Kill the Pride

Luke 19:
37 And when He had come nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,
38 saying, "Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
39And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto Him, "Master, rebuke thy disciples."
40And He answered and said unto them, "I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out."
41And when He had come near, He beheld the city and wept over it,
42saying, "If thou had known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which must be for thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.

--->Our prayer: Lord, kill the pride which resides in me until it exists no more. The pride in me is like a raging beast which only hungers for things of this world and nothing more. Pride infects and then spreads leaving nothing but a disgusting corpse behind. Dear God, you are Almighty and Sovereign able to do all things so we come humbly before you. PLEASE, remove this sin from my flesh. This sin called pride. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Whoa?!! So how does pride relate to a rock giving praise (Luke19:37-42)? I mean I know God’s Word endures forever (1 Peter 1:25) but don’t you think you are making a little bit of a stretch connecting such a joyous and festive, triumphant entry of our Great Lord Jesus Christ with such an abominable sin as Pride. Hmmmm….you know I thought so too while I was sleeping but the Holy Spirit chastened me, woke me up and told me to write so that’s what I’m doing.

Since we’re visual let’s try to picture this:
I have this picture of a humble yet powerful God who becomes flesh (Philippians 2: 1-11) and is now called Man. This Man is not some top model, rico-suave-brother no He is actually very plain (Isaiah 53:2). He cries, weeps, aches, hungers and has all the attributes of a human. He is flesh, with all its weaknesses, tempted by the same problems and woes we all face BUT NEVER sins. As He enters on a donkey, true worshippers and believers notice Him for who He really is by His works (John 5:36-40;) and His compassion for those downtrodden, brokenhearted and destitute. They start praising and lifting their voices high, Hallelujah!!!! But the Pharisees (nonbelievers, wicked at heart and basically representing the voice of the world today), become irate and want this “blasphemy” or these “lies” being spoken by the crowd to stop. They petition Jesus, “Hey Master, tell them to stop.” But Jesus is sooooo fly!!! (sorry Everett, had to steal that probably will use it many more times)

Christ was like, nope, if these people kept quiet... these rocks and stones would start speaking and praising my name BECAUSE even inanimate objects understand the gravity, deepness and the extent of such a mind-boggling event which is taking place on your planet at this very instant. GOD IS WALKING ON THE PLANET AMONGST MEN! How fly is that!! Too Heavenly and Glorious. Meditate on that. Selah (pause).

Ok, have you recovered from that breathtaking picture? Breathe, I know. I wish I was there for real. Panorama, Sony, DVD blu-ray none of them are worth that picture. So this is where pride comes in, do you own a pet rock? I didn’t think so. Go outside right now and get one. Then, stare at it and try talking to it……..I’m probably guessing that you are making a whole lot more sense/noise than the rock is. Well, how could such a life-less object have given more praise than most of us on earth here do NOW (knowing the wondrous blessing and work of the Lord which has passed and still continues)? PRIDE.

“Talk about Christ here? Dude you better chill with that, these are my classmates… that’s my rep on the line. We’ll talk about it Sunday in church.” Now, scroll up and read the rest of the passage Luke 19:41. That’s what the Messiah JUST did, He wept and probably bitterly. Kill the Pride. I ask myself this all the time and I usually am very saddened by how many excuses I try to make: Why don’t you just start talking about Christ with these folks? Or Ask them if they have a relationship with Christ? Or maybe, Tell them you can’t go there because your faith in Jesus wouldn’t be represented correctly. So many questions and so many excuses.

Excuses--
#1 out of infinity: It’s not the right time.
#2 out of infinity: God will bring someone their way.
#3 out of infinity: I did my duties last week Sunday
#4 out of infinity: God knows my heart (He does and He’s appalled!)
#5 out of infinity: I use this all the time and I have to be careful and I hope some of you aren’t offended by this one: The Holy Spirit hasn’t told me to speak to that person yet. REALLY?!!! Use heavenly wisdom of course (that’s all of proverbs) BUT the Spirit of God told you not to talk about God to the friends He led you to be around? So you are only allowed to be in their circle and listen to them speak evil and nonsense but can’t send a shout out to Christ? Are you serious, Kwame??!!

Lord, I am weak and need more of your GRACE, forgive me. Pride, it says you are too cool or too respected to speak Jesus Christ’s name in the open. Pride, it tells you not to pray in public to our Alpha and Omega. Pride, it says don’t bring your bible out in the open. Pride, it tells you don’t go out and make disciples “that’s what missionaries are for”. Pride is against everything the Holy One stood for, KILL IT.

I close with this prayer: Lord, yes I need more of your Grace however there’s something I desire as well. Give me that supernatural strength that your Holy Spirit alone can give to conquer this pride which Satan has let into the world and allow me, by your strength and your strength alone to boldly, unashamedly proclaim your name. I praise you Lord Jesus, Son of the Most High God and Worship You. For you are everlasting and our time is so short on this planet that I would be a fool to let pride get the best of me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.