THE ROOT OF SELF IS PRIDE

By: Diana Bortis 

  We all have special talents and gifts that God has blessed us with. For me, one of those gifts is creativity and I am so honored that the Master of art and design gave me a tiny, microscopic snippet of that. He blessed me with this gift and I soon found that my pride got in the way of using it for His glory. A few months ago I took the plank out of my own eye to realize I was using my precious gift for my own recognition, attention, approval, favoritism, and my own selfish pride. It's so sad to say but I was so wrapped up in my own awesomeness and self greatness that I felt God was further from me than ever in my life. Deuteronomy 8:14 says, "Your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God."  Praise the Lord this lesson God was teaching me only lasted a few weeks and not months, or years. But for some it does last that long, maybe even a lifetime. In a world full of self-seeking attention, acceptance, selfies, followers, and all about me, me, me its so easy to slip into the pool of pride and some don't even realize they are in it. Pride leads to so many insecurities, broken friendships, family issues, letting go of that one grudge, and so many other problems but at the end of the day are all those things worth losing over our own pride?  The best news is that breaking the chains of pride is much closer than most think. 1 Corinthians 13:4 says, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." Having the true love of God in your heart defeats pride. Pride gets pushed to the side and trampled when you seek Jesus and when you give God the recognition, attention, favoritism, honor. Gods' love and faithfulness will never leave your side. I pray to always have the true love of God in my heart and instead of seeking honor, preference, approval, attention, (the list goes on and on) from people. I want to seek them from God and give that attention to The One who deserves them ALL.     Lay pride down at the cross and see how God will work in your life!  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.  James 4:10  

God intends to get work done through YOU!... by Heather Clark

What's motivating and driving you everyday? Many of us don't know. We're living our day to day lives stuck on auto-pilot. We're letting other things control us. Why? I believe it's because most of us have lost hope, lost ourselves, and don't believe we have any power to do anything different. This is why most of us just coast. We don't stand out or blend in we're just there. If this is you let me ask you this... Do you think you were born to be unhappy, in constant sorrow, coasting, then just to die? No! No one was born with that destiny, however that will be the destiny of most. Most of us will let having too much fun and other circumstances stop us and get in the way of our true destiny.

Everyone is born with the ability to make an impact. We all contribute to society in some way. There are billions and billions of people on earth, but there's not another you. Isn't that crazy?! Only you can do what you were put here to do. So now the question is do you know what you were born to do? Our sole purpose is to help others with our gift. The gift that was given to us by God. Trust me when I say you have something that someone else needs and vice versa. Figure out what that is and go share it. This doesn't mean your life will be all rainbows and butterflies from here on out, but it does mean it will be worth it.

Sometimes in life you have to endure some pain for the overall good. Let me put this in perspective. Jesus! He knew what he had to do and what had to be done. He had to be crucified in order to save us all and he allowed it, because of his love for us. He endured the pain so that we may have everlasting life. This is exactly why you have to remind yourself that it's not about you, when we suffer and go through things we don't understand. No one knows better for you than God, and he intends to get work done through you.

For I know the plans I have for you, "declares the Lord," plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11