Proverbs 27.6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Proverbs 17.17 A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
1 Peter 5.8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour
Satan fell from his exalted position because of pride. He is the “father” of all pride, arrogance, haughtiness or self righteousness. God places pride at the top of His “hate list” in Proverbs 6. More servants of God have fallen because they have listened to the kisses of the enemy, about how great, or wonderful or holy they are. He loves to whisper his poison of pride that causes them to “take credit” for how gifted and anointed they are.
How true that the kisses of the enemy are deceitful. Our flesh craves attention and adulation. That is why God places such importance on the need to have real humility in our lives. God’s giftings have nothing to do with spiritual maturity. The behavior and division in the church of Corinth makes that abundantly clear.
Jesus calls us His friends. His Word and Spirit are like “wounds” that reveal and oppose our fleshly and proud attitudes in order that we might confess and forsake them.
Jesus is meek and lowly of heart. Though filled with The Spirit without measure, He never did or said anything that was rooted in pride or self promoting. All that He did was according to The Father’s plans and purposes. He was not self willed, but Father willed.
Oh, how glorious it is to be a servant of God! But how sobering it is to realize that I am a steward of all that He has entrusted unto me. Putting on the new man in Christ is a lifelong process of Jesus increasing and me decreasing. We are never more like the devil than when we are proud and arrogant. Likewise, we are never more like Jesus when we are meek and lowly in heart. Lord God, may Your Spirit expose those areas and attitudes of pride in our lives. May you grant us the grace and power to confess and forsake any and every trace of pride in thought or motive in order that Your Name would be magnified in all that we say and do today. Selah
