Daniel 9:13 - KJV "13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth."

One word....PRIDE!

Let me encourage you today. God loves you, despite your sin and rebellion. God loves you despite your pride. God loves you and only wants the best for your life. God loves you and is ready to not only forgive you...but help you. Put your pride aside. Put the shame of failure you may feel aside, and call out to the only source of strength and help you have...God! Today, you can stop running. Today, you can stop hiding. Today, you can start putting the pieces back together. Wherever you are at this moment, if you are struggling with a problem, take a second and cry out to God for help. He knows the situation and your heart. Simply ask Him to help you. He won't ever leave you or forsake you, even if you run from Him. Just like the prodigal son ran form his father, his father waited, patiently for him to return. So today, God is waiting for you to return.

Proverbs 11:2, 16:18, 1 John 2:16
Pride goes before destruction. For many people there comes a point when pride overtakes our life. You become the "god" of the world that you have created. You have the financial resources to live however you want and do whatever you please. You see other people as simply there to serve you and fulfill whatever needs you may have. You answer to no one. Nobody tells you what to do. Your decisions are final. My friend, when this becomes your life, it is only a matter of time before the world you created will come crashing down. We see it happen all of the time with entertainers, business people, and sadly, even those who are in the ministry.

There is nothing wrong with having success, or having money. In any business there has to be one person at the top who makes the ultimate decisions. But we must guard ourselves from letting pride take over our life. We must never forget that powerful verse in John 15:5 that tells us "without me, you can do nothing!" God must ALWAYS be first in our life and the head of our life. The very first sin was PRIDE. Satan decided that he wanted to be God. That is EXACTLY what pride is. It is when we decide that WE want to be God. When we make that choice, it is only a matter of time before we will fall.

Satan made that choice and was kicked out of Heaven with his eventual eternal home being the Lake of Fire. When you take God off of the throne and replace Him with yourself, it is not a matter of if, only when you will be destroyed. Deuteronomy 8:19 tells us that if we forget God, and chase after other gods, that we will be destroyed!!!

Pride is not just an issue that the rich and powerful people of the world fall into. WE ALL CAN FALL INTO THE SIN OF PRIDE!!! Any time that you make the choice to put yourself over God, any time that you make the choice to live your life apart from God, you have fallen into the sin of pride. That is why it is important to get up in the morning and first thing, pray. Prayer is many things, but one thing it is, is an act of dependence upon God. When we pray, we are saying, "God, I need you!" Keeping God in His rightful place, on the throne of our life, as the head of our life, is how we can keep from falling into the sin of pride.

Like all sin, the sin of pride carries a big price tag. Again, the way to avoid this sin is to always keep God first in your life. I not only wake up each morning and go right to prayer, but taped to the mirror in my bathroom are those powerful words from John 15:5, WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING. I pray that in the coming months that Martha Stewart will ask God to forgive her of her sin of pride and ask Jesus Christ into her heart. She has tremendous gifts that God could use to touch many for His Kingdom if she is willing to humble herself and surrender her life to the Lord. I pray that she will. 13 years ago, I repented of my sin of pride and asked God to forgive me. I had to learn a very tough lesson about the consequences of this sin. I pray that you will heed this warning today and not allow pride into your life. The Bible is true when it says, "pride goes before destruction."

My encouragement for you is to not run FROM God, but TO God. He loves you and wants to help you. He is waiting for you to call out to Him! Give Him a chance. HE IS YOUR ONLY ANSWER TODAY!!!!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother,
Bill Keller