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What's up, guys? Welcome back to another episode of Stay True podcast. I'm your host, Madison Pruitt Trout. So excited about today's episode and so excited to be back with you guys. We are still in this good old apartment in Nashville, Tennessee. But I will say, I just was having coffee earlier today at a coffee shop nearby, and I had a sweet girl come up and start crying, saying how much this podcast has changed her life. And she was sharing how she was going through a breakup. And just some of the things that have been shared on the podcast has been really like getting her through her breakup in this season of life. And I just want to say, when you guys come up and say those things and share how the podcast has encouraged you and what God is doing in your life and through your life because of this podcast, it seriously makes me so happy. I could cry, and I really might start crying because pregnancy hormones. But I just am so thankful for you guys. And I love y'all. I love the True crew. I love every single one of you, and I'm so proud of every single one of you for taking time out of your day to listen to truth. Taking time out of your day to get closer to Jesus. Taking time out of your day to. I mean, you could be listening. There's so many secular podcasts out there. There's so many other things you could be doing with your time. And for those of you who have been following along with Stay True, who have been, you know, a part of True Crew and applying the things that we've talked about together, because this isn't just like, me telling you guys what to go do. Like, I'm practicing these things. I am living out these things and. And living on the truth. And I am living in the word of God and abiding in the word of God. And we're all in this together. We're growing together, we're learning together, we're, you know, getting better together, and it's just the best. I'm just so proud of you guys. I really am. And, yeah, for those of you who have gone deeper, I get so many dms. Those of you who have been more consistent in reading the Word of God, those of you who have been more consistent in your prayer life, those of you who have gotten out of relationships, you know, that you should. I just get so, so many DMs from you guys about what God is speaking to you through this podcast, and I'm just very encouraged by it. I'm inspired by y'all. I'm Proud of y'all. And I just had to start off by saying that you guys. And also, big announcement for those who are listening, whenever this podcast is coming out, I know this. I'm recording this podcast a couple weeks out from when it's actually going to be released. But I have an announcement for you guys. So we are doing the first ever Stay True event. How insane is this? How insane is this? We are doing the first ever Stay True event. Okay. This is going to be so much fun. For those of you who are living in Nashville, Tennessee, for those of you who are living in Franklin, Tennessee, for those of you who are in the Tennessee surrounding areas, if you're in Knoxville, if you're in. I'm going to. I don't know any other. I'm going to be honest, I don't know any other spots in Tennessee. But if you are close to Nashville and. Or even if you're in, like Atlanta or Birmingham, I mean, I know that all of these places are not too far. We are doing a Stay True event and you're invited. I want you guys to come and hang out. This is going to be a really, really chill first day true event. We're kind of just going for it. I mean, it's a month away. It's going to be on December 1st. We're going to post all the details to Instagram, so be sure you guys are following Stay True podcast on Instagram because all the details will be listed there. And I can also list some in the show notes as well on this podcast. But come hang out. It's December 1st. There are limited spots, so I will say it's first come, first serve. We are doing a smaller amount there. You do have to reserve a spot. You do have to get a ticket, but it's completely free, so there's not a charge. Come hang out. It's going to be in Franklin, Tennessee, at this place right outside of. Or it's this. At this place called the Factory. You wouldn't know what I'm talking about unless you are from this area. But again, all of these details will be posted on Instagram. And I am so excited. I am so, so pumped because I have really, really big dreams about what I see for this podcast and what I see for you guys and what I see for this community and us just continuing to serve together and meet together and fellowship together and get better together. I don't want this to just be. I film an episode and there's a camera on me and lights on me and then I upload a podcast and then that's it. I mean, that's fine too. But I want this to be so much more. I want to build a relationship with you guys. I want to build community here and mentorship here and accountability here. I want you guys to meet each other. I want you guys to learn how to get out there and serve together and, you know, confess and pray and all the things that just happens when you get together and you have fellowship and you just cultivate a space where you can pray and worship and serve and get in God's word. And it just is my favorite thing ever. And so I have really big dreams for this podcast. Now, I will say we're at an interesting time because you know, you're looking at a mama who is about to have a baby in like three months. And so I'm about to hit maternity leave here soon and still praying through what that means for this podcast. I've been super honest with you guys up until this point of I think what I'm planning on doing is like batching out some content and so that you guys are still getting some episodes. We still can dive in on topics. They will be recorded obviously ahead of time, but Baby girl is coming at the end of January, which I actually don't even think I've announced that date yet, so you guys are the first to know. But baby Girl is supposedly coming at the end of January. Some say she could come early, some say she could come late. We really don't know. It's in God's hand. God knows. But right now the projected date is at the end of January. So with that being said, my goal is to record content so that you guys are still just getting truth and being encouraged and we're still able to hang out and fellowship together. But it will be pre recorded for, well, I guess all of February, because I will still be around in January, but for all of February's content that will be pre recorded. And then I will probably take a little mini break for a couple of weeks. A few weeks to where we won't have content for a few weeks, but of course you can go back, listen to, you know, previous episodes. So I'm just getting you guys into my upcoming maternity leave and pregnancy plans. Not that you asked for it, not that you even probably care, but just trying to bring you guys into it all. But I'm getting back, I'm getting off track, going back to what I was talking about. So stay true event. I'm very, very excited. We have really big plans. I'm very excited for all the things that I am thinking through and the ideas that I have for summer and for fall. And I love when you guys send ideas. I love when you guys send. Some of you have been sending because I said on a couple podcasts ago, like, send me what you want my next day True studio to look like. And I actually said on that episode, I was like, if I end up going with your idea or I get close to it, I will fly you and a friend out and you guys can come and hang for the day, see some behind the scenes of the Stay True vibes and an episode live recording. Well, it won't be a live recording, but you guys would be there for a live recording for whoever wins. So if you are really creative, if you're in interior design, if you are just really good with aesthetics, some of you guys are just like really gifted with making things look good. And so for those of you who are passionate about that or at least just even want to go for it and try it out, I personally am not gifted in it. So I am opening this up to the true crew. And I also want to know what looks good to you, what you guys like seeing, what you guys like, what just makes you happy, what makes you feel like you're right here with me and we're having a cup of coffee and we're hanging out on the couch. So send it, let me know. You can DM it, you can email it. On the Stay True Podcast Instagram, there is like a little email button and you can hit email. So you can email or you can dm. And some of you guys have already started sending graphics. Some of you guys are really, you know what you're doing and you send like a full on. I don't even know what it's called. It's like a whole little virtual tour of like a podcast studio. And I'm like, this is so legit. And so I have been loving these. Please keep sending them. So helpful. And we will be choosing a winner probably sometime in January, but likely the studio wouldn't be finished until sometime maybe in March. So just letting you guys in on that. But we will have our first stay true event December 1st here in around the Nashville area. And it's going to be so fun. We're going to come, we're going to hang out. It's just a couple of hours and we're going to share. There's going to be a word, I'll give you guys a word of encouragement. We, you guys will get to Meet each other and we are going to fellowship and have community. There will also be merch. So I'm going to have my Stay True merch. So many of you guys have been loving the Stay True merch, and it's seriously the best merch. I'm not going to lie. I'm not even being biased. It's the best merch I've ever seen. I love our color palette. I'm obsessed. I love. We collaborated with, it's called Proclamation Coalition. They're the best and they just make really good merch. And so we collaborated with them and I'm super thankful for their team because they. We. I mean, we designed it together, but what they came up with is just beautiful and amazing. And there will be Stay True merch. So there will be that. There will be some of my books there. There'll be some snacks and treats. And so come and hang. December 1st, it's like 1:00 to 3:00pm Again, all of these details will be posted to Instagram, but I wanted you guys to hear about it first. So that's the fun updates of life. And I'm so excited. If you're listening to this after December 1st, then don't worry, there will be many more things down the road. Like I said, lots of ideas that God's been putting on my heart. And just my brain's constantly just going with this podcast. I'm telling you guys, it'll be midnight and Grant is snoring and asleep and I'm thinking about you guys. Like, I'm like praying for you guys. I'm thinking about this podcast. Like all these ideas are coming to my mind. Guests are coming to my mind, and it's so fun. I just love getting to do this and I love you guys. And so yes. Send topic ideas. Send ideas for, you know what you want to see next with this podcast. Send what you want the Stay True Studio to look like. All the things because you guys are just a part of. This is your podcast too. This is. We're in this together. But I'm excited about today's topic because this is something that's been on my heart for a really long time. And. And honestly, I kept putting it off because I just didn't want to talk about it, I think because it's something that I personally struggle with and it's something that God is currently teaching me right now. And because of that, sometimes that can be harder to talk about or sometimes that can be, I guess, more intimidating to talk about. But as I was praying about this episode. I was originally planning on having this episode with a guest, but we had to move things around. And so I felt like God just laid on my heart for me to speak specifically on pride and humility, how to fight pride in your life as a Christian and how to pursue humility as a Christian and what it looks like to seek humility and to be a person, a truly humble person. Now, there's a lot of false humility and fake humility. Sometimes what. We have this idea of what humility looks like, and it's really not even true humility. But Jesus paints a beautiful picture all throughout Scripture of what humility is, and he modeled it for us. So not. Not only did he tell us the importance of humility, and not only did he tell us how to pursue it, but he also modeled it for us and showed us what it looks like to be a humble person and to serve and to love the way that he calls us to love and just to kind of like set the scene. Pride and humility, obviously, being, you know, opponents and the antithesis of each other. Pride is literally what got Satan kicked out of heaven. So if you don't really know the whole, like, creation story and, like, you know, God creating the heavens and the earth, and, you know, this. This dude named Lucifer who was in heaven, he was this angel of music. Like, he was. We'll call him the worship leader. Okay. He was. Said that he was beautiful. He could make music like no one else is busy. Like, it was just. He was really good at making music, and he was awesome. And then he decided, hey, I don't want to make music to God. I don't want to worship God. I want to be worshiped. I want other people to worship me. I don't want to be under God's authority. I don't want to be submitted to God. I want other people to submit to me. I want to be in a. I want to be in power. I want to be in authority. I want people to worship me. And so because of that, he got kicked out of heaven along with one third of other angels. And so he is now not in hell. Like, a lot of people think that the devil is in hell. He's actually on earth, and he is known to be the ruler of this world. He is said to be the prince of the air. And it said in scripture that he is in job. It talks about how the. The enemy is roaming around the earth. And it says in First Peter that he is looking for someone to devour. He's roaring around like a roaring lion. Wait, no. He's roaming around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour, which tells us that the enemy is. And that's. This is not something to freak you guys out, but this is something to be aware of, to be informed of, that the enemy and his demons and his. All the angelic forces that was thrown down, that are now evil and following Satan are after you. They're after me. They're after us. And the thing that got Satan kicked out of heaven was pride. And the thing that Satan has been doing since he got kicked out of heaven to deceive, to lie, to scheme, and to take with him all of God's creation, you and me, humanity. The way he deceives and the way he appeals and tempts us is he tempts us and appeals to us, to our pride. Like, he tries to get us to fall for pride and to pursue and seek power just like he did. If you think about it in the Garden of Eden, and you look back at Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, it says that Satan came after Eve and he appealed to her with the tree of knowledge of good and evil in a way that said, hey, if you eat this fruit, you will be like God. If you eat this fruit, you will be like God. Which is saying, if you eat this fruit, you will have the same power as God. You will have the same knowledge as God. You will be in authority and in control like God, which is the same way that the enemy comes after you and me today. It's the same message that we see all throughout our culture. In our world today is so many people think, I am my own God. I don't need God. Like, I can get whatever I want. I can manifest it. I can make it happen. If I name it and claim it, if I feel it strong enough, if I think it long enough, if I. If I just can, like, tap in and tune in and really go there, then I can get it for myself. Because I don't need God. I don't have to wait on a slow God, you know, in the sky that I can't see. Like, I'm going to get it for myself. I'm going to work for it for myself. I'm going to. And this is the mindset that we have in our world today. So many of us have in our world today, and that we see all over TikTok, all over Instagram, all over social media, and kind of like this trend of manifestation, this trend of taking control and taking power and even, like, this self obsession of, like, affirming yourself and, you know, claiming things for yourself and all of these things. It's so funny to me. I laugh not because it's not a big deal and not because it's not something that I have to fight against and that I struggle with. But I laugh because the enemy, he's just. He's so consistent. Like, he's not creative. You know, he. The same way that he fell, he made Eve fall. And then the same way that he made evil, he came after Jesus in. In the garden and he tempted him in the same way. And he said, you know, turn these stones to bread or throw yourself off of this mountain, and if you really are who you say you are, like, you'll be able to catch yourself. Like, if you just worship me, I'll give you all that you see, every. Every kingdom on earth that you see. I'll give that to you. He's saying this to Jesus as if Jesus didn't already have all the kingdoms, you know, But Satan is tempting Jesus flesh because Jesus was fully human and Satan is tempting. And in the Gospels, you can find this story and read about this of Satan tempting Jesus. He's tempting him in the same way that he tempted Eve, and he's tempting him in the same way that he tempts you and me today by appealing to our flesh, by appealing to our lust for power and lust for control. And we all have this in us, even if it's not like, oh, I want to rule over the kingdoms and I want to have my own throne and I want to, you know, be the most powerful person in the world. That might not be how the enemy comes after you, but it might be in a way to get you to doubt God, to doubt God's goodness, to doubt God's timing, to try and take matters into your own hands, to try and control situations, to try and, you know, take your life in your own hands by, you know, creating your own timeline for finding your spouse or, you know, creating your own platform. Okay, I don't want to wait on what God has for me. I'm just going to go start my own podcast. I'm just going to go knock down the door and make it happen for myself. I'm just going to go make all the connections that I need to make and, you know, do all the things I need to do to just get it for myself, and then I'll give God glory, and then I'll do the this for God. And a lot of times we allow the Enemy to deceive us by falling for this idea that we can just take over and be like God, that we can play God. And I will be the first to say that this is something I struggle with. Okay? I struggle with trust. I struggle with surrender. I struggle with humility. And I think we all do if we're really honest. But this is why it's been so hard for me to talk about. Because this is something that the Lord is continuing to teach me. I am a go getter, I'm an activator, I'm a do it now kind of person. And I am someone who likes to make things happen. I like to see the fruit of it. I, I want to be liked. I want to be wanted. I want to belong. I want people to like me. So these are things that I struggle with for myself. And I have just seen time and time again what pride produces. And when I pursue the things of my flesh, when I fall for the lies of the enemy, when I allow pride to be the ruler of my life, and when I let you know, my thirst for power or my thirst for control, or my thirst for belonging, or my thirst for security, or my thirst for comfort, you know, and I. And I'm viewing everything through the lens of what I can get out of it and how it's going to benefit me and what it means for me every single time. It leads down a road of discontentment, it leads down a road of destruction, it leads down a road of depression, it leads down a road of just a lack of purpose and a lack of joy. I find myself, you know, even when I get the thing that I've worked so hard to control and to get and to manage myself, now I have to have the strength to keep up with it. Now I have to have the ability to hold on to it and not let it blow up, you know. And I think that's what happens when we try to go after these things for ourselves or we let pride lead our lives, life, whether it be in relationships, whether it be in our job slash purpose, slash calling, or, you know, whether it just be in the day to day things of life. I've seen how in my own personal life, how destructive pride is. I've seen it really hurt relationships. I've seen it really hurt my marriage. I've seen it really hurt my intimacy with Jesus. I've seen it really hurt my calling and my true purpose. And that's because Jesus hates pride. God hates pride. It literally says in scripture that God opposes the proud, that, that, that a pride A prideful and haughty spirit is. Is detestable in the Lord's sight that. That God literally is in opposition with those who have prideful hearts. And that's what got Satan kicked out of heaven. And who are we to think that we're going to have a better outcome when we pursue pride, when we allow pride to take over our life, or when we fall for the temptation of pride, or we don't repent? And it. Who are we to think that we're not going to receive the same punishment that Satan and the angelic forces did? And this is something that God has been having to strip me of for a long time and has been trying to pry off of me and out of my heart for a really long time. I'll never forget this moment that I had in college. And this is just a silly, like, small little thing, but I just. I'll never forget it. I was interning for this pastor at this big, mega church. And, you know, we had. There was a whole team of us. We were all, like, interns for the college ministry. And we were very, very involved. And the college ministry was really big. I mean, it was, you know, a couple thousand people coming every single week, which was crazy, crazy numbers for that time. And we all got to be on the forefront of that. We all got to, you know, be a part of creating this every single week. And, you know, something that, again, I've struggled with is pride. And I remember one night at this big event gathering that we were having, the pastor got on. On the stage and he was thanking our whole team, and he went through and he named each person and he said them by name, you know, affirmed them and what they did for the team. And he went through every. There's only probably six or seven of us. And he went through every single person except me. He completely forgot me, did not say my name, did not affirm me, and didn't apologize after. I don't know if he ever even realized it or, you know, noticed that he didn't say my name. And I was so hurt, you guys, that I ran out of the church. Literally. I didn't even. I didn't make it through the service. I ran out of the church service. I cried in the parking lot by myself. And it was something that, like, tormented me for weeks, maybe months, you know, and something that was really, really hard for me. I felt, you know, unseen. I felt unappreciated. I felt whatever. And though those feelings are valid and though, you know, no one wants to feel forgotten, no One wants their, you know, their name to be left out or to not be affirmed in what they're called to do. What it revealed to me was that I care so much more about what people think about me than what God thinks about me. And I care so much more about getting praise from people than getting praise from God. Like, I care so much more in this moment that he didn't say my name and he didn't affirm me in front of all of these people than knowing, wow, the way that I've been serving the Lord in secret, whether people saw it or didn't see it, affirmed it or didn't affirm it, made God proud. Like, that wasn't enough for me. I wanted the attention. I wanted the affirmation. I wanted the praise. I wanted people to hear my name and tell me, good job, and come up to me after the service and, you know, give me a pat on the back. And that was the beginning to the Lord starting to really strip me of pride and humble me because it was a long journey ahead. Like, that was just one thing that led to another. There were a lot of things after that, you know, with that church, even relationally. I went through a breakup, had dated a guy for four years, went through a breakup after that, and he started immediately dating one of my best friends, and then they got married. And that was very, very humbling. I mean, there were just multiple things that I had had, you know, my pride in my status. I had had my pride in my works and my efforts. I had had my pride in my relationship. I had had my pride in these things. And it was like when the Lord began to strip them away. And when he began to humble me and teach me, hey, you. You don't serve me for what you can get from other people. And you don't serve me just so that other people affirm you and see you and reward you. You serve me because you're called to serve me. You serve me because you love me. You serve me because you want to obey me. You serve me because, you know, and it's like he began to rewire my brain and rewire my thinking. And it was a long journey, and it still is. Marriage has humbled me, you guys. Marriage has humbled me so much. Okay? Like, I thought I was real humble until I got married. And then I realized, dang it, I still got a lot of pride in me. And I think I'll be realizing that my whole life. I'm sure when my baby comes, I will be realizing just how prideful I am and how selfish I can be with my time and, you know, with everything, with my money, with my day, even with my time with my husband. You know, I am very excited for when baby girl gets here. But everyone tells me, like, oh, you thought, you know, marriage was an adjustment. Oh, you thought you were prideful. You know, when you got married, wait till you have kids. Like, everyone says that, you know, wait, wait, wait till you have kids. I feel like it's always like something else. Everyone's like, wait till you get married. Wait till you have kids. I'm like, what's next, guys? Okay, I'm waiting. But no. I have seen how throughout my life, the Lord has continued to humble me and humble me again and again, and it's going to be a continual journey. Like, we are fallen human beings, we are sinful human beings, and we are living in a sinful world where there is constant temptation, where there are constant lurings and just things around us that it's impossible for us to be perfect. Only Jesus is perfect. And so will we have moments where we fall into the temptation of being prideful? Yes. Will we have moments where we take control and take our life into our own hands? Yes. Will we have moments where we're extremely selfish and we make this life about us? Yes, we will have those moments. It's impossible not to. But what I want us to continue to grow in and what I want to challenge us with, with the next 20, 30 minutes that we have together and just. Just as being a part of the true crew is, I want you to understand, I want us to understand the importance of humility and why it's important and why we're called to seek it, and why Jesus himself sought humility and was humble and became a servant, and why that is a part of being a Christian and why we have to fight so hard against pride. I think a lot of times pride. Pride comes across as being really arrogant and being very outspoken and verbal. Like, I'm this really prideful person. It's not always that way. Pride also comes in the form of insecurity. And I think people don't realize that. I think people think when they're being insecure that it's actually a dig against themself and it's them going low and it's them thinking less of themselves. No, when you are walking in insecurity, you are consumed with yourself. You are thinking about yourself all the time. What do people think about me? How are they going to respond to me if I walk into. Into this room. Are people going to come up and talk to me? You know, am I going to be rejected? Am I going to be loved? Do I belong? Me, me, me, I, I, I. We're consumed with ourself. That's still pride. It may come in the form of fear. It may be pride and fear having a baby mixed together, but it's still, the root of it is pride. You're still consumed with yourself. You're still thinking about yourself. And the greatest way to fight insecurity is to know your true identity in Christ and to know, know what it looks like to be truly humble, which is to be confident in who you are in Christ, to make it all about Jesus, to know why you serve Jesus, and to have your confidence in him, and to know what it looks like to just have that God confidence. Because when you have God confidence, it doesn't mean that you're this cocky person and you're this, you know, I know who I am, snap your fingers. It means I know who got it. And so no matter what I'm up against, no matter what I face, no matter what I feel, I know who my God is and I know who my God says I am. And therefore, I will not put my confidence, my hope, my security in another person. I will not put my confidence, hope, security in a job or in a thing, or in a status or in a following or in anything that this world can give me. I know where my confidence comes from, and I know how good my God is, and I know how powerful my God is and that he is greater and that I am His. And so when we have that perspective, it changes everything. That's where we're able to truly learn what it looks like to be humble. When Jesus came and he came in the, in the form of a servant, and he came to serve this world and to serve his disciples and to serve other people. Like, he didn't come in high and mighty with, you know, a, a staff in his hand ready to rule and a throne behind him with a crown on his head, ready to just like, trample people. He didn't come with an army behind him ready to just fight wars and win victories. He came in the form of a carpenter. He came in the form of a servant. He lived basically like a nomad and homeless and would wash people's feet and would touch the leper and heal them and would go up to the nobodies who were beggars and blind on the side of the road, those who were outcasts, those who people said were sinful and unworthy of being in the presence of anyone, you know, who had status or who had a position of influence. And Jesus said, I'm breaking down all of those walls. That's not what true confidence looks like. That's not what true power looks like. That's not what, you know, being a servant of God looks like. And so when Jesus came, he flipped everything on its head. He continues to rebuke pride, and he shows us what it looks like to pursue humility and how to serve. And so I want to look at the Gospels, and I want to turn to the life of Jesus as he not only told us to pursue humility, but he modeled it for himself. And he not only resisted pride and resisted the temptations of the enemy, but he also calls us to do the same. And so if we're followers of Jesus, if we call ourselves Christians, we are called to follow in the same footsteps as Jesus. And so that means we should be living a life of humility. That means we should be resisting pride and the allurements of this world and the temptations that come from Satan that He tempts us. And he. He appeals to our flesh, and he comes after us when we're weak. And in James 4, it says, God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. So we don't need to only focus on how God is in opposition with the proud. I think a lot of times I read that at first and it was like, oh, gosh, I just don't want to be rebuked by God. Like, okay, I don't want God to be mad at me. Like, I can't be proud because I don't want to, like, be on God's bad side. That's a part of it. But also, there's a. There's another verse after that that says, but he gives grace to the humble. So it's not just about resisting pride. It's not just about dying to yourself. It's not just about fleeing from sin, but there's also a pursuit of something. There's also a pursuit of humility, a pursuit of purity, a pursuit of righteousness. And when we pursue humility, when we walk in humility, God gives us grace. He literally gives us grace. And in other parts of Scripture and in other translations, it says, God gives. Gives favor to the humble. God gives favor, blessing, life, peace, prosperity to those who pursue humility. He exalts the humble, but he tears down those who are proud. He resists. He's in opposition with those who are proud because he himself is the antithesis of pride. He himself is righteous. He himself is purity. He himself is humility. He is the form of all things good. Therefore, he cannot be in relationship with pride. And that's why Satan and got kicked out of heaven. And in the same way, he cannot be an intimate relationship with us when we continue to walk in pride. And so that's why it says, God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. And so when we want to see God's presence in our life, when we want to see God's blessing in our life, when we want to see God's favor in our life, when we want to see God's provision in our life, so many of us are praying for those things. God, I need you to provide. God, I need you to come through God, I need you to see me. God, do you hear me? Do you know? Do you. And it's like, are we pursuing purity? Are we asking these things from God just so that we can use him as an instrument to get what we want? Or are we actually seeking the heart of God because we see him as beautiful, because we see him as worthy of being praised, because we care about him, because we love him, because that relationship is the most important relationship in our life? Are we seeking God just to get something from God? Are we seeking God just to get the gift? Or are we seeking God because He's the giver? Are we seeking God because He is. He's the person behind it all? Because his presence. And in his presence, there's joy, there's life, there's peace, there's freedom. And when we seek humility, when we have that posture of it's not about me, it's all about you. And I just want to be with you, I just want to seek you, I just want to spend time with you, I want to abide with you, I want to worship you. When we have that heart posture, it says, then God gives us grace, then God provides, then God blesses us. And so when we have the posture of pride, even if it's, you know, sometimes we can't even see our own motives. It's like, oh, God, give me the husband so that, oh, God, give me this job so that, oh, God, you know, open up the door of opportunity for me to start my own podcast so that. But in the meanwhile, in our heart, our heart is really impure, it's really yucky. And we're actually asking for the husband, for our own desire, we're asking for the job, for our own, you know, so that we can go buy all of these clothes and live selfishly and, you know, be materialistic and, you know, be consumed with the things of this world or, you know, we want to have our own platform so that people will worship us and see us and notice us and see us as important, all in the name of Jesus, quote, unquote. And God's like, that's not what it looks like to pursue humility. That's not what it looks like to pursue me. But when we pursue him with a pure heart. Heart. When we come before him with fear and trembling, when we come before him with a spirit of humility and we say, I am nothing apart from you, Lord, I have nothing apart from you, Lord, but with you and in you I have all that I need. Just as Psalm 23:1 talks about the Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. That means with you, Lord, I have everything I need. I am not in lack when I have you. I do not need God plus something in order to be satisfied. You alone, Lord, are enough. When we have that heart posture and we continue to serve people and love people with that heart posture of hey, I'm here to serve you. I'm here to bless you. I'm here to give to you. I'm here to give everything God's given me, I'm just going to give it away. I'm just going to be generous. I'm just going to serve. I'm going to go low. You don't have to say my name. You don't have to know my name. You don't have to know anything about me. Hey, I'm I know you may have never even know that I did this thing for you. You don't have to, because I'm doing it all with the heart posture to serve God, to love God and to love people. And when we do it with the spirit of humility, it says, God gives us grace. God gives grace to the humble. And it goes on to say in that James 4 passage, it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And then it goes on to say, resist the devil and he will flee from me. You draw near to God and he will draw near to you. I don't think it's a coincidence that right after it's talking about pride, it goes into resist the devil, because that is the way that the enemy tempts us the most, is with pride. He tempts us with our pride. This lust for power, this thirst for control. Hey, if you were to get a following, hey, if you were to build A platform. Hey, if you were to make money, hey, if you were to get a spouse, hey, if you were to get this thing, if you were to, then you would be important. Then God would bless you. Then people would. And it's like he appeals to our pride. He appeals to our control. And that's why it goes on to say in that James 4 verse, resist the devil and he will flee from you. We have to resist the devil. We have to be aware that his temptation to us is to appeal to our flesh in a way that causes us to fall into pride. And we have to be aware of that. And then we have to resist Him. Him. And then we have to draw near to God. So it's not just a resisting of something. It's also a drawing near of someone. It's not just a resisting of the enemy. It's not just a resisting of his temptation. It's also a drawing near to God. It's also a drawing near to his purity and his righteousness. And so I love that James 4 passage so much. But it talks about all throughout, in Scripture, all throughout the Gospels, we see in the life of Jesus the importance of, you know, pursuing a life of humility. And why Jesus himself, like Jesus himself, he could have come in on a white stallion with this massive army behind him, with this temple set up for him, with this gold throne chair with a beautiful gold embellished crown, with a purple robe. And he could have said, every single one of you, bow down to me or I'll kill you. Like he that could have been Jesus. Like, he's Jesus. He could have chosen that route. He's literally God. He could have chosen that route. But that's not what Jesus chose to do. Instead, how did Jesus come? He was conceived and born through the Holy Spirit with a virgin. It was a virgin who gave birth to him, who was a nobody, who was a young girl. And also he came into this world in a stable, in a manger, and with no one around. And the people that came and attended it was like sheep and horses and shepherds. And then later, the three wise men showed up. But like he was. It was not this glorious, amazing, powerful moment of, you know, a king having a son and everyone knowing the king's son has been born and now he's going to rise to power. Jesus, even in the way he was conceived and even in the way he was born, was in humility. And all his life, 30 years of his life, was in. It was in hidden spaces, it was in secret places. It was in not Being recognized, no one knowing who he was. Living a very, very normal life as a carpenter. For 30 years. For 30 years, okay. That was. That was Jesus's life. When people say, I just want to have influence like Jesus, they mean just the three years of Jesus's life that is recorded in the Gospels, where he's going around and miracles and people know his name and people are following him and people are. Because that's what we mistake for influence and greatness in God's eyes and importance and value and significance. But if we really want to be like Jesus, 30 years of his life was just being obedient to the Father, studying Scripture, being obedient to his parents, and living a life of secrecy and normalcy and just. Yeah, I mean, living in community. I imagine. I imagine he was in church. I imagine, like, you know, it was a very normal life. And then if you look at his three years of ministry, even those three years of ministry, Jesus didn't call the Pharisees or the, you know, the Roman soldiers or the people of influence. He called the sinners. He called the outcasts. He called the nobodies, quote, unquote, right? And he chose to do his ministry and he chose to do his quote unquote influence with. With those kinds of people. And even the way he did ministry, you guys, he sought after the ones that nobody else sought out. He sought out the woman at the well that everyone else saw as an outcast. He. He sought out the leper that everyone else ran from and said was unclean and unworthy. He sought out the tax collectors that everyone deemed as sinners and unwar and not. Not able to get saved, not able to ever be loved or blessed by God. I mean, he went out, he flipped everything on its head. He showed us what true humility and service looked like and what true leadership looked like. What it looked like to really live a life that pleased God. And it wasn't in this way that was high and mighty, in this way that was flashy, in this way that was all about me. Jesus came to serve. It says in Mark 10 that the son of man came to serve. Not to be served, but to give his life as a ransom for many. That's mark 10, 43, 45. It's one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture. Because Jesus, the Son of God, came to serve. Not to be served, not to be served grapes, not to. Not to be in green rooms, not to have the microphone, not to, you know, make everything happen the way he wanted it to happen and to Live this prosperity gospel life that many of us preach, teach, follow, or want. He actually came to serve and he actually came to lay his life down. And even how he ended his ministry before ascending to heaven was he gave his life up so that in him we may find life. He died so that we may live. He laid down his life and he. And he did it in the most humbling way, like he didn't deserve death. He was perfect. How did he deserve death? He performed miracles, he healed, he spoke truth, he loved, he served. None of that is deserving of death. Yet he was crucified. And it says, says, it even says he took on our shame. They, they took off all of his clothes and they stripped him and he was just left in little clothing. And they mocked him. They put on a crown of thorns and began to mock him and make fun of him. He was literally shamed for our sake so that in him he could defeat our. So that in him our shame would be defeated. And by his death and resurrection, our sin and shame has been defeated. Thank Jesus. Praise Jesus us. And he humbled himself. He. He became the lowest so that when he became the highest, in him we may have that same inheritance. When we believe in him we may have, we may be given that same inheritance. Yet it's not one to use for ourself. It's not one to use for selfish ambition. Rather, we use that inheritance, we use that authority, we use that blessing to bless others, to serve others, and to live a life of true significance and impact that Jesus called us to live. And even one of the last acts of what Jesus did before he died on the cross for our sins was he washed his disciples feet. He washed his disciples feet. Can you imagine the Son of God getting up from the table, bending down, getting a bucket of water, taking off like a cloth from his belt and just beginning to wash your dirty feet. Like these were times where everything was by foot. They walked everywhere and there were no gravel roads or, you know, beautiful pathways. It was like they were walking on dirt. Their feet were really, really dirty. And Jesus humbled himself. He bent down, he went towards them, he took their dirty feet and he began to wash it. And it was all symbolic, but also what he's doing in this moment is to show I'm here to serve. And this is what true greatness looks like. This is what true significance looks like. This is what it looks like to really live a life that pleases God. And he says in the same way that I have served you, now go and serve others in the same way that I'm laying down my life for you, go and lay down your life for your brothers and sisters. Everything Jesus did was a model and a demonstration for what we are to do and how we are to live. And so in the same way, now we don't have to walk around with a bucket of water and with, you know, a towel buckled around our belt and washing strangers feet. They might think we're psychotic, they might think we're crazy, they might run from you. So I'm not telling you to go and do that. But in the same way we should constantly have the mindset of we're not here to be served, we're here to serve. And so when we walk in a room, we're not walking in with an insecure or prideful mindset. It's not who's going to serve me and it's not, it's not insecure pride either. That's saying who's thinking about me? Am I going to be rejected? Are they going to, are they going to make fun of me? Are they going to accept me? Are they? We walk into rooms and we walk into relationships and we live our life from the perspective of how can I serve, how can I give? How can I lay my life down to make someone else's life better so that others may find life in him? How can I point people to Jesus? I don't want people to be pointed to me. I don't want people to come up and say these things to me. I want people to be so blown away by how good God is. I. I want people to come to know the God that I serve. That's the mindset we should have and that's the mindset I have to have. Like, like you guys, I'll be so honest, I have to really train my mind because I'm so grateful for you guys. I love your affirmation and I love, you know, meeting you guys. But it, I have to really train my brain too and I have to surround myself with accountability who will remind me every single day, call me out when I'm in the wrong, and who will pray for me to keep me humble. Because it's very easy to fall into this trap of like, oh, people, people are, you know, getting to know God because of me. Like, people are, you know, getting better because of me. Like, look at, look at me. Like people are asking to take pictures with me. People are, you know, affirming me. It's so easy to fall into that. And every single day I pray. Psalm 139, 9. Which says, Search my heart, oh God, search my heart. Remove any offensive way in me, any anxious thought, any. Any sinful way. The things that I can see, the things that I can't see. Remove any offensive way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting life. Lead me in the way of righteousness. Lead me in the way of humility. Lead me in the way of purity. I'll. I'll pray that prayer every day. If I. If I remember, I try to pray that prayer every single day and just have that heart posture of Lord, clothe me in humility. I want to be clothed in humility. I want to be clothed in purity, because I know none of this is about me. It says in Scripture that He is the creator of all things, in that from him all things are held together and that for him all things are made and that through him all things are sustained. And so it's like, oh, yeah, this is from God. Oh, yeah, this is for God. Oh, yeah, this is sustained through God. And so anything that I have, any blessing in my life, any gift in my life, you know, the platform that I have, any. Any relationships that I have, any passions or giftings that he's put inside of me to communicate or to write or to whatever it may be, it's all from him and it's all for him, and it's all sustained and given through Him. Like, I only have what it takes to make a podcast, to write a book, to mentor someone one on one, to be a good wife, to be a good daughter, to be a good sister, to be a good friend, to, you know, have the ability to serve the people around me, to have the ability to not get, you know, caught up in the things of this world. I only can do any of those things by the power of the Holy Spirit and through the power of God that is at work within me. And it's through. Through his spirit, it's through that power that I'm able to love and serve and give and, you know, have any form of wisdom, have any form of something worth listening to or something worth reading or, you know, something worth giving your time to. It's all Him. It's all Him. And I always want to keep that mindset and I always want to be reminded of that because I think it's very easy to forget that. It's like, oh, what's my purpose and what's my gift set and what does God have for my life? And that's. And that's great. That's. That's fine. But let's not forget that it's he who formed us, that we are the clay, he is the potter. It is he who is supposed to receive all the glory. It's not for our glory. It's not for our name, it's not for our edification. It's not for our, you know, look at us. I'm important, I'm. It's all for him, every bit of it. And if it's not, then I ask you to check your heart and I ask you to pray that same prayer of repentance. Lord, forgive me. Search my heart. Remove any offensive way in me. Another prayer is in First John, I think it's 1:9. And it says, confess your sins. And he is faithful and just, and he will forgive you of your sins, and he will cleanse you of all unrighteousness. Father, forgive me where I've been prideful. Lord, forgive me for where there's been selfish ambition in my heart and vain conceit when I've made things about me, when I've wanted eyes on me, when I've wanted a platform for me. Forgive me and, Lord, lead me in the way of everlasting life. Lord, show me how to please you. Show me how to love you. Show me how to serve you and how to serve others. And it's through that posture of prayer and through that posture of repentance that we can continue to pursue humility every day. And like I said, Jesus showed us this and he talked about this. And so I want to read a few verses in Scripture and then I want to just get, as we end this podcast, I want to just get practical about what it looks like, of how we can resist the enemy and resist pride, as well as how we can draw near to God and pursue humility. And so first, I want to read a few verses. Though it says in Matthew 23, this is a really good passage. I encourage you guys, if you want to dive deeper into pride and humility, read Matthew 6 and read Matthew 23. This is Jesus talking about what true greatness looks like, what true, I guess, confidence or authority looks like, what it looks like to please God, and the posture of humility that we should have as followers of. Of him. And he's. It's actually this, this moment where Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees. So not only did pride, you know, not only did the. The enemy, not only did the devil get kicked out of heaven because of pride, not only did, you know, we become a sinful humanity and world because of pride, because that's how he tempted. How the enemy tempted Eve. But also, you know, Jesus himself, the one thing we see him continue to resist and rebuke and hate during his time on earth is pride. We see as he calls out these Pharisees. So Jesus could work with a sinner who realized that they were a sinner. Jesus could work with someone who was caught up in sin, caught up in adultery, caught up in, like, a lot of times we think, oh, I can't go to God because I'm unworthy of God. You know, I can't approach God. God wouldn't want someone like me. And I'm like, man, Jesus showed us, like, he wanted everybody. Like, he literally wanted everybody. He went after everybody. It wasn't that. It wasn't our. Even our sin. Like, Jesus died for our sin. Jesus wanted to save us from our sin. It wasn't our sin, it was our pride. It's when you have a posture of, I don't need God and I don't need saving, and I want all of the attention and affirmation for myself. That is what God hates. And so we see Jesus continue to rebuke pride even during his three years of public ministry with the Pharisees, who were these religious teachers. And so in Matthew 23, we see Jesus having this. This conversation, and he's saying about the Pharisees, they. They do not practice what they preach. He's saying that about them. Like, they. They put these heavy burdens on other people, and they tell them to live this holy life, yet they don't even follow it themselves. They tell them to go and live this life that pleases God, but they don't even follow it them themselves. And he says, says, you know, do as they say, but don't do as they do because they are not doing what is righteous in God's eyes. They are actually preaching truth, but they're not living truth. And so I just want to ask you guys, are you actually living out what you talk about? Are you actually living out what you believe? Are you actually allowing your. The actions of your life and the footsteps that you take follow your faith? Does your faith have footsteps? Does your faith have action? Are you following the steps of Jesus, or are you just living this, you know, one foot in, one foot out life where you have knowledge about God, but you're still living sinfully, you're still living selfishly, you're still living pridefully? And so just know, Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees, and he's like, hey, you are not doing what you say we should all be doing. You're teaching the right thing. You're teaching the truth and the word of God, but you're not actually following it. And so Jesus is saying, you know, do. Do what they say, but don't do what they do. We shouldn't just, you know, preach something. We should practice what, what we preach. And so if we're going to preach, you know, truth, we should follow that truth. We should allow that truth to continue to sanctify us. And we shouldn't put these burdens on other people without following them ourselves. And that's something I have to check myself in. I'm like, man, if I'm going to preach humility, I better be walking in humility. If I'm going to preach service, I better be finding ways to serve and love people. If I'm going to preach being plugged into the local church, I better be plugged into the local church if I'm going to preach being generous, I better be, you know, giving generously. I better be refreshing others, you know, with generosity. And so, yeah, I just ask you guys, like, do you practice what you preach? And you know, what it goes on to say in Matthew? This is Matthew 6, but it says, be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others, to be seen by them. And this is one of the most convicting verses in all of Scripture. I was just talking about this with Grant the other day. This is seriously one of the most convicting verses in all of the Bible. To me, in my opinion, it says in Matthew 6, 1, be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. Jesus is literally saying, if you practice your righteousness only for others to see, only for others to affirm, only for others to reward you, you will have no true reward in heaven. That is so convicting. Like, do I do things so that other people see that I do them, so that I. That I get affirmed, so that I get praise? Like, am I actually doing. Am I actually serving and following Jesus and serving others and loving others with a pure heart to. To love God and love people because it's what God calls me to do, but not for selfish reason. Like, am I actually doing that? Because Jesus is saying, like, let your giving, your fasting, your praying, your serving be done in secret. Like, let it be all for the reward that your Father in heaven will give you because he rewards what is what He. He who is Unseen will reward you for your secret moments, but when you do it only in public, only to be praised by people, he will not reward you for that. And. And I just. I. It's so convicting for me, and it should be so convicting for this generation and for this world, because we live in a world where everyone wants to be seen, everyone wants to be affirmed, everyone wants to be famous, everyone wants to be followed. And we want everyone to see our opinions and our good deeds and our efforts and our. We record everything, we post everything. We. I mean, we want to start these podcasts and build these platforms and do all of these things. Things so that, you know, all in the name of Jesus, all for Jesus, quote, unquote. And I just am like, there's so many moments where I'm like, lord, don't let me miss it. Like, please don't let me miss it. Like, do I. And I wrestle with that. And I think the Lord wants us to continue to wrestle with that and to check our heart and to check our motive and to make sure that we are doing these things in secret. We are doing these things in private. Like, Grant and I are giving in private and in secrecy. And I. Even. I don't. It's hard to even say that right now because I'm like, gosh, I feel like I'm then bringing you guys into, like, what we're doing. But it's so important for our private life to match our public life and for our private life even to outweigh our public life. Like, our private life should be so filled with good deeds and service and generosity and prayer and love for Jesus and adoration for Jesus and time with Jesus and serving the people of Jesus. It should be so filled with that that nobody sees that. Nobody is praising you for it and affirming you for it. And this is me being vulnerable, saying, like, I have to check myself continuously in this, and I get convicted about this continuously. Because that is one of the hardest verses I've read in all of Scripture. And it goes on to say in that Matthew 23 passage, those who exalt themselves will be humbled. If you try to exalt yourself, if you try to build up yourself for others to see you for, to praise you, for others to, you know, see you as important and to make it all about you. God will humble you. But if you humble yourself before God, the Almighty God, the sovereign God, the. The King above all kings, the Lord above all lords, the Name above all names, when you humble yourself before him, he will exalt you. Because favor comes from the Lord. Grace comes from the Lord. Blessing, true blessing comes from the Lord. I promise you, you don't want that fake favor. You don't want that fake blessing. You don't want want that fake power. You don't want that fake platform. Because if you have, if you're the one who manipulates to get it, controls it to get it, and builds it yourself and breaks down the door for you to get it for yourself, for it to fan your flame, for it, for it to benefit you, you're the one that's going to have to sustain it. And even in that God will humble you. God will humble you. And there will be no true fruit in it. There will be no true blessing in it. There will be no true contentment in it. There will be no true peace in it. You will find yourself exhausted. You will only find yourself burdened. You will only find yourself trying to keep up with everybody else, trying to outdo everybody else. Never feeling enough, never feeling content, never feeling like you. Because it's not God. But when you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, it says he will lift you up in due time. When you humble yourself before God, it says he will exalt you. And whether that means here on this earth or whether that means in heaven, Heaven, we don't know what that looks like. But I do know that that is a promise for God. That from God, that true blessing and favor can only come from God. Not from our efforts, not from our connections, not from our good morals, not from our but from God. And when we do it with wrong motive and with wrong reason and for ourself and for people to know our name and to advance our kingdom and our agenda and our motives and our planet hands, it says God will humble us. God will humble us. And so my question to you is, you know, have you been promoting or exalting yourself? Have you been promoting or exalting yourself? Or do you trust God enough to exalt you? Do you trust God enough to take care of you? Do you trust God enough to give you true blessing and true contentment and true favorite you? Because man again, that's something I have to remind myself of continuously. Proverbs talks all about it too. Pride goes before destruction. Pride comes, then comes disgrace. But with humility comes wisdom. I mean we just see humility being tied to the fear of the Lord. We see humility being tied to grace. We see humility being tied to wisdom. We see humility being tied to favor. We see humility Being tied to a life of peace and prosperity and life and joy. And so the power of humbling ourselves before the Lord and pursuing humility with all of our hearts and clothing ourself. It's a. It's a daily practice. It's not going to come natural. There are no naturally humble people. Nobody. I don't care what your personality type is, okay? I might have to fight it a little bit harder because I'm a confrontational person. I'm a. I'm an outgoing person. You know, I'm a crazy, like, crazy loud personality person. So I may naturally come across, I don't know, a little more prideful than someone who may have a personality that's more reserved or quiet. But that doesn't mean one person is naturally more prideful than the other. We are all born sinners. We are all born with pride. And we have to die to that pride every single day and choose to clothe ourself in humility. The last scripture I want to read over you guys is a really special scripture to me because it's actually the one that Grant and I read at our wedding. And we read it with the heart posture of. This is what we want our marriage to be built on. And not only for our marriage and for ourself, but for the ministry of our marriage, for the way that we live our life, for the mission of our marriage, how we love and serve people, what we want our marriage to reflect to other people. We don't want a marriage that just is selfish for us, where we're just going on all these trips and we're just living it up and we're just kicking our feet back and we're just living a nice and easy life and, you know, living comfortable and living for ourselves. Ourselves. We want a marriage that is full of sacrifice. We want a marriage that is full of radical obedience to Jesus. We want to. We want a marriage that is full of generosity. We want a marriage that is marked by serving people and loving people. And. And so because of that, we read this scripture again for how we want to view each other and how we want to serve each other, but also what we want our marriage to represent and how we want to view, you know, our life and how God wants to use our marriage. And it's Philippians 2, 3, 7. And I encourage you guys to also go read this passage. It's one of the best passages. It says, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather in humility. Value others above yourself, not looking to your own interests. But to the interest of others in your relationship with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature as God, did not consider equality with God to be something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking on the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And so it's talking about Jesus that we are to have the same mindset that Jesus had with us and with others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being he is the name above all names. He has all rule, authority, power, domain. He is sovereign. He is the one who created human beings and he came to serve human beings like it makes no sense, right? And it's saying we should have the same mindset even though we're not Jesus. We didn't create the world. Our mindset should. We shouldn't even be able to have the same mindset as Jesus, but we get the honor and privilege of being able to have the same mindset as Jesus. And that's our challenge and that's our call, is to not look to our own interests, to not think about ourselves first. It says, do, do, do not, do not have, do nothing. And do not have the perspective or the mindset of selfish ambition or vain conceit. What can I get out of this? How does this bless me? How can this promote me? What can, what can I gain? Or, you know, what connections can I make? Or how can I climb up the ladder? Or how can I start this for myself so then I can get this. Don't have that mindset. That's the world's mindset. Instead, we are to have the mindset of Christ Jesus, which is to consider ourself a servant, to serve others, to love others humbly and love, to consider others as more important than ourself. And that's again, not taking on this like false humility. I'm insecure. Other people are way more important than me. Not a false humility. No, no, no. We still know who we are in Christ Jesus. We know our true worth and our identity. Our identity. We walk in that confidence, that God confidence. But we lay our life down, we serve other people not because we don't think we're worthy, but because we know who is worthy. We serve other people because it's like when we serve others, we're serving Jesus. It says in his word, what you did for them, you're doing for me. How you serve the least of these is how you're serving me. How you gave them bread you gave them clothes, you took them in, you shared the gospel with them. And it's like you did it with me. Jesus is saying, and because of that, I will reward you. We see it as we're doing all of this for Jesus, like, we're not doing this for ourself or to build a name for ourself. We're doing this for Jesus and to love him and to follow in his feet, in his footsteps. So now let's talk practical. How do we fight pride and pursue humility? How do we stop falling for the things of Satan and start pursuing the things of God? How can we resist Satan and pride? And how can we pursue and walk in humility? First is that posture of repentance. We. We talked about it earlier, but we have to have a posture of repentance. That is not something you just do once a week. That's not something you do on a Sunday morning or after you, you know, read a book that's convicting or something that you do once a year. That is a posture that you continually keep, that you continually walk in that says, lord, I am nothing apart from you, and I, I need you. I am a sinner and I am in need of a Savior. Will you forgive me? There are hidden sins that I don't even know about. Will you search my heart? That Psalm 139 verse we talked about earlier? Search my heart, O God, and remove any offensive way in me. Psalm 51. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. First John 1:9. Lord, I confess my sins to you, and I ask you that you would cleanse me of all unrighteousness. And we begin to just keep that posture of confession and repentance. And sometimes we know exactly what we're confessing and repenting about. And sometimes we don't. Like, sometimes we just keep that posture and we start our day that way, on our knees, saying, lord, I need you, and please forgive me, because there are things that I've done and there are things that I have carried that I don't even know that I have. I'm not even aware of the sins that I've committed, so please forgive me for my hidden faults and sins. And then there's going to be moments where we know when we royally screw up, where we. Where we mess up, where we fall short, where we allow that thirst for power or control, or we give into lust or we give into fear or whatever it may be, and we fall into sin and we come to the Lord. And we say, father, forgive me, Father, forgive me, for I need you. Please forgive me. Cleanse me of unrighteousness. But we keep that posture of repentance and confession because the people who think they don't need God, the people who think that they don't need to confess to God, God are the people that were like the Pharisees that Jesus rebuked and could not stand. Like, Jesus had tolerance for a lot of people and a lot of things, but he could not handle those who didn't think they needed God and who thought their ways were right and perfect and were not teachable. And we're not humble, and we're not, you know, coming before God with the posture of purity, saying, God, I need you and I'm desperate for you. And so we are to be like Jesus and model like Jesus. Jesus who continued to keep that posture, but also we are to realize, like, I don't deserve God's grace, but yet he continues to give it to me freely. And that's what a humble heart looks like. And so you keep that perspective and you keep that posture of repentance and confession. And so it starts with that. Second is you find ways to serve. You find ways to serve. You find ways to serve your friends, you find ways to serve your family. You find ways to serve your local church. You get plugged into your local church. You don't just go and consume and then leave. You don't just go and take, take and then walk away. You give back, you serve. You. You give up your time, you give up your gifts, you give up your resources to serve the people of God, to serve the body of Christ. And so whether that's you're serving in the nursery, whether that's you're serving on the parking team, whether that's you're serving in the prayer room, you find ways to serve at your local church, you get plugged in, you get involved, you serve. I think that is one of the most important things. That's something I've been doing, doing since, man, I don't even know, probably since I was, like, born. I mean, I was raised in the church, I spent all my time at the church. And I just so believe in the power of the local church and that we should be serving. But even outside of that, like, find ways to serve people around that can do nothing for you. I think that speaks to a humble heart more than anything, is you find ways to serve people who can do nothing for you. Not, not serving people who can give back to you, not Going and blessing someone who you know you'll get something out of it, but finding ways to serve someone who can literally do nothing for you. You know, the homeless man, the coffee barista, the person who's stuck in sin and can't seem to get out of it, the person who is really, really struggling financially, the person who has no friends that everyone else is leaving out, and the outcast at your school or in your friend group that everyone's gossiping about and making fun of. I mean, you find ways to serve and you find ways to give and you find ways to bless those who cannot do anything for you. That is one of the greatest ways we can fight against pride and we can pursue humility. The third way that we fight pride and pursue humility is we keep our identity rooted in Jesus Christ. When you know who you are and you know whose you are, you're not going to get caught up in the things of this world. You're not walking into rooms with your. Your chest puffed out, looking to be filled up, looking for others to affirm you or praise you or look at you. You're walking into rooms looking for ways to serve, looking for ways to give, looking for ways to bl. You know who you are. You don't need security in someone else. You don't need praise from someone else. You don't need affirmation from someone else because you're already affirmed, you're already secure in Christ. When you know your true worth and identity in Christ Jesus, that's when you're able to walk in true humility because you're not looking for anyone else to give you what God has already given you. You're not looking, you're not walking in an arrogance thinking you're better than everyone else. And you're also not walking in false humility, AKA insecure, thinking that you're a nobody. You're unworthy and looking for other people to give you what God should already be giving you. You know who you are in Christ and you know your true identity. And that's how you continue to walk in humility. The fourth way is you find accountability. You find people that will call you out in your sin, in your mess, in your pride, who aren't afraid to call you out. We don't just need yes people. We need people who are like, no, honey, that ain't cute, that ain't godly, that ain't God's best for your life. Like, I'm not just going to tell you to stay in that relationship because I'm scared you'll get mad at me. I'm calling you out because that relationship is causing you to fall for sin. I'm calling you out because that relationship is allowing you to settle for something less than God's best. I'm calling you out because you're living, you're standing in agreement with the devil's lies when God has truth that he wants to set you free from. Like, I'm calling you out because you know, you're doing this thing or you're living this life or you're. You're falling into pride or you're falling into sin and God has more for you. And that's not how God has called you to live. And we need friends that will do that. Okay? We need friends that will call us out. We need friends not only that'll call us out, but that'll call us higher. Like, they're not calling us out to be mean. They're not calling us out to hurt us. They're calling us out to help us to make our relationship with Jesus stronger, to make us look more like Jesus. And so when you have those friends that call you out and rebuke you in a way, they're also correcting you in the truth. They're also pointing you to the truth and they're loving you by pointing you to the truth. And so we need. Need those kinds of friends. We also need friends that we can confess to and confide in. Friends that we say, hey, there's. There's some areas in my life that I'm really struggling with pride right now. I really care about what people think about me. I. I've been people pleasing lately. I've been really insecure lately. I've been really looking at my body and hating my body and walking around with so much insecurity and shame because I know that when people see me, they're going to think this and you know, and like, we begin to confess these areas of our life where Satan has gotten in and lied to us and deceived us and where we've come into agreement with pride and we confess that and we allow our friends to be in on that so that they can pray for us, so that they can point us to the truth. And we need those people. We need those people. And I highly recommend finding some people in your same city and through your local church. I think it's great to have people online. I think it's great to have friends in different cities. I have really close friends that live in other cities. I have really close Friends that are still in Dallas and still in Waco and still in, you know, in a couple hours away from here in Nashville. But I also am building community here. I'm also getting plugged into a local church here. And those are the friends that I want to be able to do life with, that I'm confessing to regularly that are seeing my life up close and personal so that they can call me out of my sin. And you need that, too. That's how we continue to fight pride. That's how we resist the devil, and that's how we draw near to God and pursue humility. God has so much more for your life. God has so much in store for you. And I just don't want to see you settle for less than God's best. Because you've believed a lie from the enemy that you can get it apart from God that you believe a lie from the enemy that you can gain this whole world, yet at the same time, you're forfeiting and losing your soul. Soul. There's so much better. There's so much more. And in. In the truth of who God is, is where true life is found. And he calls us to live a life of humility because it's what leads to eternal life. It's what leads to purpose. It's what leads to true joy and contentment and peace. And so I want that for you guys. I'm praying that for you guys. And I'm so thankful for y'all. I love y'all. Just a reminder as we're ending this episode that the Stay True event is December 1st, and you can go to Instagram for more details on that. We'll also link that in the show notes. But I just love you guys so much. Be sure to continue to DM me. Let me know what you want to hear next, who you want on next, and what you thought about this episode, what you took away from it. But I love you guys and make sure to tune in next week for a really fun episode. And as always, guys, be sure to stay you stay true. I love.