Pride and Haughtiness

Review

Those that have greater effectiveness in Spiritual Warfare:

Able to look beyond the traits that are being manifest and identify the predominant Spirit that is causing the issue.

Be skilled in how to deal with it

The desire to be free from it

3 battlefields of spiritual warfare:

Obsession - This is where most of our spiritual warfare starts, and it happens when the adversary strives to  consume  your  mind 

2. Oppression - This is where it goes beyond obsession in your mind, and your  life  starts to be affected.

Possession - This takes place when the individual has  accepted  the obsession as normal. Their  resolve  has been weakened by oppression to the space that they are being controlled by the spirits that torment them

The spirit of Pride and Haughtiness

Pride go with before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

This spirit of Pride and haughtiness is an extremely difficult spirit to battle, chiefly because it intertwines itself with our carnanlity, attempting to elevate our human reasoning to an even par with an eternally wise God.

Pride go with before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

This is dangerous because our frail human reasoning generally refuses to see any demonic influence at work in our lives, being convinced it is common sense or rationality. Basically, carnality and the demonic spirit of pride and haughtiness become business partners, conducting the affairs of a person’s life according to their pride instead of according to God’s will.

The dictionary defines haughty as “blatantly and disdainfully proud”. The biblical word for haughty is from the Latin word Gobah, meaning “arrogantly superior, elevated to the point of expressing disdain.”

In the Bible, the word haughty is always used in an evil sense of being proud, demeaning to others’ opinions, and having an unyielding heart.

However, just as with the other spirits we have examined, it is important to realize – at least at some juncture – that it goes beyond a proud attitude and, according to , becomes the working of a literal unholy spirit.

An attitude of pride in haughtiness, even before it reaches the demonic stage, is a dangerous thing. Even more dangerous is when an attitude of pride in haughtiness morphs into a spirit of pride in haughtiness! This particular general and Satan's army of evil is extremely effective because it works hand-in-hand with the natural inclination of humanity to be selfish, self-centered, and convinced their ways are right.

A partial list of traits and mentalities of an individual who is contending on any level with the spirit of pride and haughtiness is a virtual “laundry list” of carnal inclinations:

A partial list of traits and mentalities of an individual who is contending on any level with the spirit of pride and haughtiness is a virtual “laundry list” of carnal inclinations:

Manifestations of a spirit of Pride and Haughtiness:

Agitation, anger, argumentative, arrogant, authoritarian, boastful, bragging, believing everyone is out to get you, belligerent, competitive, conceited, confrontational, contentious, controlling, critical of others’ ways, dictatorial , Dogmatic, domineering, dismissive, egotistical, exaggeration, frustration, gossip, grudges, God complex, “Holier than thou” attitude, impatience, insolence, intellectualism, intolerance, irrational, irritability, mocker, narcissism, obstinacy , Overbearing, overreacting, perfectionism, pretentious, rejection of God, resentment, rudeness, scornful, self-centeredness, self-deception, self delusion, self importance, self righteousness, self-serving, self superiority, selfishness, silent treatment, smug attitude, stiff-necked, stubborn, temper, tyrannical, unreasonable, unyielding, vanity, wrath

If you are dealing with someone who exhibits to an unholy degree any of these symptoms, you are most likely dealing with the demonic spirit of pride in haughtiness.

Pride and haughtiness can be most treacherous because they work hand-in-hand with the natural inclination of your flesh to believe your ways are the only right ways.

Believing your fleshly opinions are superior to any others is a completely natural thing for your flesh – a fact stated plainly in Scripture:

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.- ()

This driving force among humanity is addressed eight times in the Bible. Sadly, in most of these cases God's judgment was often preceded by an evil mindset the Bible described as “and every man did that which was right in his own eyes”. The people became so demonically driven by a spirit of pride and haughtiness that it eventually provoked God's wrath.

()

This driving force among humanity is addressed eight times in the Bible. Sadly, in most of these cases God's judgment was often preceded by an evil mindset the Bible described as “and every man did that which was right in his own eyes”. The people became so demonically driven by a spirit of pride and haughtiness that it eventually provoked God's wrath.

In studying the scriptural examples, it does not take long to realize that God has great disdain for those given to a spirit of pride and haughtiness. Perhaps the question that should be asked is obvious: what does God find so vile about the spirit of pride and haughtiness?

Much of the answer is wrapped up in the verse just mentioned, when God declared the ways of humanity are right in their own eyes. Make careful note of the fact God refers to “eyes” in relationship to pride and haughtiness.

This correlation between pride and our eyes is reiterated in another proverb:

Proverbs 6:16 KJV 1900

16 These six things doth the Lord hate: Yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

The writer then lists six specific things that evoke hatred from our God whose nature is one of love:

A proud look...

Once again we see the correlation between “eyes” and a proud look, a thing that evokes hatred in His divine nature. What was it about “eyes” and “pride” that turned God’s stomach?

Once again we see the correlation between “eyes” and a proud look, a thing that evokes hatred in His divine nature. What was it about “eyes” and “pride” that turned God’s stomach?

The answer to this question is all important because it helps us comprehend how a spirit of pride and haughtiness wars against us. When you are aligned with a demonic spirit of pride and haughtiness, you start seeing things through a jaded prism of arrogance and self-will instead of from the perspective that God intended.

Eight times God's Word correlates “eyes” and pride because pride and haughtiness affect our perception of spiritual things. These attitudes damage us by affecting how we see the things God put in our world to protect us:

Proverbs 6:17 NKJV

17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,

Worship keeps us conscientiously connected to God; Pride rejects real worship.

Pride rejects real worship.

Obedience keeps us attached to God's commands; Pride belittles unconditional obedience.

Pride belittles unconditional obedience.

Prayer keeps us linked to our dependency on God; Pride minimizes our need for prayer.

Pride minimizes our need for prayer.

Respect keeps us joined to the body of Christ; Pride diminishes our respect for others.

Pride diminishes our respect for others.

Emotional praise keeps us humble in God’s sight; Pride avoids emotional praise.

Pride avoids emotional praise.

Response keeps us responsive to the flow of God’s Spirit; Pride feels no need for response.

Pride feels no need for response.

We have established that pride and “eyes” are linked in the Bible because this spirit affects the way we see the things of God. There is a correlation between self-importance and the importance of God: as one increases, the other must decrease. It only stands to reason that the more importance pride causes you to see in yourself, the less important the needful things of God will look to you.

We need God's church; Pride makes His church appear less important.

Pride makes His church appear less important.

We need God's touch; Pride makes his touch appear less important.

Pride makes his touch appear less important.

We need God's direction; Pride makes his direction appear less important

Pride makes his direction appear less important

We need God's anointing; Pride makes his anointing appear less important

Pride makes his anointing appear less important

One commentary states that haughtiness simply means to be "unyieldingly presumptuous." When pride becomes a factor, we become unyieldingly presumptuous about our own importance and view as unnecessary those spiritual things that God themes essential.

One commentary states that haughtiness simply means to be "unyieldingly presumptuous." When pride becomes a factor, we become unyieldingly presumptuous about our own importance and view as unnecessary those spiritual things that God themes essential.

Surely a pattern can be seen and how pride and haughtiness affect us. A spirit of pride and haughtiness causes us to willingly walk headlong into spiritual warfare by utilizing our natural human tendency to be proud. It is an insidious spiritual warfare, because the natural inclination towards pride often masks the fact it has become demonic in nature.

Satan knows our natural inclination toward pride, but at some juncture we must know our natural inclinations can morph into demonic manifestations. The adversary subtly seeks ways to provoke our natural attitudes of pride to move beyond any godly reasoning and thus open up the door for the manifestations of a demonic spirit of pride and haughtiness in our lives.

Sadly, when we are haughty, we become egocentric — the whole universe revolves around us.

When we reach this point, there is a little if any concern for what others think and no consideration for the will of God. Pride and haughtiness are the trunk of the tree from which a multitude of other sinful actions sprout. It has been my observation that when people see themselves as the center of their world, nothing they say or do is unlawful to them!

A spirit of pride and haughtiness seeks to solidify demonic actions in our lives by making it look as though they are justified. surely this is what God meant when he spoke of a proud look!

You can usually tell when someone has gone beyond an attitude of pride and into demonic warfare when certain things begin to happen:

They see uncontrollable anger as a reasonable response.

They see most actions or opinions of others as some attempt at disrespect.

They see the depth of their religious expressions as giving them a right to be rude to others.

They see others as inferior, unworthy of offering opinions or ideas.

They see themselves as so important that it endues them with the privilege of being controlling or tyrannical.

They see ulterior motive's in everything done by peers, justifying grudges that linger for lifetimes.

If these traits are a factor anywhere in your world, your spiritual warfare is most likely with a spirit of pride and haughtiness that is attempting to stop you from ever being what God desires you to be. Usually by this point, your battle has already become demonic in nature.

Friends, if these traits are a factor anywhere in your world, your spiritual warfare is most likely with a spirit of pride and haughtiness that is attempting to stop you from ever being what God desires you to be. Usually by this point, your battle has already become demonic in nature.

When we consider spiritual warfare with demonic beings, we often think of such things as possession, physically "acting out," or even hurting oneself. The fact is that being assaulted by a spirit of pride and haughtiness to the point it restricts a person from being what God wants them to be, is just as demonic as possession.

The ultimate goal of the spirit of pride is to leave you isolated from the things God loves and intends to be in your life. Understanding this gives us much knowledge of how to war against the spirits of pride and haughtiness:

Step 1 - Never forget that you were made of frail flesh

Must never think of yourself as infallible. God's ways will always be higher and more important than your ways. You are flesh, and/Israel, making it the perpetual enemy of living for God.

“pinch that stuff, its flesh”!! - Bishop Staten

For this reason, you can never afford to think of yourself as being above sin, above struggle, or above failure.

It is abundantly clear that an individual who fully guards his or her own capacity to sin is greater than someone who can raise the debt to prayer! There is no vision of heaven God can offer you that rivals the value of your ability to see, even in your greatest hour, the frailty of your own flesh.

Being mindful of your own frailty acts as a natural protectant against the destructive components of pride and haughtiness. Forgetting how frail your flesh is will only serve to corrode your spiritual integrity by glorying in your flesh and open a door in your life to demonic activity.

Step 2 - Never exempt yourself from crucial spiritual activities

God has given all of us spiritual resources of great value. Things like worship, sacrifice, response, and submission to God are invaluable to our spiritual well-being. However, early Christians used a common expression: "pride is extreme poverty to the soul.” The reason for such a statement is obvious:

worship keeps us focused; Pride steals focus by keeping us from worship.

Pride steals focus by keeping us from worship.

Sacrifice keeps us mindful of our responsibility to God; Pride removes responsibility by keeping us from sacrifice.

Pride removes responsibility by keeping us from sacrifice.

Response keeps us in tune with what God is doing; pride prevents being in tune by keeping us from response.

pride prevents being in tune by keeping us from response.

Submission keeps us humble; pride tears away humility by keeping us from submission.

pride tears away humility by keeping us from submission.

Pride will tell you those things are not important in an attempt to isolate you from the strength and stability those things provide. Sometimes comparing the spirit of pride and haughtiness is as simple as refusing to exempt yourself from the things that keep your heart and attitude pleasing to God.

Step 3 - Understand spirits often work in tandem

Another off-unconsidered attribute about demonic spirits is they often work in tandem. This basically means sometimes two or more of these demonic spirits join forces in spiritual warfare to assist each other and doing more damage to the souls of men. Knowing this is vitally important in warfare against the spirit of pride and haughtiness because, regardless of what sinful spirit is reaching into the individuals life, the spirit of pride and haughtiness reinforces that sin by proclaiming the right to do it, and humanity’s pride assures them it isn't wrong. The examples are numerous:

jealousy is wrong; Pride reinforces jealousy by saying you have a right.

Pride reinforces jealousy by saying you have a right.

Perversion is wrong; Pride reinforces perversion by declaring it as normal.

Pride reinforces perversion by declaring it as normal.

Adultery is wrong; Pride reinforces adultery by saying, "you deserve it.”

Pride reinforces adultery by saying, "you deserve it.”

Just as there are "gateway drugs," there are also, "Gateway spirits" that make it easier to destruct spiritually. Spirits work in tandem; consequently, you must refuse to let pride justify any temptation or sin from which you should flee.

Step 4 - Know the value of others

God placed people you can love and trust—family, fellow church members, spiritual leaders—in your life as valuable assets. Pride and haughtiness not only drive those people away, but they isolate you from the benefits God intended those people to bring to your life.

Pride violates God's command for his people to be humble and considerate of others. God proclaim the greatest commandment given was to love the Lord with all your heart. However he also spoke of the second greatest commandment:

And the second is like onto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self.—

What a stark contrast! God called us to love others, regarding them as we want to be regarded, but a spirit of pride and haughtiness will always try to elevate you above the opinions and companionship of others.

No wonder God saw how unnecessary humility would be in your life. Humility is a requirement of God to keep your heart pure. While pride and haughtiness are the enemy of humility, wisdom realizes that humility is also the enemy of pride and haughtiness; humility will insulate your world against the effects of this demonic spirit of pride and haughtiness.

Never, Even on your greatest day, open the door to demonic pride and haughtiness by forgetting how much you need people in your life.

Consistently remembering the value of others helps keep your relationship with others—and with God—free from the dangers associated with the spirit of pride and haughtiness.