How to Avoid the Danger of Pride

Healing Ancestral Wounds

By Gena Barnhill @BarnhillGena

Have you ever been concerned about the danger of pride, especially since pride is referred to as one of the seven deadly sins?

Danger of Pride

Superior Pride 

Have you met people who appear puffed up and full of themselves as they tout their accomplishments? We often label this puffed-up response to perceived success as prideful or boastful behavior—or self-worship. It is easy to recognize this form of pride demonstrated by people desiring admiration for their achievements.

Characteristics of Prideful People Who Feel Superior to Others:

  • Arrogant
  • Haughty
  • Boastful
  • Self-reliant
  • Egotistical
  • Rarely apologize
  • Think they are above or better than others
  • Puffed up and pre-occupied with self-importance
  • Demonstrate a sense of entitlement
  • Find faults with others easier than in themselves
  • Want to do their will more than God’s will

Inferior Pride 

Did you know there is another form of pride not as easily recognized? I had not considered self-pity as prideful behavior until I read John Piper’s explanation of pride. Self-pity seemed needy, not boastful. Piper wrote self-pity is the response of pride to suffering by those who believe they deserve admiration because of their suffering. He said the purpose of this attention-seeking behavior is not for others to view them as helpless and weak but as heroes.1

Characteristics of Prideful People Who Feel Inferior to Others:

  • Feel sorry for themselves
  • Exhibit low self-esteem
  • Secretly pleased when others are unsuccessful
  • Condemn themselves
  • Compare themselves to others and tear themselves down
  • Motivated to serve others for the accolades they receive
  • Fish for compliments
  • Seek the attention of others
  • Have difficulty recognizing things to be grateful for

Superior and inferior manifestations of pride are both problematic because the focus is on the individual instead of relying on God.

How to Avoid the Danger of Pride #generationalcurse #pride Share on X

The Dangers of Pride

One of the greatest dangers associated with the spirit of pride is that it can take subtle forms and leave most people unaware of their pridefulness. We all deal with pride to a degree. The Bible speaks about the danger of pride.

First Peter 5:5 tells us to clothe ourselves with humility when we relate to one another because “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Pride is the opposite of humility.

Proverbs 16:18-19 says, Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. The danger of pride is the destruction and fall that follow prideful attitudes.

Isaiah 2:12 says, For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low. Another warning that God takes prideful behavior seriously.

Psalm 101:5 Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure. Clearly, God abhors a prideful heart.

The Bible Provides Examples of the Danger of Pride 

  • King Uzziah’s pride led to his downfall, and the Lord struck him with leprosy (See 2 Chronicles 26:16-19).
  • When the people referred to Herod as a god, he did not give praise to God and was struck down by an angel of the Lord, eaten by worms, and died (See Acts 12:21-23).
  • King Hezekiah was ill and near death and prayed to God who gave him a miraculous sign. Because of a proud heart he did not respond to the kindness shown him and the Lord’s wrath was on him and Judah and Jerusalem. When he repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem, the Lord’s wrath did not come on them (See 2 Chronicles 32:24-26).

What Destroys Pride? 

FAITH and giving God control of our lives destroy pride. We can ask ourselves: Is God in control of my life? Believing in God’s sufficiency for our lives and a humble heart kill pride. Self-reliance is not the solution. Dependence on God is the answer to extinguishing pride. We can trust Him to take care of us better than we can take care of ourselves.

Next Steps to Avoid the Danger of Pride: 

F- Fall in love with God. He meets all our needs.

A– Ask God for forgiveness for prideful behavior and repent when you recognize it. Renounce and reject the spirit of pride.

I- Invest time in speaking with the Lord and listening to His response and guidance.

T– Thank the Lord for His forgiveness and faithfulness. Ask Him to fill us with peace and humility.

H– Honor the Lord with worship and a humble heart.

Do you recognize a recurrent pattern of pride in your family line or in the lineage of others you care for? How will you pray against this negative ancestral influence? Be sure to leave your thoughts on our Facebook Group Healing Prayer Discussion.

Looking forward to your input.

Blessings,
Gena

1John Piper, Desiring God. (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2003), 302.
*Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV).

In case you missed the rest of the Ancestral Influences Series, here is the link:

https://simpleeffectiveprayer.com/category/healing-ancestral-wounds/