May 24 – Pride, Power, and Purpose

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Welcome to Bible Chat, where we
have devotional conversations

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rooted in Scripture and relevant
for today.

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May 24th Pride, Power and
purpose Let’s be honest, pride

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is sneaky.
It doesn’t always show up as

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loud arrogance or showing off.
Sometimes it looks like needing

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to be right in an argument.
Sometimes it looks like

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dismissing someone else’s idea
before you’ve really heard it.

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Sometimes it looks like that
quiet resentment when someone

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else gets the recognition you
wanted.

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Pride has a way of disguising
itself, and that makes it one of

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the most dangerous things to let
take root in your heart.

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Proverbs chapter 16, verse 18
doesn’t leave any room for

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ambiguity.
Pride goes before destruction

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and a haughty spirit before a
fall.

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That’s not a threat.
It’s a warning rooted in the

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reality of how life actually
works.

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When pride is driving your
decisions, you stop listening

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well, you stop seeing your own
blind spots.

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You start making choices based
on ego rather than wisdom, and

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eventually that catches up with
you.

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The higher the pride, the harder
the fall.

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We’ve all seen it in others.
And if we’re honest in

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ourselves, Psalm 58 verse 6 is a
raw, unfiltered prayer.

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The kind where someone is
genuinely disturbed by injustice

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and brings that anger straight
to God.

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And there’s something important
in that.

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When you’re provoked, when
someone wrongs you, when anger

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flares up, what do you do with
it?

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The psalmist takes it to God.
He doesn’t bottle it up and let

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it curdle into bitterness.
He doesn’t explode outward and

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damage relationships.
He pours it out to God, who is

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the only one truly capable of
handling justice rightly.

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That’s a model worth following.
You can be honest with God about

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your anger.
You don’t have to pretend it

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isn’t there, but give it to him
before it gives you over to

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something destructive.
And then Galatians chapter 5

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verse 13 reframes what freedom
actually looks like.

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For you were called to freedom,
brothers only Do not use your

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freedom as an opportunity for
the flesh, but through love

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serve one another.
Here’s the thing about freedom.

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It can be used two ways.
You can use it to do whatever

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you want whenever you want for
yourself, or you can use it to

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lift other people.
And the counterintuitive truth

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of the gospel is that the second
option is actually the more

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powerful and fulfilling. 1 Using
your freedom to serve doesn’t

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diminish you, it enlarges you.
It builds something in your

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character that no amount of self
gratification ever could.

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Think about what this looks like
in your daily life.

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Pride says I need to win this.
Humility says I need to

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understand this.
Pride says my comfort first.

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Love says, what does this person
need right now?

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It’s not weakness to choose the
second option.

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In fact, Proverbs chapter 16
verse 32, which you’ll encounter

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more this week, says that the
person who rules their own

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spirit is mightier than someone
who conquers a city.

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Self mastery, choosing humility
over ego is one of the most

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powerful things a person can do.
You have something to offer the

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people around you, your words,
your attention, your

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encouragement, your willingness
to show up.

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But pride shrinks all of that.
It turns your energy inward and

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leaves others without what they
need from you.

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Humility, on the other hand,
frees you to be genuinely

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useful, to make a real
difference, to reflect the

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character of Jesus, who, with
all power and authority, chose

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to serve.
That’s the kind of power worth

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having.
Let’s pray.

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Heavenly Father, thank you for
the freedom I have in Christ and

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for the reminder that true
freedom is lived outward, not

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inward.
Help me to recognize pride when

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it shows up in my heart, even in
its subtle forms.

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Teach me to handle anger by
bringing it to You, not letting

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it drive me into something I’ll
regret.

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And help me to use the freedom
you’ve given me to serve the

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people around me with kindness,
patience, and genuine love.

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Make me humble.
God in Jesus name, Amen.

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What if the battles hitting your
family are not random and your

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home can become a place where
darkness loses every right to

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stay?
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in Jesus Christ.
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reclaim spaces marked by fear,
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defilement.
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hidden access points and severs
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Book 4, Broken Assignments,
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and attacks against your family.
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dedicates every space and rhythm
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Now I invite you to spend time
with God in today’s three-year

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Bible reading plan.
Proverbs chapter 16 Verse 18

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World English Bible Pride goes
before destruction and an

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arrogant spirit before a fall.
Psalm Chapter 58 World English

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Bible Do you indeed speak
righteousness?

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Silent ones, do you judge
blamelessly, you sons of men?

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No.
In your heart you plot

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injustice.
You measure out the violence of

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your hands in the earth.
The wicked go astray from the

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womb.
They are wayward as soon as they

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are born, speaking lies.
Their poison is like the poison

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of a snake, like a deaf cobra
that stops its ear, which

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doesn’t listen to the voice of
charmers, no matter how skillful

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the charmer may be.
Break their teeth, God in their

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mouth, Break out the great teeth
of the Young Lions, Yahweh.

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Let them vanish like water that
flows away when they draw the

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bow.
Let their arrows be made blunt.

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Let them be like a snail which
melts and passes away.

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Like the stillborn child who has
not seen the sun before.

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Your pots can feel the heat of
the thorns.

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He will sweep away the green and
the burning alike.

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The righteous shall rejoice when
he sees the vengeance.

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He shall wash his feet in the
blood of the wicked, so that men

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shall say, Most certainly there
is a reward for the righteous.

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Most certainly there is a God
who judges the earth.

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Galatians, chapter 5.
World English Bible Stand firm,

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therefore, in the liberty by
which Christ has made us free,

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and don’t be entangled again
with a yoke of bondage.

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Behold, I, Paul, tell you that
if you receive circumcision,

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Christ will profit you nothing.
Yes, I testify again to every

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man who receives circumcision
that he is a debtor to do the

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whole law.
You are alienated from Christ,

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you who desire to be justified
by the law, you have fallen away

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from grace.
For we through the Spirit, by

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faith, wait for the hope of
righteousness.

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For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision amounts to anything

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nor uncircumcision, but faith
working through love.

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You are running well.
Who interfered with you that you

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should not obey the truth?
This persuasion is not from him

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who calls you.
A little yeast grows through the

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whole lump.
I have confidence toward you in

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the Lord, that you will think no
other way, but he who troubles

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you will bear his judgment,
whoever he is.

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But I, brothers, if I still
preach circumcision, why am I

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still persecuted?
Then the stumbling block of the

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cross has been removed.
I wish that those who disturb

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you would cut themselves off for
you Brothers were called for

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freedom.
Only don’t use your freedom for

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gain to the flesh, but through
love be servants to one another,

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for the whole law is fulfilled
in one word.

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In this you shall love your
neighbor as yourself.

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But if you bite and devour one
another, be careful that you

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don’t consume one another.
But I say, walk by the Spirit,

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and you won’t fulfill the lust
of the flesh, for the flesh

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lusts against the Spirit and the
spirit against the flesh.

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And these are contrary to one
another, that you may not do the

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things that you desire, but if
you are led by the Spirit, you

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are not under the law.
Now the deeds of the flesh are

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obvious, which are adultery,
sexual immorality, uncleanness,

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lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery,
hatred, strife, jealousies,

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outbursts of anger, rivalries,
divisions, heresies, envy,

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murders, drunkenness, orgies and
things like these of which I

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forewarn you, even as I also
forewarned you, that those who

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practice such things will not
inherit God’s Kingdom.

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But the fruit of the Spirit is
Lovejoy, peace, patience,

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kindness, goodness, faith,
gentleness and self-control.

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Against such things there is no
law.

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Those who belong to Christ have
crucified the flesh with its

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passions and lusts.
If we live by the Spirit, let’s

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also walk by the Spirit.
Let’s not become conceited,

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provoking one another and
envying one another.

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Thanks for joining us on Bible
Chat, where Scripture meets

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everyday life.
If today’s devotional encouraged

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you, share it with a friend and
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Until next time, stay rooted in
truth, anchored in hope and

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walking.
Daily with Jesus.