DELIBERATELY PURSUING GOD
PART FIVE
PRIDE DECREASES THE ANOINTING

You would think having experience in leading worship and playing in church bands would allow us to understand the way God operates, but just because someone can tell time does not mean they know how a watch works. Trying to figure Him out is like trying to imagine His face or trying to see heaven in your mind. But, one thing we can learn is how pride and humility have a direct effect on the “anointing dial” with leading corporate worship, teaching and the direction of the church service. Since James 4:6 says, that God does in fact “resist” the proud, it only makes sense that pride lowers the spiritual effectiveness in our ministry. We can agree that leaning on the flesh and depending on our ability to perform, automatically decreases the desires and plans of God to be manifested (actually this can relate to anything we are involved with). James goes on to say that God gives grace to the humble which would include the increase and blessing of His presence.

Many of us have experienced in our ministry that when there is a high level of confidence and excitement – it usually ends in disappointment. And the times when we are at the “end of ourselves” and desperately cry out for Him to help us, His presence and glory is awesome. Why? Because there is a difference between having faith in our own abilities to accomplish what WE want to see – and being filled with an understanding that it must be all of HIM and none of us (there is definitely a song in that). It is healthy to have an expectation that He is going to be there and do all the things He desires, but somewhere in the mix we must remove our twisted thinking that it depends on how “talented” we are. We know that pride is an obvious sinful attitude that has a secret agenda of arrogant and selfish motives but this sneaky breed of pride that relies completely on human ability is not as noticeable to the person who is infected with it. As in all deceptions, the person cannot see what is happening and considers what they are doing as sincere and with good intentions. God wants to flow through us but the vessel must have a shiny, clean attitude! It is true that anointed music is HOLY medicine that can bring healing to the body, mind and spirit of all who hear the Word and reach out in faith – but we must always remember that we are just the syringe…not the doctor.
What would be the most awesome spiritual experience a human could have? Many would say, “Literally seeing God or talking with God” and I must admit that would be beyond my imagination. But as I stumbled upon an example of this phenomena happening, I realize once again that everything is not as it would seem. Just to have a conversation with God does not mean that you are “close” to Him, being swept up into the glorious joys of obedience and blessings or even love Him. Allow me to present the story found in Genesis chapter four, where God “literally” spoke to Cain – yes, Cain clearly heard God speak and then he boldly responded back to the Lord with a hateful attitude! You see just because we have a conversation between the creator and the creation does not necessarily mean it is something to be desired. There are other examples of conversations that were not filled with lovey-dovey spiritual bliss. We see Jonah was told to go preach a revival to a city of people and he ran the other direction because he had prejudice in his heart and rebelled in anger. We also notice the exchange that Job and God had between each other and are amazed at the accusations and emotional frustration.

I know we all get somewhat hungry in-between our delicious meals but have you ever been really hungry? I have heard it said that general hunger pains come from the messages that are wired from the stomach and blood system to the brain. This built-in mechanism sends communication warnings from all over our body to the central headquarters that, “sugar and energy levels are dropping and food is needed.” We have the choice to respond or ignore these signals and I can say with confidence that we usually do not ignore our fleshly cravings and desires. This causes me to wonder, does the spiritual world work in a similar way? We know that when our spirit becomes transformed through the new birth experience of salvation, we become as little newborn babies. And just like fleshly babies that cry for milk because they need to be satisfied, I believe our new spirit also cries out for spiritual nourishment. Of course the only true spiritual satisfaction is God’s word and His presence. When we choose to commune with him and feast at His table, we become strengthened and filled with his joy and power just like when we go to Golden Coral. But if we ignore the calls and “signals” from our spirit man, do they also after a period of time go away? Sliding away from God’s word and neglecting prayer will cause weakness and malnutrition. Are you really hungry and thirsty to be closer to Him? The Lord say’s, “turn off the entertainment this evening and come have a quiet “dinner” with me.