Isa 43:10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Out Of Any Circumstance

Yes, I must and will pray. What else can I do! What better can I do? 

Betrayed, forsaken, grieved, baffled, O my LORD, I will call upon Thee. 

My Ziklag is in ashes, and men speak of stoning me; but I encourage my heart in the LORD, who will bear me through this trial as He has borne me through so many others.

Jehovah shall save me; I am sure He will, and I declare my faith. 

The LORD and no one else shall save me. I desire no other helper and would not trust in an arm of flesh even if I could.

I will cry to Him evening, and morning, and noon, and I will cry to no one else, for He is all sufficient.

How He will save me I cannot guess; but He will do it, I know. He will do it in the best and surest way, and He will do it in the largest, truest, and fullest sense. 

Out of this trouble and all future troubles the great I AM will bring me as surely as He lives.

And when death comes and all the mysteries of eternity follow thereon, still will this be true: "the LORD shall save me."

This shall be my song all through this autumn day. 

Is it not as a ripe apple from the tree of life? I will feed upon it. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Monday, August 25, 2014

Food And Rest

Eze 34:15  I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.

Under the divine shepherdry saints are fed to the full. 

Theirs is not a windy, unsatisfying mess of mere human thought, but the LORD feeds them upon the solid, substantial truth of divine revelation. 

There is real nutriment for the soul in Scripture brought home to the heart by the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus Himself is the true life-sustaining Food of believers.

Here our Great Shepherd promises that such sacred nourishment shall be given us by His own self. 

If, on the LORD's Day, our earthly shepherd is empty-handed, the LORD is not. 

When filled with holy truth the mind rests. Those whom Jehovah feeds are at peace. No dog shall worry them, no wolf shall devour them, no restless propensities shall disturb them. 

They shall lie down and digest the food which they have enjoyed. 

The doctrines of grace are not only sustaining but consoling: in them we have the means for building up and lying down.

This day may the LORD cause us to feed in the pastures of the Word and make us to lie down in them. 

May no folly and no worry but meditation and peace mark this day.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Friday, August 22, 2014

The Curse Removed!

The curse of God is not easily taken away. In fact, there was but one method whereby it could be removed.

The lightnings were in God's hand; they must be launched- he said they must. 


The sword was unsheathed; it must be satisfied- God vowed it must.

How, then, was the sinner to be saved?

The only answer was this--
The Son of God appears; and he says, "Father! launch your thunderbolts at me! Here is my breast- plunge that sword in here! Here are my shoulders- let the lash of vengeance fall on them!"

And Christ, the Substitute, came forth and stood for us, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God."


~Charles Spurgeon~

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

The Peacock Of Pride

 He is the most lovely Christian–who is the most lowly Christian. 

As incense smells the sweetest when it is beaten smallest–so saints look loveliest when they lie lowest.

God will not allow such a weed as pride to grow in His garden, without taking some course to root it up. 

Pride is a sinner’s torment–but humility is a saint’s ornament.  

Be clothed with humility. Where humility is the cornerstone- there glory shall be the top-stone.

God many times places a thorn in the flesh to pierce the balloon of pride. 


He makes us feel a sense of our misery that we may know His unmerited mercy. 

The first Adam was for self-advancement but the second Adam is for self-abasement. The former was for having SELF deified–the latter is for having SELF crucified 

We live by dying to ourselves; and die by living to ourselves.  

There is no proud man who is not a foolish man; and scarcely is there any foolish man who is not a proud man. 

It is the night-owl of ignorance, which broods and hatches the peacock of pride. 

“I hate pride and arrogance!” Proverbs 8:13. God abhors those people worst who adore themselves most. 

Pride is not a Bethel–that is, a house where God dwells; but a Babel–that is, a stinking dungeon in which Satan abides.

Pride is not only a most hateful evil but it is a radical evil. As all other lusts are found lodging in it–so they are found springing from it.

Pride is a foul leprosy, in the face of morality; and a hurtful worm, gnawing at the root of humility. 

Pride is a cancer within, and a spreading plague without!

Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.  Peter 5:5

- William Secker, 1660

Monday, August 18, 2014

The Sheep's Clothing Will Soon Be Stripped From The Wolf's Back!

2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

A hypocrite may be both the fairest creature and the foulest creature in the world!

He may be fairest outwardly in the eyes of man and foulest inwardly in the sight of God.

How commonly do such unclean swans cover their black flesh with their white feathers! 


Though such wear the mantle of Samuel-they should bear the name of Satan!

Many appear righteous who are only righteous in appearance. 


But while they are deceiving others with the false shows of holiness...they are also deceiving themselves with the false hopes of happiness.

The hypocrite would not willingly appear evil and yet would inwardly be evil. He would gladly be accounted godly and yet would not be godly.

What will a form of godliness do for you if you deny the power thereof?

Those who have the power of godliness, cannot deny the form; while those who have the form of godliness, may deny the power.

Hypocrites resemble looking-glasses which present faces that are not in them.

Oh, how desirous are men to put the fairest gloves upon the foulest hands; and the finest paint upon the rottenest posts!

Hypocrites are better in show than in substance.

They are like painted tombs which enclose decayed bones. 


That is a sad charge, which the God of truth brings against certain false professors, "I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and are not but are the synagogue of Satan!"

A false friend is worse than an open enemy.


A painted harlot is less dangerous than a painted hypocrite.

A treacherous Judas is more abhorred by God than a bloody Pilate!

Professors! Remember...the sheep's clothing will soon be stripped from the wolf's back!

The velvet plaster of profession shall not always conceal the offensive ulcer of corruption.

The blazing lamps of foolish virgins may light them to the bridegroom's gate but not into His chamber.
 

Either get the nature of Christ within you or take the name of Christ away from you.

A bad man is certainly the worst when he is seemingly the best.

We must not account everyone a soldier who swaggers with a sword. 


A rusty sword may frequently be found in a highly decorated scabbard.

What good is it to have our hands as white as snow if our hearts are as black as the bottomless pit!

Such professors resemble soap bubbles...smooth and pretty without-yet only filled with air!

A man may wear the Savior's livery and yet be busied in Satan's drudgery!

The skin of an apple may be fair when it is rotten at the core!

Though all gold may glitter yet all is not gold that glitters.

The worst hypocrite may have the color of gold but not the value of gold!

~William Secker~1660

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Dominion By Compromise

Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him....

It is necessary, in order to get the value and force of Christ's words, to go back and read in the book of Deuteronomy from which the Lord quotes at this time. 

If you read there in chapter 6:13-15 you will see the significance of this answer and of this temptation: "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; and him shalt thou serve. Ye shall not go after other gods... for the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is a jealous God".

Now you have the setting for the temptation; the jealousy of God for undivided and unreserved worship, and whether that jealousy finds genuine occasion by divided worship, or worship of other gods. Then there is judgement and destruction. 

That temptation by the devil was a deeply laid plot. It is a terrible thing to admit as a possibility in the case of the Lord Jesus, but there it is. "Thou madest him to have dominion"; 

Thou hast put all things under his feet. That is the end, that is the object. The temptation was to defeat that end, and to offer it on a certain ground.

It does seem that many have accepted the devil's offer; that is, they have sought for and obtained a measure of power and influence, position, recognition in this world and have come to eminence by compromise, by not taking the road of utterness for God. They seem to have scored; they seem to have gained. 

The truth, if this Scripture means anything, is, firstly, all that compromise lies under the judgement of God, and, secondly, the outworking is that they have lost the inheritance.

Judgement does not always come instantly, but it comes sooner or later. 

Oh, how subtle this temptation! The word in Deuteronomy is: Ye shall not go after other gods lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and he destroy thee...". 

The devil said: "...if thou wilt fall down and worship me". God save us from compromise with the subtle forces of the devil who would offer an easy way to success by letting go something of the utterness of our position for God.

Let us remember that all pressure from the enemy is related in some way to his demand for worship. 

His very pressure, the intensity of his pressure, is to get you to give way, to acknowledge him, even to be afraid of him in a wrong sense. 

That is worshipping him, setting him up as someone important, as high and mighty, so that he begins to block out your view of One who is still higher. 

He presses to beat you down to worship, to break you to worship.

It is bound up with his lust for worship. And so what he cannot get (as he does with the world) by offering openly through compromise, he tries to get by sheer force of pressure and assault to bring us down before him.

It is all bound up with this demand for worship, and those who most refuse him that worship will most be his enemies.

That is only another way of saying that if we are going to have the Lord as the sole and utter Object of our devotion, with no compromise at all, then we shall find the enemy most set against us.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Friday, August 15, 2014

Weapon Of Spiritual Warfare~Prayer

Throughout history every outstanding man and and woman of God has been a person of prayer. 

Prayer is one of the Christian disciple's most powerful weapons. 

In prayer, the believer receives the infilling of divine energy.

After Jesus had prayed and fasted for forty days, He victoriously defeated Satan single-handedly in the greatest spiritual struggle ever recorded.

The prayer closet is actually the counsel chamber where divine commands are issued. 


In order to possess great dominion, you must constantly return to the Master to receive instructions from Him.

The prayer closet is the heart-study place. This is not where the mind learns, it's where the heart becomes instructive. 


In prayer we learn about God, His blessings, and His anointings.

Jesus told Peter, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17).  


We learn more in an hour of devotion and prayer than in many hours of searching libraries and seeking out man's wisdom.

Divine revelation is brought into focus in the prayer closet. You won't find it anywhere else. 


Prayer is the key that unlocks the treasures of GOD. 

Prayer is Power.

Elijah demonstrated the dominion of prayer when he called upon GOD to send rain upon the land.

The New Testament points out that Elijah was a man like we are. The difference is, he knew how to pray.

The early Church prayed, and the place where they were assembled together was shaken. (See Acts 4:31.)

Paul and Silas prayed and sang songs in the inner cell of a Philippian jail at midnight.The strength of their prayer shook the jail itself and resulted in the salvation of the jailer. 

(See Acts 16: 25-34.)

The act of praying generates omnipotence. Prayer gives the frail human reed unshakable strength. 


If you do not know how to pray, you do not know the Power of GOD. 

Prayer is the most talked about, discussed, and the least used power available to mankind.

Oil, undiscovered, is an untapped resource. Coal, not mined, is an untapped source of power. But the greatest source of untapped power and resource is prayer.

All that prayer can do has never yet been defined. This tremendous source of power has never been fully researched or developed.
 

In his article,"Man the Unknown" published in Reader's Digest, Dr. alexis Carrel said: "As a physician, I have seen men, after all other therapy had failed, lifted out of disease and melancholy by the serene effort of prayer. It is the only power in the world that seems to overcome the so-called 'laws of nature.'

Through personal communication with the Creator, you can do things you could never do before.


Pray without ceasing, and you will know dominion in your life. Continual communion with the Commander assures victory! 

~Lester Sumrall~

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Weapon Of Spiritual Warfare~Faith

Without dynamic faith born in the heart at conversion and nourished through the Word of GOD, a believer cannot successfully engage in battle with demon power and win.

When Jesus came down from the mount where He was gloriously transfigured, He was met with the news that His disciples had been unable to cast the devil out of a certain man's lunatic son.

His first reaction to the report was: "Oh Faithless Generation".

The devil departed, of course, at Jesus' command.

His disciples asked Jesus" "Why could not we cast him out?"

"Because of your unbelief," Jesus replied:

Mat 17:14  And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
 

Mat 17:15  Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
 

Mat 17:16  And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
 

Mat 17:17  Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
 

Mat 17:18  And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
 

Mat 17:19  Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
 

Mat 17:20  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 

When a person is challenged by temptation, disease, or the devil, his faith must constantly come into focus. He must have faith to command GOD'S Power.

When GOD told Abraham He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham reasoned with GOD. He stood before the LORD and said:

Gen 18:23  And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
 

Gen 18:24  Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
 

Gen 18:25  That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

GOD agreed to Abraham's request and said He would not destroy those wicked cities for the sake of fifty righteous people 

Abraham decreased the number of the righteous to forty-five then forty, then thirty, then twenty, and finally 10.

Each time the LORD was willing to meet Abraham's conditions.

The true power of faith never has been fully utilized by man. 

GOD is still waiting for heroes of faith to use the divine dominion He gave to Adam in the Garden Of Eden.

In the New Testament Church, it was the force of faith, that caused Peter to turn to the body of a dead woman and say, "Tabitha Arise". (Acts 9:40)

It was by faith that the apostle Paul commanded the spirit of divination to come out of the fortune-telling damsel. (See Acts 16:18)

Faith is the key that unlocks the generosity and strength of GOD.

Faith pleases GOD, "but without faith it is impossible to please him (Hebrews 11:6).

Faith has been called the eye that sees the invisible, the ear that hears the inaudible, the hand that feels the intangible, and the power that works the impossible.

Jesus said "All things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23)

Faith works by the spoken word. Saying and believing go together, as Jesus explained.

Mark 11:23  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Faith is an act. Martin Luther gave this view of faith: "It is a busy, active, living reality that does not ask, "What shall I do?'
but before it has time to ask, it is up and doing.

David believed Goliath would be defeated, so he hurled a stone at his head. Faith acts.

Faith is a way of life-a walk with GOD. 

The great miracles that characterized Smith Wigglesworth, ministry were the result of his close walk with GOD.

He talked with GOD so often and for so long that when Smith made a request it was easy for GOD to understand.

The tendency of many is to walk so far from GOD that is it not possible to hear Him when He speaks.

Bur the person of dominion will walk with GOD and live out his faith.

Living faith, the life of GOD, will flow from his innermost being.

How do you get faith? The rule is simply this:

Rom 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 

The Word alone is the source of faith. But the Word will not build faith unless it becomes a part of your very being.

Jesus said:
John 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 

~Lester Sumrall~








 



Sunday, August 10, 2014

Seven Fears Through Which The Devil Would Lke To Attack Your Dominion In Christ Jesus

The devil would like to attack your dominion in Christ through fear in these seven areas:

1. Fear of change:

A person who refuses change grows old quickly. We say he is "set in his ways," but this literally means he refuses to change.

Fear of changing jobs, fear of moving to a new location, or fear of making new friends often destroys the power of dominion.

Many people could be victorious if they were not fearful of change.

2. Fear of people.

It is the devil's trick to make us afraid of people. Nehemiah's enemies tried to make him afraid. Nehemiah responded to their hired prophet,

Should such a man as I  flee or run and hide?

Neh 6:11  And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.  .
Nehemiah knew dominion and had no fear. Sometimes people fear their boss because he is overbearing or demanding.

Other people are afraid to witness to their neighbors about their relationship with Jesus.

God told His prophet Jeremiah, "Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee" (Jeremiah 1:8). We must never fear people.

3. Fear of the unknown.

A person can never have dominion if he fears the unknown. God commands the unknown, and His positive power is stronger than any negative force.

Rest in the fact that God has His hand on tomorrow, and you need not be afraid of the unknown.

In Numbers, chapter thirteen, twelve select leaders of Israel were sent into Palestine to spy out the Land of Promise.

Ten of them returned with what the Bible calls an "evil report." They said, in effect, "The land is good, and the country is beautiful. It is rich and desirable, but giants live there."

They told Moses, "We are like grasshoppers before them." (See Numbers 13:32-33.) The nation of Israel accepted the spy's evil report.

They had forgotten how God brought them out of Egypt not through their strength but in His power.

They had forgotten the miracles that took place in the desert.

Now they refused the dominion that belonged to them, and they turned back into the Sinai desert.

For forty years they wandered around in a waterless land until they all died.

Not one of the adults who accepted that report of fear entered the Promised Land.

God had said, "The land is yours. "The devil had said, "You are too small, too weak, and too insignificant.

The Israelites obeyed the wrong source of information, and their fear of the unknown kept them from receiving God's promises.

4. Fear of responsibilities.

No person can enjoy dominion if he fears to take on greater responsibilities.

If you are willing to stay at the bottom because you cannot accept responsibility, you will never know the joys of dominion.

5. Fear of failure.

Nothing destroys the power of dominion like the stalking fear of failure.The devil fosters this kind of fear, but the Spirit of Jesus does not know failure. When we are linked with Him, it is impossible to fail.

Fear of failure comes from the devil and must be destroyed before you can enjoy the rewards of dominion.

6. Fear of added work.

You would be amazed at the millions of people who are fearful of what added work would do to them.

They do not realize that while they are worrying about it, they could be accomplishing something worth while.

Additional work brings spiritual and material growth.
The devil's fears are always exaggerated and erroneous, so never be afraid of taking on added jobs.

7. Fear of physical or mental breakdown.

Many men and women are tormented by the fear of having a breakdown. They fear the disintegration of their strength and moral courage.

Job said that what he greatly feared came upon him. (See Job 3:25.) We must rebuke all such fear and be part of that select group who have dominion.

For God hath not given us the spirit of  fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind
(2 Timothy 1:7).

Rebuke the devil, and he will flee from you. Rebuke fear, and it will flee from you. Once fear is deflected in your life, you can become the person of power God wants you to be.

~Dr. Lester Sumrall~

Friday, August 8, 2014

The Spider's Web Will Be Destroyed!

Isa 59:5  They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

See the spider’s web, and behold in it a most suggestive picture of the hypocrite’s religion.
 

It is meant to catch his prey: the spider fattens himself on flies, and the Pharisee has his reward.
 

Foolish persons are easily entrapped by the loud professions of pretenders, and even the more judicious cannot always escape. 

Philip baptized Simon Magus, whose guileful declaration of faith was so soon exploded by the stern rebuke of Peter. 

Custom, reputation, praise, advancement, and other flies, are the small game which hypocrites take in their nets.

A spider’s web is a marvel of skill: look at it and admire the cunning hunter’s wiles.

Is not a deceiver’s religion equally wonderful? 

How does he make so barefaced a lie appear to be a truth?  

How can he make his tinsel answer so well the purpose of gold? 

A spider’s web comes all from the creature’s own bowels. 

The bee gathers her wax from flowers, the spider sucks
no flowers, and yet she spins out her material to any length. 


Even so hypocrites find their trust and hope within themselves; their anchor was forged on their own anvil, and their cable twisted by their own hands.  

They lay their own foundation, and hew out the pillars of their own house, disdaining to be debtors to the sovereign grace of God. 

But a spider’s web is very frail. It is curiously wrought, but not enduringly manufactured. It is no match for the servant’s broom, or the traveller’s staff. 

The hypocrite needs no battery of Armstrongs to blow his hope to pieces, a mere puff of wind will do it. 

Hypocritical cobwebs will soon come down when the besom of destruction begins its purifying work. 

Which reminds us of one more thought, viz., that such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lord’s house: he will see to it that they and those who spin them shall be destroyed forever. 

O my soul, be thou resting on something better than a spider’s web. Be the Lord Jesus thine eternal hiding-place.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

YOU Are NOT Your Own!

Know ye not that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, Know ye not that ye were bought with a price, Know ye not that ye are not your own?

What does that threefold interrogation mean? Why, that on every ground every bit of us is claimed by God and should be recognized as belonging to God, and we should yield utterly to God's ownership: spirit, soul and body. 

Not your own. Man loves to be free to direct his own course and choose his own way, and make his own arrangements and judge his own judgments. 

But God claims to have the government of man's life in every part and that is sanctification, that God's rights are recognized in every part of our being.

That is the strong side, the side of demand, where rights come in: God's rights. 

Oh, the unspeakable privilege and honor of having a whole man belonging to God...that God should have His way and His pleasure in a man's entire being - spirit, soul and body.

Do you think that you will lose anything if you give yourself to God?

Do you think that life will be a meaner, smaller, narrower thing by being consecrated to God?

Do you think that you will have to give up all sorts of things and life will be stripped of its enjoyment and pleasure if you become wholly God's?

There never was a bigger lie in the universe than that! 

Ask anyone who has let this world go for God and they will say, There is immeasurable gain. 

Some of us know something of that and we would scorn to contemplate an exchange with the unsaved; not because we have never known what they know, not because we have never tasted what they are tasting; it is because we have.

At best there is a hollowness in their hearts and it takes them all their time to keep it up. 

When one bit of pleasure has been exhausted, they have to rush off and find something more or life is going to fritter out and be a wretched thing, but we have in our hearts an eternal satisfaction and we are absolutely independent of that.

The world says, "You never do this and that, you never go here and there and it does not seem to bother you very much". Yes, that is true, that is the testimony; that is the fact.

Total consecration does not narrow life; it enriches life, it brings you to the secret of life, making you know that you have got a being. 

It brings you into the thought of God before this world was created, "We were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world" and God purposed a purpose in His Son before the world was.

But you never discover this until you have accepted Christ and then the very first thing a young convert knows is that they have something to live for.

They do not understand it, but they feel, "Now I know why I have come into this world." 

A purpose comes in, and to be wholly God's is not to lose; it is to gain, to come into the expansion of everything

~T. Austin Sparks~

Monday, August 4, 2014

Character

Reputation is what a man's neighbors and friends think of him.  

Character is what the man is.                                                     

Character is personal. It is not a possession we can share with someone else. 

We can give a hungry person part of our loaf of bread; we can divide our money with one who needs it; but character is something we cannot give away or transmit.

The brave soldier cannot share his courage with the trembling recruit who fights by his side in the battle.

The pure, gentle woman cannot give part of her purity and gentleness, to the defiled and hardened woman she meets.
 

Character is our own - a part of our very being. It grows in us over the years. 

Acts repeated become habits, and character is made up in the long run, of those habits which have been repeated so often, that they become a permanent part of our lives.
 

Sow a thought and you will reap an act; sow an act and you will reap a habit; sow a habit and you will reap a character; sow character and you will reap a destiny!
 

As the tree falls so must it lie; As the man lives so must he die!
As a man dies such must he be; All through the ages of eternity!

~J. R. Miller~

Friday, August 1, 2014

The Most Secret, Subtle, And Insinuating Of All Sins!

Psa 10:4  The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
 
The Pride of the wicked is the principal reason why they will not seek after the knowledge of God. 

Pride renders God a disagreeable and undesirable object of contemplation to the wicked.
 

Pride consists in an unduly exalted opinion of one's self. It is, therefore . . .impatient of a rival, hates a superior, and cannot endure a master!
 

In proportion as Pride prevails in the heart, it makes us wish to see no God above us, to acknowledge no law but our own wills, to follow no rule but our own inclinations.
 

Thus pride led Satan to rebel against his Creator — and our first parents to desire to be as gods.
 

Since such are the effects of Pride, it is evident that nothing can be more painful to a proud heart, than the thoughts of such a being as God . . .one who is infinitely powerful, just, and holy; one who can neither be resisted, deceived, nor deluded; one who disposes, according to His own sovereign pleasure, of all creatures and events; one who, in an especial manner, Hates Pride, and is determined to Abase and Punish it!
 

Such a being, the proud man can contemplate only with feelings of dread, aversion, and abhorrence! 

The proud man must look upon God as his natural enemy, his great enemy, whom he has to fear!
 

But the knowledge of God directly tends to bring this infinite, irresistible, irreconcilable Enemy — fully to the view of the proud man. It teaches proud man that he has a superior, a master . . .from whose authority he cannot escape, whose power he cannot resist, and whose will he must obey — or be crushed before Him, and be rendered miserable forever! 

It shows proud man what he hates to see . . .that, in despite of his opposition — God's counsel shall stand, that God will do all His pleasure, and that in all things, God is above them.  

These truths torture the proud unhumbled hearts of the wicked, and hence they hate that knowledge of God which teaches these truths, and will not seek it. 

On the contrary, they wish to remain ignorant of such a being, and to banish all thoughts of Him from their minds.
They endeavor to believe that God is altogether such a one as themselves. How foolish, how absurd, how ruinous, how blindly destructive of itself — does pride appear!
 

By attempting to soar - pride only plunges itself in the mire!
And while endeavoring to erect a throne for itself - pride undermines the ground on which it stands and digs its own grave!

 

Pride plunged Satan from Heaven into Hell, banished our first parents from paradise, and will, in a similar manner, eternally ruin all who indulge in it!
 

Unrepented pride keeps us in ignorance of God, shuts us out from His favor, prevents us from resembling Him, deprives us in this world, of communion with Him, and will bar the door of Heaven forever against us, and close upon us the gates of Hell.
 

O then, my friends, beware, above all things, beware of pride! Beware, lest you indulge it imperceptibly, for it is the most secret, subtle, and insinuating of all sins!)

Edward Payson 1783-1827