Most people struggle with pride, especially people who have been hurt growing up as pride tells you not to trust anyone and that your decisions are always the best. Most people cannot see how prideful they actually are as they are blinded to it. Pride is a spirit which is controlled under the spirit of Leviathan. Chapter 41 of Job talks all about Leviathan.
Job 41:34 NKJV
34 He (Leviathan) beholds every high (prideful) thing;
He is king over all the children of pride.”
How can you tell if you are struggling with pride? Remember that pride got Lucifer kicked out of heaven and then he became Satan. Most religious people in the church have high levels of pride that they cannot see. So how can you discern if you are struggling with pride. Let’s list the signs that you may have pride.
Signs of Pride:
#1 – Assuming you already know something when someone is teaching
When you immediately tune someone out who starts teaching you something that you may be somewhat familiar with, that is an example of pride. It is the assumption that you know everything about the subject being communicated and that this person, whom you see as inferior in knowledge to you, cannot teach you something new.
#2 – Seeing yourself as too good to perform certain tasks
When someone asks you to do something and your immediate thought is, “I, out of all people, shouldn’t have to do that. That task is for someone else.” That is a sign of pride that we should consider dealing with. Next time this thought arises ask yourself,
If Jesus was willing to leave heaven and come to earth for me, then who am I to say I am too good to do what someone asks me to do?
#3 – Being too proud to ask for help
There is something to be said for independence. However, there are times in life when we must all admit that something is beyond our capacity and that we need help. The unwillingness to recognize our own shortcomings and need for help is a sign of pride.
#4 – Feeling the Need to Consistently Teach People Things
Have you ever been in a group where someone feels the needs to dominate the conversation and seemingly spill everything they know without giving other people the opportunity to share? Sometimes this can be a sign of pride because when a person knows something that they know most other people don’t know much about, it creates a sense of pride within them.
#5 – Talking about Yourself a Lot
When you talk a lot about your accomplishments, your education, title, position, and/or financial status, that is a sign of pride. The Bible says, “Be quick to listen and slow to speak…” (James 1:19). When we talk about ourselves a lot it reveals that we have not yet learned how to come up out of ourselves and focus on the interests of others (Phil. 2:3).
#6 – Thinking You are Better Than Others Who are Different or Less Fortunate
This one is subtle because a person can appear to be humble and caring on the outside. However, in their minds they secretly think they are better than other people who may have different backgrounds, cultures or experiences than they do.
#7 – When you disregard the advice of others
This has its root in thinking you have all the answers to life and you somehow don’t need or see the value in other people’s perspectives. It carries the idea that you believe you can be successful and accomplish your goals without the counsel of others.
#8 – When you are consistently critical
This is when we tend to put others down often because there is a deep-seated need for us to feel better about ourselves. People who are critical are that way because they secretly see themselves as exempt from the very same things they criticize others. This is pride.
#9 – Consistent need for attention and affirmation
When someone constantly needs to be the center of attention in public or secretly craves consistent affirmation for their accomplishments, looks, personality, serving, intelligence, and/or physique, this is a sign of pride.
#10 – Unable to receive constructive criticism
When a person struggles to allow other people to speak into their lives and provide helpful feedback it is a sign of pride because they are too blinded by their own pride to see the value in what someone is sharing with them and how it can help make them a better person. You believe you are never wrong and everyone else is.
#11 – Overly obsessed with your physical appearance or sex outside of marriage
Certainly you should take care of yourself and exercise. But when a person is constantly obsessed with how they look and they like to flaunt their figure/physique in front of others with the hopes that people will notice and gawk at them, this is vanity which is yet another form of pride. If you spend hours looking at cosmetics or workout influencers on social media you may have an issue of pride. If you look at porn or pursue sexual relationships outside of marriage then you are puffed up with pride.
#12 – Unwilling to submit to authority
When a person is unwilling to submit to authority at work, church, at home or in any other relationship it is because deep within the person they believe they could make better decisions than the person God has placed over them. So, they submit outwardly but inwardly they struggle to accept the subordinate position they are in.
#13 – Ignoring people’s attempt to communicate with you
When you consistently blow people off who text or email you, you are essentially minimizing the importance of this person and their communication and saying to yourself that they are not important enough to invest your precious time into. We all get busy but acknowledging a person’s attempt to connect sends the message of importance to the other person.
#14 – Justifying your siin instead of admitting it
When someone graciously points out a sin issue in your life and you get defensive and even start to justify it that is a dangerous place to be because if they’re using scripture to support then you are essentially saying that you know better than God.
#15 – Name-dropping
When you consistently associate yourself with people who have prominent positions and publicly drop it in conversations in hopes that people will think you are equally as important as the people you associate yourself with, this is a very subtle form of pride.
#16 – You are on a different time table then others
You can show up for a call or meeting late because your time is more valuable than others
#17 – Causes you to get angry easily
If anyone questions your intentions, motives or statements because you will get angry quickly
#18 – Your inner circle of people consist of yes men and women who agree with everything you say and do
As you get older the people in your inner circle will agree with everything you say and do or else they will be gone from you.
#19 – Do you think of yourself as more spiritual than others in your church?
#20 – Do you have a touchy, sensitive spirit? Easily offended? Get your feelings hurt easily?
#21 – Do you avoid participating in certain events, for fear of being embarrassed or looking foolish because you know you won’t win or look good?
#22 – Do you avoid being around certain people because you feel inferior compared to them/don’t feel you measure up?
#23 – When is the last time you said these words to a family member, friend or coworker: “I am sorry for what I did to hurt you. I was wrong; would you please forgive me?” (If it’s been more than a month, you are probably prideful)
#24 – Do you react to rules? Do you have a hard time being told what to do?
#25 – Do you worry about what others think of you? Too concerned about your reputation or your family’s reputation to admit to the truth?
#26 – Always must drive the latest car or have an expensive house you cannot afford or must have the latest clothing fashions every year so extend yourself financially (leases many cars)
Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”
Proverbs 16:5 “The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.”
Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall”
James 4:6 – “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
Proverbs 27:2 – “Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.”
Proverbs 26:12 – “Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him.”
Philippians 2:3 – “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
Proverbs 8:13 – “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.”
The spirit of Leviathan will usually wrap around a person’s spine and neck causing them back and neck pain and often headaches, loss of sleep, and hard to stay awake when reading the Bible or Christian books or listening to sound teaching of the Word.
So how do you get delivered from the spirit of pride? Ask the Lord to help you humble yourself before He does it for you. Choosing to forgive everyone who ever hurt you and then commanding the demons to go from your soul will help loose you from much of the pride that has creeped in and started speaking to you when you were growing up. Spend time with the Lord and listen to Him. Stop listening to the world, stop watching worldly movies or listening to secular music which often is steeped in pride, read your Bible and pursue a life of humility with Jesus help. The world is concerned with the external (your looks, body, cosmetics, clothing, money, etc.,) while God is concerned with our inside, our heart intentions and our mind.
Is deliverance of leviathan possible? I understand we can repent , renounce and humble ourselves . Would love to understand the other ways the spirit deceives us.
Yes we have seen thousands get delivered from Leviathan. Continue to follow my blogs and you can read my latest book Freedom From Soul Wounds and Demons. Also I have almost a thousand videos at YouTube.com/c/nelsonschuman