TRAPPED BY PRIDE(excerpt from Removing Satan’s Seat)

Proverbs 16:18 NKJV“Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. 19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”

1 Peter 5:5-6 NKJV “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.  Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  6″Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”

Now that you have the bigger picture of what this book is about, let’s get into the details. In this section, I want to talk to you about the first growth trap. Keep in mind what I have already shared regarding “growth traps.”  Christians must make a full commitment to follow Jesus Christ, and Him alone. If you are going to really follow Him, you must be willing to grow and mature. Growth is the one thing the spiritual world recognizes. Demons recognize growing Christians.  Once you are a recognized threat, the chess game begins.

A man by the name of Howard Pitman came to our church and shared his experience of being escorted through the spirit realm by an angel of the Lord. He was able to observe the ruling counsel of Satan, which consisted of Satan himself and twelve princes. Each of the princes had legions of demons at their disposal. Their appearance was that of a giant athlete made of bronze.  Mr. Pitman observed them discussing strategies in what appeared to be a war-room.  He saw huge maps of different parts of the world in the room.

The maps indicated where most of their activity needed to be. Mr. Pitman could also hear their conversation. They were discussing an attack plan for the End Times! Their conversation was about how they would strategically send and use demons in various situations.  What really caught my attention was something Mr. Pitman said about the five-point attack plan of Satan for the last days. These demons are very exact in their maneuvers. I recall him saying that nothing bad in a person’s life was accidental; it was a part of an overall attack plan against that individual, even down to the stubbing of one’s toe. This made me realize that the devil orchestrated some things in our lives just to see how we would react to them. He is collecting data to develop a customized attack plan against us.

Let me inject something in the midst of this study. Your Heavenly Father has a plan for your life before you were ever born! As you follow the leading of the Spirit, you will never have to be concerned about any plan against you. No weapon formed against you will prosper! Now back to our chess game.

The enemy gathers information like our family histories, and what demons have worked successfully in our families. He also looks to see whether there is a difference between your private life and your public life? He is interested in your thought life. All this information becomes data to determine which demon should attack and when. The attack strategy works off of the collection of data on your life. Every one of us has tendencies toward one or more of the growth traps. In this section, we are going to deal with pride and the demon spirit behind it. We will  learn about the dangers of pride in our lives. We are going to find out just how dangerous pride really is. In addition, we will learn how to recognize the voice of pride.  Pride has a voice and it will speak to us.  There have been times we have thought prideful thoughts, when in fact, the pride demon is sitting on our shoulder and speaking those prideful thoughts to us. I will help you discern the difference between a single thought and a flood of thoughts. Knowing the difference will help us cast down the prideful thought or rebuke the pride demon. Finally, we will learn how to close the door against pride and keep it closed.

I have had experience in dealing with this demon and have learned a great deal.  The spirit of pride has been in my family for many years.  I have to really keep a constant watch out for this demon. At the end of this section, I will tell you a great story of how I really saw how ugly and displeasing to God pride is! Hopefully, I will be able to provide a sufficient amount of information for you.