Episode 2: Pride

Pride

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:09

The Coaching for Life podcast with Monty Williams and Will Davis.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Welcome back to the Coaching for Life podcast with Monty Williams and Will Davis, a conversation that we pray encourages you to pursue the Christ inner life. And it's a great blessing to be here with my good friend and co-host Monty Williams. And today, Monty, we're talking about something that we all struggle with. And I appreciate how you reached out to me last week and confessed that you were struggling with pride in a certain situation. But if we're honest with ourselves, this is a daily struggle for all of us. Pride. Because at the heart of pride, we're not just putting ourselves above others, but we are thinking that we are better than God. And as you think back on your career as a former NBA player and coach, how did you find victory in this area of pride? And how did you look to God for humility in a business that can be centered on that mindset, look at all that I have done? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Well, firstly, I'd have to admit that I don't think I ever have, if I'm totally being straight. And I hope that that's always uh the approach that I we take in this pod. Um I don't think I've even come close. As a matter of fact, I'm more I can identify so clearly with uh the areas of pride in my own heart. Uh but if if if I've moved the chains or scored a bucket um in any way in terms of dealing with pride, it is um realizing that I can do nothing good without the Holy Spirit's help. And it's it's biblical in terms of when you look at the scriptures, whether it's Romans 8.11, Psalm 27, Zechariah 4.6, we see that it is because of the Spirit that we do anything good. And uh one of my anchor verses is Ephesians 3.20. Many people quote this verse, but it's so appropriate in terms of understanding where uh the help comes from in our lives. Um it says, now unto him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. And when I think of God's power, um, if I can, in my finite mind, uh even capture that a little bit, it just destroys anything that I could do on my own. And if if I had to give a blueprint for what that looks like in terms of my life, uh Jesus gave us the approach when he told us to abide in him. Yeah. Uh John 15 5 says, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Yeah. And I wish that I would have had that perspective as a player. Yeah. I I vaguely had it as a coach, contrary to what many people thought of me. I just I just didn't. Um as a player, um, I don't think I had a great recognition of where my giftings came from or why God made me 6'7, 6'8, why God made me to have the athletic ability, the whatever I had as a basketball player. I just walked around and and and thought to myself, because I worked hard, uh, because I played for that team, because I scored this many points, that it was something that I uh produced on my own. And I think the thing that really helped me in terms of how like how do we abide? Um I watched my wife um for many, many years start her day in the Word. And I think that gives me, and I think it gives many believers a compass and a lighthouse for the day. Yes. In terms of uh prayer, Bible study, worship, whatever that looks like, hopefully all three, um, it it sets the tone that God is the one that's going to do something productive and good in our lives so that we can bear fruit. And and if you look at Psalm 119, um, one of the coolest chapters in the Bible, longest chapter, um 147 and 148 of Psalm 119, it says, I rise before dawn and cry out for help. I put my hope in your word. I am awake through each watch of the night to meditate on your promise. And that's just a that's a great picture of how um we can get to this place of humility, going before the Lord in prayer, um, going before the Lord to study his word, going before our God in worship, yeah, and and making it about him and asking him to do for us what we can. Lord, help me to serve my wife, help me to love these kids, help me to not do this to this person at work that's driving me nuts. And when you think about it, it's amazing for me how the Holy Spirit reminds me of some of the things I need to work on, if not all of them. And then he also reminds me that I got you. Yeah. There's a there's a piece with that. And it's it's it's gonna sound whatever it sounds like. But for me, early in the morning, morning before uh everybody gets up, um, I have this routine. Sometimes it's five, most times it's around six o'clock and it's really, really early and it's quiet. And somehow, some some way, God has organized it where my heart is so open to hear these strong impressions from him on on what I need to do. And a lot of times it's it's convicting of something that I've said or need to fix, and it's humbling, and it it does take the pride away. Because in my on my own, you know, I can tear stuff up like that. And that's that's something that um I wish that I would have recognized more as a player. As a coach, I c I think I vaguely grasped it, and it's so parallel to how we do sports. Like the way we start a practice or a game, we typically start uh together. Um the head coach gives the direction for the practice or the game, and it's a bit of a lighthouse compass for the team to go out and attack, conquer. Uh this is the charge we have for that particular day. Imagine if we could apply that same concept um to each day as we humble ourselves and try to allow God to take this pride away. That if we're all being honest, I think it has a place in all of our lives.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Yeah. No, I think it's a very practical word uh to ground ourselves in the Word, in a dependence upon the Holy Spirit. And you know, when we think about pride, there are so many examples in in Scripture, both in the New Testament and the Old Testament. And and one example that I thought of was with King Saul in in 1 Samuel. After David killed Goliath, everyone was returning home. King Saul is triumphantly entering the city, and he hears this little song that the women were singing. Saul has slain his thousands. That had a nice ring to it, but David has slain his tens of thousands. Suddenly David is getting more attention than Saul. And it says that Saul became very angry, pride infected him with this thought what more can David get but my kingdom? And it says from that time on, Saul kept a close eye on David. Saul's pride began to corrupt him from within. But on the other side, as you mentioned, is is humility. And you know, we're not talking about a false humility where the attention is still upon us. But I like how Tim Keller defined humility as not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less, seeing yourself in in view of God's glory, realizing your smallness in light of God's greatness. And that's only possible uh as we imitate Christ. And and I know other examples in the Old Testament that have resonated with you, like King Uzziah and Nebuchadnezzar.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Those are things that or two men, not just things, those are two people when I look at and and and a cursory study of their lives, um, I resonate with it because I'm like I've been there. You know, I I think it's interesting when people, especially in the sports world, and people find out you're a Christian, they tend to think you are um some holier than than thou uh creature, if you will, in the sports world that somewhat has it together. Um I rarely have enough time to share with whomever thinks that way, whoever wants whatever, a picture, autograph, or just a conversation. I don't have enough time to tell them if if I had the time, I'd tell you who I really resonate with. And it's it's it's these kinds of guys. Uh when you look at the the life of uh Uzziah in 2 Chronicles uh chapter 26 and verse 5, um, the Bible says that he sought God throughout uh the lifetime of Zachariah. This is Uzziah, the teacher of the fear of God, during the time that he sought the Lord, God gave him success. So he had a great start.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Um verse 7 and 8 say God helped him against the Philistines, the Arabs that lived in Erbal and the Munites. And verse 8 continues with that. Verse 11 talks about how God equipped him with a really, really strong army. And so he he had everything. He had a great start, he sought the Lord. Um, but then in verse 15, we see how pride can start to set in. Um at the end of verse 15 it says, so his fame spread even to distant places, for he was marvelously helped until he became strong. And then we see in verse 16 where pride came in, the Bible says, But when he became strong, he grew arrogant, and it led to his own destruction. He acted unfaithfully against the Lord, his God, by going into the Lord's sanctuary to burn incense on the incense altar. And then in verse 21, we see the result. Um King Uzziah was diseased to the time of his death. He lived in quarantine with a serious skin disease, and he was excluded from access to the Lord's temple while his son Jotham was over the king's household governing the people of the land. Um I resonate with that. Yeah. You know, I I I do. I I I can remember times in my career where I the pride in me was just more than I could even describe. If if if we won a game, if I got a contract, if I made the team, if I was included into the group in an athletic uh venue, there was a sense of me. There was a sense of what I did. And it's it's it's a bit of a parallel um in Daniel 4, one of the more uh relatable uh chapters in the Bible for me. And if you ever have time, if if any of our listeners ever want to hear an unbelievable teaching on it, uh listen to uh Dr. Swindah uh go through Daniel 4. It's it'll it'll bless you in ways that you probably can't even comprehend. But if you go to Daniel 4, in verse 4, uh the Bible says that um King Nebuchadnezzar was at ease at this time. You know, he was he was in the palace and he was he was at ease. He the Bible says he was flourishing in his palace and then he had a dream. And then in verse eight, uh he summoned Daniel um to help interpret the dream. In verse 22, uh Daniel interprets the dream. Uh the king is is the one that the dream is describing, uh Nebuchadnezzar. And it's it's it's really interesting when you get to verse 27. Um Daniel calls Nebuchadnezzar up, if you will. He doesn't call him out to embarrass him, he calls him up, and he says, Therefore, may my advice seem good to you, my king. Separate yourself from your sins by doing what is right and from your injustices by showing mercy to the needy. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity. Daniel's telling the king, you need to chill, stop sinning and and and get it together. Really interesting what happened in the next verse. The Bible says in verse 28, um, all this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar, and then verse 29 says, at the end of twelve months. Yeah. Meaning he had twelve months to ponder what Daniel had said to him, the prophet of the Lord, the one that he called to interpret this dream. And in in verse 29, verse 30, uh the king exclaimed, Is this not the Babylon, Babylon the Great that I have built my vast power to be royal residence and to display my majestic glory? And there's the pride. Yeah. There, there's the the thing that I can resonate with. I I I remember when I was in Detroit and I got this crazy contract that I knew I didn't deserve. It was it was one of those contracts that just kind of in a weird way kind of changed the coaching world in the NBA. And I'm I'm I can remember feeling like this is about to get nuts. You know, I remember telling Lisa that, and she's like, What do you mean? I'm like, I was like, honey, like I don't deserve this contract. I remember telling her that, yeah, but I also remember feeling good about myself like I did it in that same sentence, yeah, in that same moment in our office in Phoenix. I remember it like it was yesterday. Yeah. And I can relate to King Nebuchadnezzar. He's sitting there like, look at what I built. Right. And this is this is after a 12-month period of time where Daniel's telling him, like, Bro, get it together because it's about to go bad for you. And he doesn't. And when you see the fruit of it, you see in verse uh 31 and 32, while the words were still in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven, King Nebuchadnezzar, you to you it is declared that the kingdom has departed from you. It's it's it's about to be over, you know, it's about to fall down. Yeah. And verse 33 says, at that moment, the sentence against Nebuchadnezzar was executed. Now, really tough times for the king. Now he had a chance to come out of it. I know this to be true. God always gives us a chance to come out of whatever sin, whether it's pride, whether it's gossip, whatever it is, like he always gives us the option to choose.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

And he he calls us to choose him. He calls us to choose life, he calls us to choose uh bearing fruit for him. The cool part about this particular chapter is in verse 34, and we see God's grace. He said it says in verse 34, but at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. Like what like what a cool um picture of of of the option that we have to turn to the Lord, to confess our sins, to make sure that we um remove every idol in our lives and make sure he's number one.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

And and the Bible says in the same verse, then I praise the Most High and honored and glorified him who lives forever. Yeah. And um the the if you read the rest of it, it's a it's a beautiful picture of the grace of God. It has nothing to do with King Nebuchadnezzar. And um, I'm I'm just being as straight as I can um without getting into too many details. I've done this so many times in my life. Just had a prideful heart, um, whether it was because of the neighborhood I lived in, uh, my portfolio, the car I drove, it gave me a sense of feeling that was just pretty poopy if I'm just being being straight. Like it's just messy. And there are times where you recognize it and you still can't do anything about it. Yeah. You know, and I and I think that's that's the part where Tim Keller, you know, he says it so well. We think so much of ourselves.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

And that's why Bible study is so important. That's why getting in a sound church is so important, because if you're in a really good church that teaches the word, you know what James 1.17 says. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord, the Father of lights, not you. You know, it's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord, Zachariah 4.6. Not I did this, or you know, if I work hard, then this will happen. Yeah, we we do work hard, we do want to be good stewards with the gifts we have, but God gives us every ability, every talent. He gives us the coaches that we need, the mentors we need, he gives us all of it to be productive for him. And so many times in my life and in my career, I've just had it twisted. Yeah. And I've had it twisted in a way that I just couldn't unravel. And um, that's why this, this, these two stories and these two guys resonate with me more than Daniel does. I wish I wish Daniel was the guy that I resonated with. When you look at the life of Daniel, like he was the dude, you know what I'm saying? I resonate with King Uzziah and Nebuchadnezzar, because I've I've felt that so many times in my life.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Well, and sometimes even with the believer, they think about pride and and maybe they admit that it's a sin, but they just justify and say, you know, this is who I am, and and I'm gonna just be me and and and and not do what you're saying that they can do. Just confess that daily, abide in Christ, lean upon his word, see ourselves rightly in view of God, and and then connect in in meaningful community with other believers that can pray for you and encourage you. And I know uh a verse that we have often texted back and forth to each other, if if someone if one of us is struggling, like in in marriage or just in some area of life, is Philippians two. We'll just kind of go back to again one of these anchor verses. And I just want to read Philippians 2, starting in verse 3. This is uh the example that we are to look to in terms of humility. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as he already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a bondservant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, death on a cross. So this is the ultimate standard of humility, the humility of Christ, and again, it's not possible except through the power of the Holy Spirit. I think humility also comes through an awareness of James 1.17 that says that God is the giver of all good gifts. And something that I've expressed to you before, uh, when I have conversations with you, one of the things that I notice is that when you reflect on all of the many blessings in your life, I mean you're quick to acknowledge that these gifts are only because of the grace and the goodness of God. And I've always appreciated that in you.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

It's an interesting thing in terms of how God has in part changed my heart, because I know it's not the total change that needs to happen, but he has um changed my heart. And I I I'll I'll just confess, like a lot of that change has come through um some failure, uh, it's come through some humbling times, it's come through being fired, it's come through being traded, um it's come through him walking me through some really tough stuff that happened in my family. Um, because it's in those moments that God, in a gracious way, in in his hands, in his care, he reminds you that you're pretty fragile. Um you're pretty small when when these things in life happen or God walks you through um these moments in life, you realize in those pockets of time that he is all you have.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

There is no checkbook that is gonna fix it. There's no phone call that is going to fix it. And a lot of the time the problem that needs to be fixed doesn't get fixed. You just know that you have God. Yeah. You just know that he's your source, he's a refuge and strength of very present help in trouble. And um I wish I wish there was a better way to learn. Um one of my mentors, Pastor Bill Gephardt, often tells me from time to time, and he's had to tell me more times than I wish he had to, that you learn two ways in life, um observation and or experience. And he's like, it's best you learn through observation, because experience is is very humbling. And it's, you know, if there is, as you pointed out, any change in my heart, it it has come through uh Bible study, prayer, being around wise, uh grizzled Christians who who are willing to give me uh the counsel that I need, but it's also come through a lot of tough, tough stuff that God has walked me and my family through. And you're usually at a place where, as you just read, uh the Bible says in in in Philippians 2.7, it says, instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a slave. In those moments where you're going through it, where you lose a job, uh, you lose a family member, uh, a life change that you just wish you could avoid, those are the moments where you feel empty. Yeah. You wish it was your own emptying of yourself, but in those moments you feel a level of emptiness where you're just like, man, like this is hard. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And I and I I do know this to be true. Um, God gives us the strength in those moments. It's not something that we contrive or we just conjure up. He gives us the strength to keep going. Because that that's that's what I found is like quitting is a really easy option in those moments. I think when we do overcome and you don't have a foundation in the Lord, you think it's you. You think you have the strength to get through. When you know uh the Lord, however shallow, he reminds us that it's him.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

And and a lot of that comes through Bible study, being in a solid uh Bible teaching church, uh, moments of prayer, uh, listening to a a really cool worship song that reminds us of the goodness and kindness of of our Lord. And and those are sometimes can be tough moments, but they also can be beautiful in the growth that comes from that reminds us that God is so good and his way is better. May not always may not always feel good, yeah. Um, but it's better nonetheless.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Yeah. I mean it seems like in the last couple of weeks, um, you and I have been walking through just any number of trials, whether it's loss of a loved one or just relational hurt, uh tragedy, and and trials humble us, and and they should drive us closer to God, and and they should point us to the sovereignty of God, seeing that He is in control of all things. And I like how how Pastor Chuck Swindah talked recently about trusting in God's sovereignty does four things for us. Number one, it relieves us from many of the anxieties and worries of life. Two, it releases us from trying to explain the why. We don't know why bad things happen. Three, trusting in God's sovereignty restrains us from arrogance and pride. And then four, it reminds us that He is always in charge. And and we see in in the scripture in Isaiah 66, too, that the humble person is highly esteemed by God. It says, This is the one I esteem, the one who is humble and contrite in spirit, the one who trembles at my word. So practically speaking, I mean, how can we remain humble in our relationships, you know, whether that's with our our spouse or our children or people in the workplace?

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Yeah. I think Tim Keller said it so well. Like it's I don't know if there's ever this place where we are.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

It's always uh a target that we're trying to hit, yeah, which is somewhat admirable, but it's in in in this flesh, I don't I don't think I'm ever gonna get there. Yeah. But um my hope is that there's a level of growth in the surrendering of my heart and and as God continues to remove whatever idol and and and and usually the idol is me. Yeah. And as he continues to, you know, break down my focus on myself, whether it's dealing with people, uh thinking more of myself than I should, you we begin to approach this place and it's better than where we were before. Um I I've often thought about you know, God's goal in my life. I used to think when I was coming up, it was like, uh okay, God's goal is to help me get out of this situation and get here.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

And then once I got there, it was okay, get out of that situation and get here. And usually that revolved around achievement, um a contract, um, a job, um, you know, a house, a neighborhood, whatever it was. It was these these social levels that I was so worried about. And and the more I'm in the word, I see his his goal is to make me more like his son. Yeah. And that is gonna require a level of me uh decreasing and and and him increasing. And and and in that, um, there's a level of humility that has to take place. But I when I when I study the scriptures and I listen to you, and I listen to Pastor Bill, and I listen to, you know, J John MacArthur and all these Swindah, all these guys who preach and teach this really well, it doesn't seem like we're ever gonna totally get there. We're just hopefully moving the chains down the field in a way that is productive and not taking too many penalties and getting pushed back to where we used to be. And I I I when I have a chance to talk to young kids and I I'm talking to young, you know, I'm getting older now, I'm talking to young players and younger coaches that that that ask me, you know, pretty deep questions, like coach, like how like like how do you what do you you know they ask that. That's how it starts. Yeah. And I I hope that I do my best to point them to God's word. Yeah. You know, I'm like, dude, just just get in a good church, get under good teaching and stay in God's word. The Holy Spirit will remind you what you need to know at the right time. And and I I hope and pray that that leads all of us to being uh more humble, knowing that we're not going to get to this perfect place of humility. Yeah. Uh there was only one. And we see it in, as you said so well, the standard for humility in Philippians 2 is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

It can be such a challenge, uh, especially in this world that is dominated at times by by social media. And living in contentment, I think, is a key to humility. You know, comparison can be the thief of contentment when you see this person has that or or they seem to have have it all together. Um but really seeing ourselves not in light of others, but in light uh of God's greatness and and and putting Christ on that pedestal that that is only deserving of Him, seeing all things as as gifts from Him. And I but I think also You know, of 1 Peter 5 5, where Peter says, clothe yourselves with humility. Yeah. So I as we as we put on our clothes each day, just waking up each morning and say, God, clothe me with the humility, uh, renew my mind and my heart in Christ. And help me to be teachable, approachable, help me to be quick to forgive, but also to seek forgiveness. I mean, you we talk about that sometimes. I mean, you and I will mess up in in marriage or or with our kids, and you know, sometimes we have to go to them and say, forgive me. You know, I I was short my words and and I was not reflecting Christ in and my language and the way that I treated you, and and so being being quick to display that honest and sincere humility is so so very, very important.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Yeah, and uh it's it's an interesting thing. I mean, there's in in this life and in this flesh, like we we do have this need or want for rewards. Yeah. And the Bible is is pretty clear. You know, James 4 10 says, humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you. Like that's something that you when you ponder that, it's like you ask the question, would I rather do it my way or would I rather God exalt me? Yeah. You know, and I I I if I'm being totally straight, it's like, yeah, you know, I want God to do it. Even though I have a plan for what I would love to happen, it's always better when God does it. Um Proverbs 22, 4 says the reward for humility and the fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life, and that's a principle. Um so I'm uh my point is like there's there's huge um implications for this um approach to humility. Um but there's also implications to pride, and the Bible's pretty clear about what happens when we're prideful, you know, it leads to destruction. Yeah. And when you think about that, um that is sobering because uh Dr. Stanley would always say, you know, you reap what you sow more than you sow later than you sow. And that that like that's a that's a Stanleyism that will stick with me for the rest of my life. I heard it years ago, and the way he said it, and I I just I I love, you know, Charles Stanley's one of my heroes. I I've watched him when I was he was on TV when I was a kid, and I didn't even know who I didn't know who he was. And then as I got older and God allowed me to go around the country and and listen to different people, and you know, we we have technology that allows for us to see all kinds of people on TV. I got to watch him and read his books, and he just became somebody that I just revered. Yeah. But that was something that he said that really stuck with me. Um we tend to think when we sow, um, that we're gonna reap what we think we're gonna reap. And that that's positive and negative.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

But the the way he put it, um, you reap what you sow more than you sow later than you sow. And it's like, wow, that's sobering. So don't ever think that you're gonna sow a level of pride and it's just gonna come back in in how you think it's gonna come back, it's it's probably gonna come back in a way that's not that great. But when we do sow um humility, thinking less of ourselves or thinking of ourselves less, um God is is really clear in the script in the scriptures that he will exalt us. And having the patience, having the trust in him to allow for him to do what he's gonna do to get us to that point. Because I I we live in this microwave society where we want it, like right now. Yeah. And some ministries, some churches teach um doctrines that have duped a lot of people. You know, if you do this, you're gonna get this. If you sow this, you're gonna get this. Those things may be true, but the the this that comes with the sewing may be something totally different than what you anticipate. And I don't think we even think about um the blessing that we get from sowing what we think is a good act or humility could be something um along the lines of a better prayer life, um, a better relationship at home, uh, seeing your kid grow in an area that you didn't think was possible. I think we tend to look at the exalting or the gift from God as something monetary, something uh material, and we forget that the the the things of God, as he decides to bless us and exalt us, they're up to him, and his ways are above our ways. So we it's uh it's our job to trust that how he chooses to bless, exalt, honor. It's of his choosing.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

Yeah. No, you're absolutely right. I mean, when it comes to pride, we're not going to fully conquer it this side of heaven. I mean, we can make strides, we can we can make uh steps uh as we become less and Christ becomes more in our lives. And and you know, we've been in the in the book of Acts in our church, and and uh I love that section in Acts 4, verse 13, where it says that Peter and John were untrained and uneducated men. They had nothing to boast about in terms of what the world values, but it says that people recognize them as having been with Jesus. And to possess that godly humility, I think that's the first place to start, spending time with the Lord daily in prayer and in the word. And if our lives and our words are saturated with God's word, we will be different. There will be less of us and more of Him as as we live this life of worship and reverence to Him. So any kind of final words of encouragement to someone who just can't seem to have even little baby steps of victory in this area of pride? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

I want to turn to it. It's it's one of my anchor verses. Um it is it is one that we hear all the time, but I think it it deserves a bit of um attention in terms of reading it slowly and breaking it down. Um it's it's Proverbs uh 3, yeah, five, and six. Um we we many Christians know this word, and and many people who aren't Christians, they've they've heard this verse. When you look at it slowly, um, it says trust in the Lord. It doesn't say trust in your ability, it doesn't say trust in your own bank account, it doesn't say trust in your company, it says trust in the Lord with all your heart. With all your heart is a really, really hard thing to do. But that that's what it's calling us to do. And then it says, and do not rely on your own understanding. That's the thing that, like, if I'm just like shucking down the corn, man, that like that's where I get myself in so much trouble, is I start to surmise what I think should happen. And this is the opposite of that. It says, do not rely on your own understanding. And then in this translation, it says, think about him in all your ways. Yeah. Like it's it's just what you just talked about, like trusting God, thinking about him, putting him uh at the forefront of our thoughts, um, our decisions. And then the fruit of that it says he will guide you on the right paths. And another compliment verse to that is Matthew 6, 33. It's seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. If if I can encourage, encourage the listener or the or someone watching, is to make however shallow an effort to put God first, to trust him. Um God's wisdom is is way better than man's wisdom. Now, he may use a man or a woman to give you wisdom. Yeah. But I I think our first reaction in our social structure is to act before we pray. It's to make a decision before we go to the Lord, it's to um get it done before we get on our knees. And, you know, there are times where you have to make a decision. As a parent, as a mom or dad, like there's stuff that's happening with the kids, you're like, hey, I gotta fix this. But in those moments where we have the time, where we have um those thoughts uh before we make a decision, especially if we have the time, go before go before God first in prayer. Go before God first in getting godly counsel. Uh the Bible says there's wisdom in a multitude of counsel. And so that would be my encouragement. I've gotten myself into a lot of trouble, especially as a coach, when I acted in a situation where I had the time to really evaluate what was going on, and I just acted on my experience or I acted on what I thought was right, as opposed to, you know, even if it was going to my office and and having a quick moment of prayer before I acted or made a decision.

SPEAKER_00 43:08

Yeah. It's a good practical word. And you know, as we close, just a reminder to the listener, um, we're with you in in this struggle. You know, we're fellow uh sinners struggling with pride. And so let's together confess that sin daily. Let's clothe ourselves in the humility of Christ, let's abide in Him, let's lean upon His word and His wisdom, not our own understanding. Let's see ourselves rightly in view of God's greatness. And then connect in in community, meaningful community for that encouragement and and godly counsel that we get from other believers. And and please know that we are praying for you. In this area, that you will see victory, daily victory in this area of pride. And feel free to email us if you have other prayer needs. Let us know how we can go to the Lord on your behalf. The email address is money at coaching for the number fourlife.us or will at coachingforlife.us. And uh let me pray for our listeners now. Lord, we do uh confess that we struggle daily in this area of pride and help us to see ourselves in uh a right relationship with you. And uh Lord, help us to get over ourselves and instead, Lord, would you fill us with more of you, more of your word, renew our hearts and and our minds with the scripture, uh, Lord, uh, so that what overflows out of our hearts and out of our mouth is from you. We want to emulate you, Lord Jesus, in the way that you sacrificially loved us by giving up your life for us on the cross for our sin. And Lord, I do pray for the listener that they would see victory over this sin of pride that we all struggle with. And for any listening that that don't know you as Lord and Savior, draw them, Lord Jesus, to yourself today in saving faith. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you for spending some time with us today. And remember, whatever you're facing today, know that God loves you, He sees you, He has a great plan for you, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_02 46:04

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