Pride Feeds The Flesh Podcast

Pride versus Humility [ 7:11 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Flesh Can Dominate The Soul

There are two parts to us, the flesh and the soul. For most, the flesh is the dominate factor in our lives until we die. The flesh wants nothing to do with the soul, it wants nothing to do with God, it only wants what the world has to offer.

The flesh is corrupt and it will always be corrupt until it’s last breath. This is what the deadly sin of pride is, self, ego, I, me, and myself. Pride is the main one of the seven deadly sins.

The soul wants eternal life with God. It wants everything that God has to offer. It wants to be humble, it wants to do good, be loving towards others and it wants no glory. It wants to do God’s will which in turn will help bring not only glory to God, but help steer others towards God so that they may find true peace and happiness with God.

The flesh wants what the world has to offer, whether it is pleasure, materialism, self-indulgence, lust, vanity and so on. Pride also brings about negative traits and problems such as, hate, anger, resentments, jealousy, greed, gluttony, envy, fornication, addiction, debt and others. Pride will always be in the pursuit of happiness.

Humility is totally the opposite. Humility brings a person kindness, love, joy, true happiness, peace, goodness, self-control, trustfulness and freedom from the bondages of the world.

The world can only offer temporary happiness and this causes the flesh to be in constant search of happiness. This happiness that it seeks is always attached to something and that something captures us and holds us until the happiness wears off. Then we’re off again seeking happiness in something else.

There is a low side to pride and also a high side to pride and what lies in the middle is humility. The middle is the best place to be, it is also known as equanimity. It is the place of total peacefulness and freedom from the bondages of the world. When one reaches this place, they have no care about materialism, they are not concerned about what they are going to eat, they only want to keep things as simple as possible.

When one is humble, they do not seek honor, they pass the glory onto God and thank Him for giving them the opportunity to help their fellowman. When they do something good, they try to attract as little attention as possible. They are usually quiet and refrain from idle chit-chat and laughter, they do not place themselves above others, they are patient, respectful to authority and constantly watchful of trying not to do wrong.

The Difference Between Pride and Humility

There is a difference between walking in the flesh and walking in the spirit. When one is in the flesh, they don’t see spiritual things, they see worldly things. They think they are good because they can’t see or understand what they are doing wrong. The flesh deceives itself in such away that the things that it does seems normal to itself because it is a standard among the world.

The bodily senses play a major role in the corruption of the flesh. The senses are always looking to be pleased. Whether it comes from the taste of foods, or things that are pleasing to the eyes which can generate lust, the senses have their way of keeping man disconnected from God through the use of distractions.

When a person is walking in the spirit, they don’t care about things like the taste of food or spending a lot of time preparing food, listening to music (they find God in silence), they are not distracted by smells like food cooking or perfumes (they actually find perfume repulsive), jewelry, clothing, hairdos, makeup, materialism, paintings, things that make the body feel good and so on. They really don’t like wasting time with things that please the flesh. They will, most of the time put other’s needs first before their own.

The more you live by the flesh, the more you are anchored to this world and all its troubles. Find protection, freedom and peace in God and don’t let this world rule you.

Travel the road with Jesus Christ and learn to walk upright in the spirit instead of bent towards the world like the flesh. You will soon see just how invaluable the things of the world are and just how corrupt the flesh really is. The light of faith is like darkness to the flesh.

God Bless You

Cleanse Yourself and Grow Spiritually

Are You Spiritually Dehydrated? – Read These Spiritual Disciplines

These 12 ways will help you to cleanse yourself and grow spiritually. Jesus will help you to do each one of these, so make sure you pray to Him and ask Him for guidance. If you should have any questions about any of these spiritual disciplines, please don’t hesitate to contact me at: thetruth@itrustgodonly.com – in the subject line please put “12 Ways”.
Thank you. (Click On The Title To Go To That Page)

1. Powerless Over Ourselves – Read More…
“How Can I Be Powerless Over Myself?” Our ways are different than God’s way. We are governed by our pride. We want things that will please our bodies and make our lives pleasant. We want the things of the world. This is our human nature, it’s the way our minds work.

2. Sanity or Insanity? – Read More…
Most of us like to think we are sane people right? We don’t act bizarre or we’re not in an institution, so we must be sane, right? Wrong. There’s a kind of insanity that, as we look through our carnal eyes we just don’t see. We usually look at insanity as people who lost touch with reality.

3. Your Will and Your Life – Read More…
You Did Accept Jesus As Your Personal Savior? When we accepted Jesus as our personal Savior, did we not do this to save ourselves from damnation? Some of us chose Jesus because our life was a mess from trying to live it our way.

4. Take An Inventory Of Ourselves – Read More…
Our Behavior Is Pretty Much Ruled By Our Pride. Our emotions and our actions are of self-will. We want our lives to be in perfect order as WE would like them. We do not care about what others want or need or even if we do, so long as it doesn’t interrupt our way of life, the life WE want.

5. Acknowledge Your Sins – Read More…
Pray For Forgiveness. 1John 1:8,9 – If we say we have no sin in us, we are deceiving ourselves and refusing to admit the truth; but if we acknowledge our sins, then God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and purify us from everything that is wrong.

6. Remove Character Defects – Read More…
Now that we have taken a look at ourselves by making a list of things we did wrong and told them to another individual, it’s time to work on removing these defects for good. Remember to always talk to Jesus about these things we need removed and let Him help us to overcome these defects.

7. Humility and Pride – Read More…
Humility Is The Opposite Of Pride. Luke 2:7 And she gave birth to a son, her first-born. She wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn. This is a true act of humility. God could have provided all the comforts of home for Joseph, Mary and Jesus, but He didn’t.

8. List Of Wrongs – Read More…
Made A List Of Our Wrongs and Any Resentments. When we did something wrong to someone did we do it intentionally or did we do it out of ignorance? Sometimes we aim to harm people and some of the reasons we do this is for personal gain, that we don’t like the individual, or because we like to stir things up between others.

9. Making Amends – Read More…
Make Amends To The People You Have Harmed. Now that you have made your lists, it’s time to make amends. First, you have to understand that sometimes it’s not good to open up old wounds. We don’t want to harm others again, but this doesn’t mean that we’re off the hook from making amends.

10. Daily Evaluation – Read More…
We Need To Evaluate Ourselves Daily. Now that we have made amends, it’s time to keep from doing the same things that we had to make amends for over again. We can do this by overcoming our pride. It begins by the way we think and how we bring into ourselves the actions of others.

11. God’s Will – Read More…
About God’s Will For Us. The bible is a great book, it’s God’s word. It’s full of instructions for us. It has God’s promises that He gives us. Each promise has a stipulation attached to it. God will keep His promise provided we do our part.

12. Growing Spiritually – Read More…
Face Life One Day At A Time With God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. After following Jesus and working the past 11 lessons, one should have gained a lot of knowledge about oneself. Such things as the way you think and act, how you treat people and the way you treat them.

Practice these spiritual disciplines to get closer to God and find peace, happiness and true freedom.

Equanimity – What Plane Are You On Podcast

Equanimity - What Plane Are You On? [ 5:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

What is the Meaning of Equanimity?

Definition of equanimity: Mental composure or calmness; evenness of temper. Peace, what a wonderful thing. Everyone of us wants tranquility. For instance, like when we stop and gaze at the beautiful scenery. For the time being, it removes all our stress, our troubles, it empties us of the things that cause us to be busy inside ourselves. Every moment of every day we are usually thinking about something.

But what we’re going to talk about here is the thoughts that cause us to feel pain or pleasure from humiliation or honor. This is a form of pride. We feel the pain of pride when things don’t go our way or when people say or do things that we don’t like. Jealousy also takes it toll on us. That was our lows, now for the high. Recognition, we all love it and some of us can’t survive without it, it can become an obsession.
To some, it can be very painful to not be honored for what they’ve done. Some even go as far as honoring themselves. You might say, “But don’t we deserve to be honored for the good things we do”, No!, God does. Luke 18:19 Jesus said to him, ‘ Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone’. He’s the one that puts us in the positions to make a choice, whether we are going to do good or not. Goodness comes to us from God, just like evil comes to us from Satan.

We’re in the middle of both worlds, but we can only have one world, your choice. You gave your life over to God. Provided you are on the right road, you have to remember that from then on, all things are going to be learning experiences, unless of course you took your will back. You have to be “aware”, you can’t practice equanimity if you are not aware. One needs to be on an equal plane at all times. We need to be at a place called “nothingness”. This is where you feel no pain from humiliation or you feel no joy or should I say, “Pride in being honored”.

In practicing equanimity, you will keep the ocean within you calm, where there will not even be a ripple. You also will not be able to harm anyone, either physically or emotionally. You can hurt people and yourself by being humiliated or honored. You have to think about this,there’s just too many ways it can happen. Humiliate: injure the dignity or self-respect of. Humility: humbleness; meekness: piously gentle in nature. Humble: lower the rank or status of. Accept humiliation.

1Peter 5:5-8 To the rest of you I say, ‘ Do what the elders tell you, and all wrap yourselves in humility to be servants of each other, because God refuses the proud and will always favor the humble. Bow down, then, before the power of God now, and He will raise you up on the appointed day; unload all your worries on to Him, since He is looking after you. Be CALM but vigilant, because your enemy the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to eat’.

Proverbs 15:33 The fear of God is a school of wisdom, humility goes before honor.

Proverbs 18:12 The human heart is haughty until destruction comes, humility goes before honor.

The Sin of Pride and Practicing Humility Podcast

Practicing Humility and Overcoming Pride [ 9:32 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Pride Gives Birth To Sin and Humility Makes Us Humble

Luke 2:7 And she gave birth to a son, her first-born. She wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn. This is a true act of humility. God could have provided all the comforts of home for Joseph, Mary and Jesus, but He didn’t.

Reason: God had to show the world that He loves us just as much as He loves His son. Also, Jesus wouldn’t be able to preach and teach about humility, if God didn’t practice it Himself. By this act, God showed us that He didn’t place His son above all of us.
We see what it looks like for a person to exalt themselves above others. We don’t seem to like them very much do we? Practicing humility is a difficult thing to do. It means conquering the sin of pride and shutting down our pride. Being humble doesn’t make one a wimp. It actually makes one stronger, because they can handle anything that comes at them. We have to place ourselves lower than everyone else. We are not better than the next guy or even holier, no matter how spiritual we become.

It’s not a good idea to interfere with the affairs of others in such a way that you become overbearing. To think one knows what’s best for someone is like you wanting to control their life at that time. We can’t think that we know what’s best for others. We could hurt them or even steer them in the wrong direction.

We have to humble ourselves and depend on the Holy Trinity to show us what to do to become righteous people. If we don’t even know what’s best for us, how could we even know what’s good for others? We need to lower ourselves enough to give up our will and let God’s will take over. You may not see these things now, but if you keep practicing humility, you will the sin of pride.

One of the things that really hurts our pride is being accused of doing something wrong that we know we didn’t do. We are quick to get upset, possibly even to the point of rage. We need to be calm and patient. We know that we didn’t do what we were accused of. There’s no sense in stirring ourself up inside. We will become like a stormy ocean. It disrupts that inner peace we had. It can cause resentment towards the accuser. We will carry this accusation and resentment around with us until it is resolved.

Don’t let these things bother you, it’s one of satan’s handy works. He wants you to be disrupted and without peace, it clouds your mind, so you can’t dwell on God. We don’t need to worry about what people are saying about us or what they’re trying to do to us. It’s always a good thing to be persecuted in the name of the Lord. It brings glory to God when you show people what a good and strong soldier you are of His. God will set things right, have faith.

Don’t ever think that because you work harder than everybody else or you’ve been somewhere (chuch,work,etc.,) longer, or your position is higher that you have special rights. Be humble and don’t cause a fuss. You might think that whatever the situation is, is that you deserve recognition more then anyone or that you have special rights.

Remember that you gave your will over to God, (or maybe you took it back) and He is in charge of your life, so maybe He just doesn’t want you in that position. It very well could prove to be disastrous for you. God probably has other plans for you. Did you stop and think that God might be putting the other person there for a reason? We have to stop looking at things with our own carnal eyes and start or even try to see them through God’s eyes. If we really trust God, then let’s TRUST HIM!!!

We need to drop the I, the me, the mine, it’s not about us. We have to keep a low profile, almost like we’re non-existent. Don’t push our interests on others, be a good listener. You might find that by listening to others they might open the door for you to be able to talk about God with them. Also, by listening to others, they might say something that might help you.

Chit-chat has no value to it at all. It’s a waste of time, time that we need to use to pray, to be with God or to work on ourselves. So don’t talk unless you are asked to or unless you have to. You can judge for yourself the difference between talk with value and idle chit-chat. Same with excessive laughter. Restrain yourself from laughter, it’s foolish merriment.

Authority is one of the things we don’t like. Reason: because they can controll us and or we have to do as they say whether we like it or not. The Lord controlls all authority. Don’t resent any kind of authority, they’re there for a reason. Do as Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2:1-3 ‘My advice is that, first of all, there should be prayers offered to everyone – petitions, intercessions and thanksgiving – and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet.

To do this is right and will please God our Saviour.’ To be in conflict with another, is not a happy experience. It makes one miserable and unpleasent. So let it go don’t add fuel to the fire. Keep silent and the Lord will fight for you.

Prayer is the answer. Let the Lord do what He needs to do and don’t butt into His business, we have enough business of our own to tend to. It seems like when we do our will (which is our way of thinking) it’s just full of the things God despises. If we want to clean ourselves up we need to do a confession (please read “Confession”) so that we can learn about ourselves and see the things we are doing that offends God.

Once we learn about sin and see its ugliness, we will be able to work on ourselves, to overcome our will and take on God’s will. It’s not a verbal thing, it has to come from your heart. Jesus will show you your sins if you are willing. You can see them now or later. It would be better that you clean yourself up now. It’ll be too late later.

Once we have made a confession, we will need to keep an eye on ourselves constantly, so that we don’t fall backwards. Be really careful not to get to comfortable with where you are spiritually. Your soul will be like a place without a watchman, robbers and thieves will steal you blind. Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for us in order to set us free from all wickedness and to purify a people so that it could be His very own and would have no ambition except to do good.

The only one we need to be concerned about pleasing is God. He is our Father and our Creator. He can give us life or He can give us death. He would much rather give us life or He wouldn’t have sent us His blessed son Jesus Christ. So let us ask the Lord to help us remove the sin of pride and clothe us with humility. Be Humble. It’s not what others can do for you, it’s what can you do to help others.

Daily Evaluation of the Mind, Behavior and Emotions Podcast

Keep Evaluating Yourself on a Daily Basis [ 4:16 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Keeping Our Thoughts, Emotions and Behavior in Check

Now that we have made amends, it’s time to keep from doing the same things that we had to make amends for over again. We can do this by overcoming our pride which affects our mind, behavior and emotions. It begins by the way we think and how we bring into ourselves the actions of others.

I suppose you could say that if we were alone, we wouldn’t be affected by other people and we, ourselves, wouldn’t be able to affect others by our actions. You could do this if you choose to be a hermit, but many of us don’t have that choice. And even if we did, how could we ever overcome our flesh and learn to love our brothers and sisters in the way God wants us to?

We need to on a daily basis, evaluate ourselves. Look at the things that happened during the day and see how we handled them. Did we handle things in a mature and spiritual way or did we lose? If we did lose, then we need to see why and correct it. We need to fight the good fight, like Paul says. When we are wrong we need to admit it, no more excuses.

Things are going to continue to attack and hurt our pride as long as we allow it. This is why we need to overcome the things that bother us, because they’re going to continue to attack us until we do. We can start by practicing self awareness. Before, it was easy, we weren’t working for righteousness, but now that we are, we are at war, not only with our flesh but the powers of darkness as well. If we continue to win the battles, the things that used to bother us seem like nothing more than a mosquito bite, instead of an all day affair in our mind.

We need to correct ourselves and change the way we think about the things that disrupt our emotions and our souls. We need to see things, all things as positive and if we do, they will turn out to be just that. Sometimes we will see it immediately, sometimes not at all. We have to be positive, this is a part of our faith in God. We need to see the darkness that is in us and work towards purifying ourselves on a daily basis. Get in control of your thoughts, behaviors and emotions.

Be considerate of others. Don’t constantly think about yourself, think about others. If we practice the good fruits (Galatians 5:22), and develop them and make them a part of our daily lives, we will find that there will be no bad fruits (Galatians 5:19 – 21) growing in our tree. So keep an eye on yourself and ask Jesus to show you the way to overcoming, because you want to do God’s will.

God Bless You

Self Will – Take An Inventory Of Ourselves Podcast

Our Self Will Controls Our Behavior [ 8:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Our Behavior Is Pretty Much Ruled By Our Pride or Self Will

Our emotions and our actions are of self will. We want our lives to be in perfect order as WE would like them. We do not care about what others want or need or even if we do, so long as it doesn’t interrupt our way of life, the life WE want. If we want something bad enough, we’ll do whatever it takes to get it. Some break the law of man, while others break the Law of God. This is self will and not God’s will.

There are seven deadly sins that are in tune with human behavior: Pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. Pride is the root of all sin and it keeps us separated from God. One must tone down his pride so he can put God and others first. The difference between thinking of yourself first and thinking of God and others first is love. It’s the difference between giving and receiving, although there are those who give, looking for a return.

When we think of ourselves first we want. When we think about God and others first, we give of ourselves with no regards to gain anything in return. Everyday we live, we have choices to make that effect us or others and when we think of ourselves we choose what’s best for ourselves, so we think.

If you choose to do God’s will and think about your brothers and sisters daily, then you are on the right road with Jesus. But for those whose ambitions are worldly and for worldly gains, then you are on the road to perdition and the only thing that will be waiting for you in the end is death and eternal damnation for your soul. God wants us to keep things simple and in order. God is not about calamity, our own will is.

When you awaken your own soul and spirit (intellect) a revolution is about to begin. Your carnal self, what used to dominate your soul and spirit is now being taken over by the principals of God’s will. Your flesh is suddenly losing control over its normal faculties. Its normal faculties pertain to worldly ambitions and bodily desires.

This life here is short compared to eternity. Nothing this world has to offer is lasting. Just when you think you have job security, you get laid off. Just when you think you have financial security a catastrophe happens. Just when you think you have good health, you fall ill. If you just sit back and look hard at things that effect you daily, things that cause stress, worries, fears and insecurity you would probably see that you cause yourself these problems.

Now, your probably saying something like it’s not my fault that such and such happened, and you could be right, but your letting it control you, which causes you to react to it in a harmful manner. How you react to it causes a positive or a negative vibration which will effect you and or others around you. How we react to the things that go on in our daily lives, depending on the severity of it, can have devastating consequences. Not only to others, but to ourselves as well. This is why it is so important to keep a low profile.

If you work, do your job 100%, if not a little more. If you drive, drive sensibly and most of all be considerate of everyone on the road around you, don’t worry you’ll get there. Try not to ripple the ponds of people around you. Don’t complain, things could be worse. Don’t talk about people, it’s gossip. Don’t talk excessively or about things that have no value. Mind your own business, don’t be so curious. Don’t boast. Don’t think your somebody special, your not. Do not try to justify your sinful actions. Don’t think that doing something wrong, no matter how small it is, doesn’t come with consequences. Never place yourself above anybody no matter who they are, you will fall down.

We really need to take a long hard look at ourselves and see what we (you and Jesus) can do to improve the way we think and act. There are those who can’t live their own life. They need to be dependent on others. They don’t want to make their own decisions, basically out of fear. They would rather have people tell them what they need to do. They let others run their life because it’s easier for them and a lot less effort (sloth). They’re constantly afraid of making decisions. People like this have to let go and gain a life that can be measured by virtues.

God wants us to lean on Him and His blessed Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t want us to be wimps and lean on man for security. He wants us to be independent from man and the world and at the same time depend on Him for the guidance we need to overcome our weakness’ so we can come home and live with Him where we belong.

God’s love is true and pure and uncreated, unlike man’s love which is created. We desperately need to overcome ourselves if we plan on living with God in His kingdom. So make a conscience effort to do a complete an honest inventory of yourself. And don’t forget to ask Jesus for His help.

Once you give up your self will, never take it back.

May God Bless You Dearly