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This is the daily devotion from the book, “Holding On and Letting Go” and the companion audio from the July 28, 2021 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.

Here is day eighteen with an important reminder to let go of the pride which keeps you from seeking, and seeing, the help God wants to provide.

Let Go Of Pride

“Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.”
Proverbs 13:10 (NIV)

Are you a prideful person?  Is pride always bad?  Explain.  Do you like asking for help?  Why?  Do you ever give up on something when you know it could be done if you had a little help?  Why?  Are there things you expect others to do that you won’t?  Why?  How will letting go of pride help both you and others as you live in the midst of chaos?

For many, one of the hardest things to do is to ask for help because it requires us to admit we can’t do something on our own.  Pride wants to isolate us from those that God may well have surrounded us with for the very purpose of providing the help we desperately need.  Letting go of pride will help us not only admit our need, but it open us up to allowing others to help us in ways that perhaps only they can.  In the fog of disaster, pride can also creep in and say, “I didn’t deserve this.”  While true or not, the problem with such a statement is that it focuses on self rather than on the shared loss by all that experience the same, or similar, disaster.  When our focus is on what we did or didn’t deserve, we will rarely lift our eyes far enough to see the shared suffering that is experienced by many around us.  Pride is a tool of isolation as it attempts to lift us up above everyone else.  When we let go of pride, we can not only see those around us who are also struggling, we can often see ways that we can help them even as we ourselves are being helped.  It is when we replace pride with humility that we find ourselves lifted up by God in order to be His shining light in the midst of chaos.  Letting go of pride brings hope as it helps us love people as Jesus does.

As you pray, ask God to help you examine yourself for any traces of pride that lifts yourself above someone else.  Pray that God would help you remove all elements of pride that keep you from asking for and receiving the help you need.  Pray that you would let go of pride as you learn and practice humility while seeking to live like Jesus.

In prayer,
Tom