Pride Indicator

Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!

1 Chronicles 16:11

I was chatting with someone we mentor this week as she was waiting for her mentor to arrive. She shared that she had had a particularly hard and stressful day, but that she had been praying to God throughout the day for help. We didn’t talk long, but I tried to encourage her that even though it was a hard day, she had turned to God for the strength and help she needed, and any time we do that is a Spirit-given victory.  

Yesterday I too was caught up in a couple particularly stressful issues. But in my own pride and hypocrisy, I didn’t turn to God in prayer right away. I stewed and I worried for a good chunk of the day instead. Then I read this quote that I wrote on my whiteboard next to my desk.

“For many Christian leaders, the greatest indicator of pride in our hearts is not the presence of boasting, but the absence of prayer.” – Adam Ramsey

It reminded me to humble myself and pray, which is exactly why I wrote it there.

Neglecting to pray is a silent boast that we can do life without God. When we fail to pray, we’re telling God we can handle everything ourselves without his help. If we set out to do something without praying and then have success, who will we logically give credit to in our minds? Ourselves, of course! When we start to give ourselves credit for things in our lives, pride starts to take root.

But when we pray, we’re confessing that we need God. We’re acknowledging that he is in control. Prayer says that God is more necessary to our lives than oxygen because he’s the one that controls the oxygen in every one of our breaths.