Pride closes the door to His Presence in your life.

Ever wonder how the and why the mighty fall?

There are so many and none more tragic than those who do so from within church.

Referring to priests, kings and the people of the northern kingdom:-

“Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord. Israel’s arrogance testifies against them; the Israelites, even Ephraim, stumble in their sin; Judah also stumbles with them.” (Hosea 5 v 4-5)

Discipleship is needed for the Church. To become more like Christ is to keep one another accountable to following Him more closely. If that is not happening every single day then on that day that it isn’t then we begin to drift away from His presence. Some drift for long periods of time until our hearts become hardened. It goes a bit like this:-

• Following Jesus, involved in Church, witnessing to others.
• Following Jesus, involved in Church, unconfessed sins.
• Following Jesus, attending Church, unconfessed sins.
• Following Jesus, unconfessed sins.
• Believing in Jesus, unconfessed sins.
• No desire for Jesus, unconfessed sins.

You have seen it and so have I. And all of us have at some point been somewhere in the process and are thankful for His grace and mercy that we didn’t get to the bottom of the list. But what takes us down the list? PRIDE.

The arrogance of the priests to continue to drift from their calling to God is the same today.

And look what happens next?

“When they go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, they will not find him; he has withdrawn himself from them. They are unfaithful to the Lord; they give birth to illegitimate children. When they celebrate their New Moon feasts, he will devour their fields.” (Hosea 5 v 6-7)

They wanted to have it both ways. Going to God and going to Baal worship (with all of its fertility goddess worship using sexual rites). Pride kept them in that position. Pride deceived them. The worst deception of all is self-deception. They went back to worship the true God but one day He wasn’t there, He had gone. Pride had closed the door.