Robbed By Pride

I TOOK A RIDE

upon my pride 

it started out real fun

I went fast

and had a blast

and waved at everyone

but down the hill

I took a spill

went spinning

into space

I hit a bump

and took a lump

got mud upon my face

whoooops!

~Melody Carlson

 We can all probably relate to Melody Carlson's poem. We all deal with pride.What exactly is pride? Here's a definition:

Pride:

1.

a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired

Well, that sounds very narcissistic. You might not realize this, but pride robs you from the true riches of life. Are you going to just sit there and let that happen? That's like leaving your front door open with your money piled on the couch! You'd never do that!

So, what do you need to do to get rid of pride? First off, you need to be able to recognize it.

Here's four characteristics that will help you determine if pride has a hold on your life:

A Proud Person....

-Is easily offended & hold grudges

-depends upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not. 

-does not receive correction or counsel easily

- has a bad affect on all relationships(ex. husband-wife, brother-sister, teacher-student)

All of us have been able to say at one time or another that one of the above statements describes us perfectly. The Bible says A LOT about pride. Let's take a look.

"Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice."  Proverbs 13:10

So, this verse tell us that being prideful starts fights. Who wants to fight? Most of us don't enjoy it very much when people criticize us, even if it's done in love. We immediately get offended. It is important to learn to be open to people's opinions. Even if we don't agree with that person, we need to listen to all sides and point of views in every situation. That is the WISE action to take. If you're too prideful to take the advice of others, you have a hardened heart. You won't make it far in any area if you don't learn to work with others. A big part of working with others is taking in their advice, comments, and criticism.

His pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God.

2 Chronicles 26:16

It clearly says what will happen when you choose pride. It WILL lead to your downfall. Why would you willingly choose to entertain something that will only send you plummeting into a dark abyss? 

 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2 

When you notice someone around you who is prideful, what do you think of them? Of course, we shouldn't judge, but let's be honest, we usually have a strong distaste for that person's behavior. Our desire to be around them is pretty low. I wouldn't  want to display a characteristic that I dislike in other people. That's just common sense. Think about that. This is the second verse that we've looked at that talks about wisdom. When you deny pride the right to take reign of you, a spirit of humility is what surfaces. Humility, or being humble, means that you have a modest or low view of your importance. When we truly desire what God desires we will become selfless. Humility comes from being selfless. Humility opens the door for wisdom. When you choose pride you ARE being robbed from the blessings God has for you. Strive to be Humble. That is a trait that is highly admired.

 Your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God. 

Deuteronomy 8:14 

WOAH! That is a BIG cost for choosing pride. "You will forget the Lord..." That is a serious matter. This is the greatest way that pride takes away from your life. We need to guard our hearts. God doesn't want part of our heart. He wants it all! Every last piece. If you let pride slip into your heart, God will slowly be pushed from your heart, and then your mind. Your heart will start to harden because of your pride. You will become stubborn & ignorant to things of God. 

DON'T LET PRIDE ROB YOUR LIFE!

CHOOSE A LIFE OF HUMILITY!

We've looked at the signs of pride. We've analyzed the scriptures, so we know what the Bible says about pride. Take what you have read and apply it. If you don't apply it, then no change will occur. You have to make it happen, but not on your own. If you struggle with pride, ask God to give you grace, patience, humility, and the wisdom to eliminate pride from your life. 

YOU CAN DO IT!

Love,   Jessie

P.S. If you need extra help

 ask a friend, pastor, 

or family member to 

pray for you and help 

remind you to be humble.

When you have someone

holding you accountable

to the change your trying

to make, it gives you more

responsibility.

God's Peace

This weekend I went to a competition in Galveston for a club called FCCLA (Family, Career, & Community Leaders Of America). My friends, Darby, Vanessa, and I entered a community project we did at our school. This all started because we wanted to do something that would make an impact on our school, but we didn't want to start another "no bullying" campaign. The word "bullying" is so overused. It is a word that no longer has a meaning. But, the problem still exists, so we decided to tackle this issue from another angle.

     We decided to come up with an exciting way to get students to be kinder. We came up with the idea to make a video using our preschool class. We are in a block class at school that allows us to run a preschool. We used the kids to make this video:

We knew that if we wanted to get the attention of our peers that it couldn't be us in the video, which is why we took this approach. We showed the video to everyone in our school. We then sat at a table for a full week, at every single lunch. Students came and signed the poster/pledge and got a bracelet that said "One Word One Moment One Life". The challenge is to see how far you can go in a day without saying any mean words. On the first day we ran out of all 500 bracelets & had to order more. We had over 1000 people take the challenge. God was at work for sure.

After all this took place, it was time to get ready for our competition. We made a tri-fold board pictured below & we began to make a script for our presentation. It was hard work. This was one of the hardest & most rewarding thing I've ever done.

So we presented using this tri-fold board & our video. We had two judges. Ok, so you're probably wondering where is the part about God's Peace? Isn't that the title of this post? Yeah, ok, well here it is: About 20 minutes before we went in to the room to present, we sat down and decided to pray. We were really nervous and were afraid of forgetting our lines. So we prayed, and when we were done, we just sat there and looked at each other. Darby said, "Do you feel that?" We all nodded & just sat there in awe at the power of prayer. I have prayed for peace many times before, but never had I felt it so fully. All of my fears rushed from my body, and I was overwhelmed with a spirit of peace. It was amazing. I don't know how else to describe it, except to say that I felt this warmth on my body.

After we prayed, we joined the rest of our friends. These other two girls from our group were about to go in to the judges. Their call time was before us. They were both freaking out, like they were literally having a panic attack. So, I asked my friend Darby to go pray for them, because I was setting up our project. She did, and the same thing happened! As soon as Darby finished praying for them, they looked up at her and said, "Wow, I feel so much better!" How awesome is that? Whether you know it or not, God's peace is real. He will give it to you. All you have to do is ask. Now, you might not feel it as obviously as we did, but regardless it is there.

Remember, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind!

So, don't choose to settle for a constant feeling of fear and anxiety! Choose the peace of God! Nothing else will satisfy you!

In Christ,

Jessie Childs

P.S
We made 1st place in our competition & are heading to state!!! Praise God!!

P.P.S.
We made 2nd place at state and are headed to nationals!! God is so good!

BE "THE ONE"

So Valentine's Day is coming up and if you're anything like me, you're probably single.... even if you're not keep reading. This message is for you too. I'm a seventeen year old girl, who frequently has her head stuck up in the clouds, thinking about all the "Somedays". I love romance movies & am a big fan of Christian fiction. I am just in love with the idea of being in love. I want to find "the one". I've come to find that this is a dangerous mindset. Why? Because we become so focused on finding that special someone that we forget about ourselves.

I recently listened to a sermon by Andy Stanley. He talked about how he gathered a group of singles to talk with them about the things they were struggling with. One woman's story caught my attention the most. She said she used to go out and spend her nights dancing in clubs and hanging out with friends. Her mom would always try to get her to come back to church and live a Godly life, but she never heeded her mother's words. One day she was sitting in a restaurant with some friends, when this handsome guy joins them. He was a Christian, and was polite, compassionate, and a man of integrity. You could see this by the way that he carried himself. God was definitely living in this man's heart. The woman went home to her mom and said, "Wow, mom, I met this guy and he is just perfect! He is the kind of guy I've always been looking for! He's the one" Her mom just looked at her with a sorrow in her eyes and said, "But honey, you're not the kind of girl he's looking for." The woman collapsed to the ground and began to cry, for she knew her mom's words were nothing but the truth. She wasn't the woman of God that that man would want in a wife.

This is what I'm trying to tell you. We focus so much on looking for "the one" that we forget a very important detail.  Are we "the one" for that significant other? Whether you're single or dating someone, you need to be cultivating a godly spirit in your heart. You need to be constantly growing your relationship with the Lord to become the man or woman of God you are destined to be. One of my favorite quotes goes like this:

"A girl should be so lost in God, that a guy has to seek him to find her."

That works both ways, man or woman, you need to be lost in God. He is your first love. He knows the desires of your heart. Devote your life to him & he will bless you with someone who is better than anyone that you could've found apart from God's love. That is how powerful he is. Awesome right?

            So, I encourage you to dig deep into God's word, because that is what will satisfy.

BUT WAIT! I'M NOT DONE YET!

           As you read earlier, I absolutely love to read. This week I re-re-re-reread "The Christy Miller" series by Robin Jones Gunn. She's an amazing Christian author. In these books the main character is obviously Christy and the love interest is Todd. The books follow Christy through high school, college, and her adult years. Christy first meets Todd when the ocean spits her out on the beach at Todd's feet. Romantic right? Todd is a christian, and they become friends. When you're reading from Christy's point of view she is an extremely insecure, typical, teenage girl. Todd is good for her though. He is the type of guy who challenges Christy to be a better Christian and to follow God's will. But Todd's not as perfect as he seems. Over the years Christy always wants their undefined relationship to be more, but she knows that if anything happens the guy needs to be the initiator. Still, this doesn't calm her frustrations with noncommittal Todd.

          Her theme verse over the books is Solomon 8:4"...Do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases." Christy looks back over the last 5 years of their relationships and is glad that they took things as slow as they did. She realizes that if they had become more involved with each other emotionally and physically (they hardly ever kissed, and when they did it was always in public) that they would have been blinded from many of God's calls on their life. Todd had always wanted to be a missionary. He finally got a chance a year after him and Christy became "official". He was going to give up his call because he didn't want to leave Christy. She forced him to live up to all his big talk and she let him go. She let him go where God had called him to go. She let him go across the world, thousands of miles from Christy. This is an example of what can happen when you start to arouse love. Christy knew that if Todd had stayed they would've been way too emotionally involved with each other at such a young age, when they needed to be focusing on other plans that God had for them.

  The point of all this, is here, whether you're dating someone or you're single it doesn't matter, this message is important for everyone. For one, if you're younger than eighteen there is really no point in dating anyways, you can't get married right? Secondly, if you do date, dating doesn't mean that you have to KISS! You don't need to kiss on the first date, or week, or even year. I'll leave that to your discretion.... but the point is that you don't need to be physical in a dating relationship. That's not what it's about. Dating can simply just be talking, getting to know that person's likes & dislikes, your similarities and differences, and things like that. You might be thinking that sounds more like hanging out with a friend than a boyfriend or girlfriend. Well, who doesn't want to marry their bestfriend? What is better than that? Cultivate a strong heart connection, that's what lasts in a marriage. Most importantly, make sure that God is always at the center. Make choices that will honor Him. Don't arouse love before it's time. One of my favorite things my mom has always told me is that whenever you date someone that's like giving away a piece of your heart. Then when you get married you won't have your whole heart to give to your spouse. How sad is that? So, don't just date to date. Be wise. Save your heart. You're a gift. Whenever you get lonely thinking about "the one", pray to God and ask him to quite those desires in your heart until the time is right. Also, pray for "the one". I've heard so many testimonies where spouses find out that they prayed for their future spouse at a time when they really needed it. It's not silly, pray for them. I even write letters to him. How awesome of a gift would it be to give that to your future spouse when you get marrried, and to be able to tell them that you waited for them. That you saved you're heart for them. That even before you knew them, you prayed for them and were thinking about them. 

 

Save you're heart & remember

BE "THE ONE"!