Fasting From Pride...is that possible?

I have never felt a huge conviction to observe the season of Lent through some sort of fast. I think the one time I did fast was during my junior or senior year of college when I gave up carbonated drinks specifically Dr. Pepper (one of my guilty pleasures). Simple I know, but it was harder than I thought. I honestly don't think it meant all that much to me either because it was sort of the "cool" thing to do.

In the days leading up to the beginning of Lent this year I once again heard others talking about fasting from something which sounded like a good idea. Despite feeling somewhat convicted I still had no direct leading on what to do. Lent began last Wednesday and by the time Sunday came around I still hadn't felt any particular leading. During my shift at work that night I felt a prompting from the Lord to go in a slightly different direction. Since the season of Lent is a time of reflection and repentance I felt it better to allow the Lord to begin to refine, teach and convict me in one particular area, pride. For those of you who have spent any time with me over the past couple of weeks you know how impacted I was through a particular C.J. Mahaney sermon about Humility (Isaiah 66:1-2). That sermon coupled with some difficult situations I have experienced recently opened my eyes to the fact that pride is still very much a part of my life.

I would encourage you to listen to the sermon by C.J. Mahaney I posted a few days ago. It is packed full of good convicting truth. Here are a few things he mentioned that hit hard. I would type out the whole sermon if I could.

- Pride seems to be the essence of all sin.
- An ungrateful person is a proud person.
- Where there is worry or anxiety there is pride at the root.

In his sermon CJ gives some practical application (on a daily level and on a long term level as well) on how to "weaken our greatest enemy (pride) and cultivate our greatest friend (humility)." Those application ideas were what stirred something in my heart. I believe that God wants to mortify the sin of pride in my life beginning in this season of Lent and continuing on from there. I hope to use some of those applications as a good starting place.

One of the areas where the sin of pride is most evident in my own life is in the area of grumbling and complaining. So I've taken time to talk with Jon and a co-worker (Sarah) asking them to hold me accountable in this area. So here I am sharing this with the blogging world as well...if you see me on a daily or weekly basis...keep me accountable. I've also taken this time to work on memorizing scripture pertaining to pride, humility and the attributes of God because in all reality next to the Cross of Christ we are all nothing!

So yeah, that's me right now. God is growing and challenging me in new and exciting ways. It has already been incredibly difficult and it hasn't even been one week. It's amazing how I can go through an entire day and not even acknowledge my dependence upon God.

May God in his ultimate grace and mercy use this time to make me more like his son.

Memory Verse #1

"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Humble yourselves, therefore under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

I Peter 5:5b-7