Text- Ephesians 4:27 – “And do not give the devil a foothold”
I want you to think of being pursued by someone who intends to harm you. What would you most likely do? You will run to safety, I guess.
Now imagine that you ran to a place of safety, and as you got in, you tried to close the door, but the person sticks his shoe at the bottom end of the door so that you are unable to close it. That part of his foot that is stuck through the door, thus preventing you from closing the door effectively is called a "foothold”.
So when we talk about footholds, you have a vivid picture of what is represents; areas where the devil can catch upon as an opportunity to affect or influence your life. Scriptures warn us not to allow the devil have such in our lives.
In the past few days, we have seen two of the things that may give the devil a foothold in the life of a person: Sin and Folly. Today, we will consider yet another:
3. PRIDE The Bible expressly says that God resists the proud (James 4:6). Pride was the original sin that caused the rebellion of Lucifer, and his eventual fall. The devil knows that if he can get pride into the heart of a man, the man will himself set himself up against God and thus, avail satan access into his life.
Pride is when you think too highly of yourself; it is first and foremost a state of the heart, which includes a degree of haughtiness – a measure of self-centredness and contempt for others. Someone once said, “Pride is the sin most likely to keep you from crying out for a Savior.”
One sign that you may be proud is that you are more concerned with people’s perception of you than God’s perception. This way, you tend to fight the sins that have an impact on how others view you, but you condone the ones that happen in secret, that only God sees.
Another sign of pride is when a person forms the habit of taking a defensive posture and reacting against correction and rebuke. Simply put, a proud person hates to be corrected or rebuked.
One other sign of pride is when you have a sense of entitlement; or you somewhat feel the world revolves (or should revolve) around you, such that you feel your life, problems, etc. are more important than other people's, and you expect everyone to drop everything and attend to you when you need them.
Pride also shows itself when you feel you have ‘nothing’ to learn from certain people, especially people you think are ‘below you’ and those you envy.
A proud person also finds it hard to ask for help or let others know when they need help. Pride makes it difficult for a person to admit that something is beyond his/her capacity or that he/she has a shortcoming.
Finally, one of the hallmarks of pride is unwillingness to submit to authority (in Church, at work, at home or in any other relationship). A proud person hates taking a subordinate position, or being told what to do.
Perhaps, as you read this, you are there thinking about how many of the aforementioned signs apply to someone you know, while feeling pretty good that none of them really apply to you – check again, pride may be the reason.
Pride will give the devil a foothold in your life. Resist pride, so that God will not resist you!
PRAYER Father, I repent of every form of pride today. Help me Lord, to identify any subtle way in which pride wants to creep into my life, and grant me the grace to overcome it so that the devil will not gain a foothold in my life in Jesus Name.
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