Wednesday December 18th, 2024
« Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall »
Read Ezekiel 28:1-19 NKJV
1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,
2 “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because your heart is lifted up, and you say, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, in the midst of the seas,’ Yet you are a man, and not a god, though you set your heart as the heart of a god
3 (Behold, you are wiser than Daniel! There is no secret that can be hidden from you!
4 With your wisdom and your understanding you have gained riches for yourself, and gathered gold and silver into your treasuries;
5 By your great wisdom in trade you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches),”
6 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god,
7 Behold, therefore, I will bring strangers against you, the most terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and defile your splendor.
8 They shall throw you down into the Pit, and you shall die the death of the slain in the midst of the seas.
9 “Will you still say before him who slays you, ‘I am a god’? But you shall be a man, and not a god, in the hand of him who slays you.
10 You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of aliens; for I have spoken,” says the Lord God.’ ”
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.
14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.
16 “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.
17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;
I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.
18 “You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you.
19 All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more forever.”
Pride is one of the most dangerous destiny killers I know.
If there is any iota of pride in your life, or someone has been telling you that you are proud, you had better cry to God to take it away as you work on becoming humble.
James 4:6 says that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.
You cannot achieve your destiny without God’s grace, so if God resists you and refuses to give you His grace, that is the end.
I really thank God that He helped me with this early on in ministry. When I became General Overseer of the Church in 1981, the name plate on my table read ‘Reverend (Dr) Enoch Adeboye, Ph.D, M.Sc, B.Sc.’ I wanted everyone to know that this was not just an ordinary pastor, that I was a doctor too. What I should have added to it is empty barrel, because empty barrels make the loudest noise. God asked me if I wanted Him to lift me and I said, “Yes, of course, Lord”. The Lord then asked me to remove all those titles and just be addressed as ‘Pastor’. Thank God I obeyed, because no sooner had I done that than He started lifting me.
Pride is a destiny killer; don’t let it hinder you from getting God’s grace to fulfil God’s purpose for your life.
Oh, God made Lucifer very beautiful; amongst angels, he was special.
Just as Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colors, God gave Lucifer a covering of every precious stone you could think about.
God even made musical instruments inside him so, with his voice alone, he could play sweet music.
He was really special. However, Ezekiel 28:17GWT says
« You became too proud because of your beauty. You wasted your wisdom because of your greatness. So I threw you to the ground and left you in front of the kings so that they could see you.
»
Today, that Lucifer that was described as bright is now known as darkness.
If you become proud, you would lose everything God has in store for you.
Instead of being celebrated, you would become abhorred.
If you want to fulfil your destiny, you must wear humility like a garment (Colossians 3:12).
Application – Check your life for any element of pride. Be honest with yourself and deal with that pride today.
Author – Bishop Enoch Adejare Adeboye; General Overseer of the RCCG
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