for us never changes. The world wants something new and different from us each day.

I pray this challenges, blesses and encourages you today, friend.

God Bless

~Hannah

Pride and Self-Esteem Part 1

 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Galatians 2:20 NKJV. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

John 15:5 NKJV. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

    We can't bear fruit apart from Him. We also tend to confuse humility with pride and Self-esteem with vanity. Pride and humility can also look like each other. Having self-esteem is about knowing who Chris is and what He has done in you. Self-esteem that is rooted in what you have done leads to pride. Self-esteem that is based on what Christ has done for us will lead us to true humility. The author of this devotional suggested, and I agree with him, that we tend to act out our perceived identity rather than our true identity. Do you know who you are according to what Christ has done for you or just by what you have done? When you think about who you are or when someone asks you about yourself, what is the first thing that comes to mind? The fact that Christ died for you or something that you are good at or enjoy doing? Personally, one of the first things that comes to mind for me is that I’m a hard worker.

    Father God, I'm a little lost on this one. I want to see myself through your eyes, but I don't fully understand what that looks like or how to do it. Please help me, Lord.

    There is also a difference between our perceived identity and our true identity. Basically, the difference between who you think you are and who you really are. Our perceived identity is what we have done, rather than our true identity, what Christ has done in us and what Jesus did for us on the cross.

    I think that if we say that Jesus died on the cross for us with our chest puffed up, then that is pride, but if we say it gently and as a matter of fact, and with a grateful heart, then we are saying it with humility.

Father, please use this study to transform my heart and mind.

Day 2

Philippians 2:5-8 NKJV. ⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it ^[a^]robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but ^[b^]made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Proverbs 16:18 NKJV. Pride goes before destruction,

And a haughty spirit before ^[a^]a fall

John 15:5 NKJV “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Father, continue to build in me a clean heart and a servant’s heart. Amen.

    Pride hardens our hearts and distances us from God. Humility is revealed in love, service and how we see ourselves through Christ. Humility is also knowing who we are but not boasting about it. It's also dangerous to walk in our own self-esteem. Because we will look at the list of things we have done on our own and think that we are impressive, which might be very impressive, but we may not be very approachable because we are puffed up and arrogant. That being said, not everyone who has a long list of accomplishments is puffed up and prideful. They may be a very quiet person when it comes to their accomplishments. They may simply be a quieter person or because their self-esteem is rooted in Christ and therefore don’t feel the need to talk about the list.

    Is my self-confidence rooted in what I have done in my life or in what Christ has done in me?

At the beginning of this study, I would say that it was about 60/40. 60% what I had done and 40% what Christ has done. It was also rooted in fear and self-defence. Now it's working in moving closer to just what God has done in me. I have also found myself becoming a quieter person as a whole and telling people less and less about the things in my life. I don’t feel the need or desire to share as much with as many people. I’m finding it to be rather peaceful.

    Father God, I struggle with confidence. I am a very defensive person and am regularly on edge. I feel the need to regularly defend myself and puff myself up a little. Help me not to be afraid, Father. Help me to remember who I am in you and not worry about the rest of the world. Continue to help me walk in your will and not compare myself to others.

Since writing out this prayer and several others through this study in my journal a few weeks ago, He has answered them. Praise the Lord.

Day 3

Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus giving others value.

Luke 19:1-10 NKJV. Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. ² Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. ³ And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. ⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up ^[a^]and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, ^[b^]make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” ⁶ So he ^[c^]made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. ⁷ But when they saw it, they all ^[d^]complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” ⁸ Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” ⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; ¹⁰ for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

John 8:1-11 NKJV. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ² Now ^[a^]early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. ³ Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, ⁴ they said to Him, “Teacher, ^[b^]this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. ⁵ Now ^[c^]Moses, in the law, commanded us ^[d^]that such should be stoned. But what do You ^[e^]say?” ⁶ This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, ^[f^]as though He did not hear. ⁷ So when they continued asking Him, He ^[g^]raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” ⁸ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ Then those who heard it, being^[h^] convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. ¹⁰ When Jesus had raised Himself up ^[i^]and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers ^[j^]of yours? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go ^[k^]and sin no more.”

    When your self-esteem is rooted in achievements, you place pressure on yourself and likely start comparing yourself to others. It will also cause us to be judgemental. I think that when our self-esteem is rooted in Christ and what He has done for us, it starts to quiet our spirits, and we no longer feel the need to be defensive or show off our list of accomplishments. Pride lifts us above others; humility allows us to love like Jesus.

I pray this blesses, encourages and challenges you today, friend.

God Bless

~Hannah