Tag Archives: pride and humility

Itching Ears; Why YOU might have them.

Posted on 01/10/2026 | Leave a comment

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 

This is more evident in our society today than ever before. We have unqualified teachers in abundance. They regurgitate others’ teachings without personal revelation. This results in an exchange of information without impartation. There is no demonstration of truth without impartation. This is one reason we don’t see the supernatural power of God in our services like we should.

Matthew 23:9-10 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 

That may seem contradictory. The Lord Jesus gave us teachers in the form of the “five-fold ministry gifts” mentioned in Ephesians 4. However, it is not contradictory. All the five-fold ministry gifts have one purpose: to equip the saints for the work of ministry. All five gifts teach differently. These teachings must be filtered through our relationship with God and His written word.

1 John 2:26-27 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

Suppose we believe false doctrine out of ignorance. Regardless of our intention, we partner with the adversary in leading us into deception. Our wrong beliefs build strongholds of wrong thinking and wrong believing. By believing lies, we assist the enemy in his deceptions and help him build the strongholds that he hides behind. Unfortunately, most of us fall for this deception at one time or another.

Strongholds are not only reinforced belief systems. They are defensive positions in our minds. The enemy hides behind them to wage war. This ensures we stay trapped in wrong thinking and wrong believing. When we speak and act on our wrong beliefs, we reinforce the stronghold. One of the ways Satan keeps us deceived is by separating us from the rest of the flock. He keeps running in the same circle of people who believe like us. He then makes us despise and ridicule the beliefs of other denominations. Denominational divisions were never God’s plan (1 Corinthians 3 ). Now they are an effective tool the enemy uses against us to keep us divided.

To enjoy true freedom in Christ, we must be very selective about what we hear. We must be particular about who we listen to and how much we do it. We should also be very selective about what we watch. Our eyes and ears are receptors for our hearts. What we see and hear has either positive or negative effects on our hearts and minds.

Do you spend a lot of time watching and listening to TV shows with violence and cursing? Do these shows also include sexual innuendo and lies as entertainment? How many hours a day do you spend watching television or surfing the web? How about social media? All of these things contribute to you having itching ears, and they ALL can hinder your spiritual growth.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

In comparison, how much time do you spend in God’s word a day? I’m not talking about going to Church or reading a book about the Bible. I’m not talking about you listening to preachers and teachers spoon-feed you their opinions on the Bible. I mean YOU reading and/or listening to the Bible yourself.

1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Peter says in verse 1 to lay aside these things. We constantly see and hear these things on TV, and they are poisoning us. The same poison is also present in all other forms of media. In verse 2, he tells us to desire the sincere milk of the word like newborn babes. Newborns cry out for milk 8 to 12 times a day. They need constant nourishment to keep them healthy and growing. What if you fed that same newborn poison 8 to 12 times a day? Would that child be healthy?

A robust relationship with God through His written Word is essential. It is the only way to skillfully discern sound teaching. Truth becomes obscured when we fill our hearts and minds with the things of this world.

Ask yourself, and ask God: Am I truly abiding in God’s word? Or am I just reading the latest books and listening to the latest sermons? Do I really desire the sincere milk of the word? Do I crave a self-serving gospel that doesn’t challenge me? One that doesn’t strengthen me for trials and testing? Am I comfortable in my Christianity?

If you are not hungry for God’s Word, you haven’t read it enough. Spiritual hunger comes from eating spiritual food, not starving yourself. God’s word is spiritual food. God’s Word is incorruptible seed. God’s Word is light and life!

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 

Spiritual growth demands more than just passive consumption of teachings or fleeting moments spent in religious activity. It requires a deliberate, daily pursuit of God’s Word. This pursuit creates a hunger that transforms the heart and mind. It breaks down strongholds of deception and division.

The world will continue to offer countless distractions. Only the living Word of God can discern your deepest thoughts and intentions. It guides you into truth and freedom.

Now is the time to act. Make a decision to guard your heart with diligence. Be intentional about what you watch, listen to, and believe. Set aside the noise of the world and the opinions of others. Immerse yourself in scripture. Nourish your spiritual appetite with the sincere milk of God’s holy, written Word. Avoid the empty calories of culture.

Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.

JESUS IS COMING!

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Humility Scriptures

Posted on 08/02/2023 | Comments Off on Humility Scriptures

Proverbs 22:4 By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life.

Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility.

Proverbs 16:19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.

Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility.

1 Peter 5:5-6 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, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Luke 14:11For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Psalm 9:11-12 Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion! Declare His deeds among the people. 12 When He avenges blood, He remembers them;
He does not forget the cry of the humble

Psalm 10:17 Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; you will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear,

Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place,
with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Deuteronomy 8:2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 8:11-16  “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, 12 lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15 who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end— 

Matthew 18:2-4 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

Matthew 23:12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

James 4:1-10 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.” 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

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Exposing the Stronghold of Itchy Ears

Posted on 11/13/2022 | Comments Off on Exposing the Stronghold of Itchy Ears

Matthew 23:9-10 (NKJV) Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 

That may seem contradictory since the Lord Jesus gave us teachers in the form of the “five-fold ministry gifts” mentioned in Ephesians 4, but it is not. All the five-fold ministry gifts have one purpose, to equip the saints for the work of ministry. All five teach differently, but those teachings must be filtered through the anointing of the Holy Spirit and our relationship with God and His written word.

1 John 2:26-27 (NKJV)These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

Suppose we abide by false doctrine out of ignorance. Regardless of our intention or our ignorance, we partner with the adversary, building strongholds of wrong thinking and wrong believing in our hearts and minds. We assist the enemy in his deceptions by building the strongholds that bind us. Unfortunately, it’s an evil deception that most of us fall for at one time or another.

These strongholds are not only reinforced belief systems but encampments in our minds that the enemy hides behind to ensure we stay trapped in wrong thinking and wrong believing. As we speak and act on the things we believe, we reveal to Satan the best strategies to keep us in our deception. One of the ways he does this is to keep us running in the same circle of believers and despising the beliefs of other denominations. Denominational divisions were never God’s plan, and now they are an effective tool the enemy uses against us.

To be truly free, we must be very selective about what we are hearing and beholding, who we are listening to, and how much we are doing it. Without the filter of a robust relationship with God and His Word, we cannot skillfully discern sound teaching. Truth becomes obscured with the leaven of religious doctrine that appeases the carnal mind and satisfies our selfish desires. Self is the very thing we need to be set free from. Freedom from self will not come until we die to self by renewing our minds to the holiness of God’s word.

Again, are we abiding in His word or just reading the latest books and listening to the latest sermons? Do we desire the sincere milk of the word, or do we lust for the leaven of a self-serving gospel that doesn’t challenge or strengthen us for trials and testing?

Our tendency to have itchy ears and the lust for leavened bread binds us and blinds us from the truth. There is a reason the apostle James wrote, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” (James 3:1)

Let us abide in His word, seek Him when no one is looking, cultivate a hunger for the sincere milk of God’s word and become everything the blood of Christ has paid for us to be.

Quoted from the book, The Spiritual Warfare Manifesto

Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.

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The power of Humility

Posted on 08/11/2022 | Comments Off on The power of Humility

Spiritual warfare is not something we automatically know how to do when we are born again. We grow into it, learning and perfecting skills to walk in the victory that Christ has already won.

We should be learning more every day about God’s ways, the enemy’s strategies, and our role as soldiers in the army of God. Humility helps us better navigate these truths.

Spiritual warfare is not easy, yet we must embrace it as a lifestyle. Humility is the foundation on which all spiritual warriors must stand. Faithful obedience is the strategy by which we enforce the victory granted by inheritance. Humility will always lead us to obedience, and faithful obedience will always lead us to victory. Even a baby Christian can fight like the most skilled warrior if humble and obedient. 

When King David was just a boy, his humble obedience and zeal for God led him to slay a fully armored, fully equipped giant who was a skilled warrior from his youth. Humility, acquired through his relationship with God, gave David the proper perspective to see the victory in this situation, and he was able to slay this mighty warrior with a slingshot! (1 Samuel 17) His humility caused him to have a perspective that led him to a great victory for the entire nation of Israel and elevated him to a position of honor.

David loved God, feared God, and understood that God loved him.

“I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.” (Acts 13:22)

God is looking for people with humble hearts that dare to believe all things are possible. Faith like that can never be attained apart from humility.

Humility comes from loving and fearing God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and humility is an expression of wisdom and understanding. When we understand who God is, humility is the natural response.

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Notice that justice, kindness, and walking humbly before God is required. It is not a suggestion. If we lose sight of this, the enemy already has a grip on our hearts and minds. Living in the chaos that is ever-increasing in this world, it is easy to let these things slip and fall out of step with the truth. Moral decay is increasing rapidly across the globe. Humility is essential to guard our hearts against its influence.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

If we are not selective about what we expose ourselves to, our hearts and minds are filled with things that weaken us and cause us to stray from the truth. Words, thoughts, and emotions are spiritual. We will enable the enemy to shape us into his image when we allow ungodly things in our eyes and ears. We are all clay, and we are constantly being shaped by something. We must be diligent in keeping our hearts pure to ensure that God is the one doing the shaping. When our heart is compromised, humility is one of the first things we sacrifice.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Submitting to God requires humility, and humble submission is simultaneously the act of resisting the enemy. Submitting and resisting is a one-step process. Not a two-step religious effort. Without humility, there is no resisting, just cooperation with the adversary.

James 4:6 “Therefore, God resists the proud but give His grace to the humble.”

Any act of disobedience is an act of pride. It places us in a terrifying position that no Christian in their right mind would want to be in. A place where God is resisting us. Pride brings us into partnership with the enemy. We can’t fight the enemy if we partner with him, nor can we follow Christ.

Satan represents the opposite of humility. He is the father of selfish pride. The last thing he wants us to do is to submit entirely to God. Our surrendered life is the most frightening and destructive thing to the kingdom of darkness. When we are humble and wholly submitted to God, the devil and all his demons know who we are and tremble. We become a champion for the kingdom of God, vessels fit for the Master’s use, destroying the works of darkness.

Revelation 12:10-12 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

The enemy knows his time is short. He uses all the deception in his arsenal to keep us from humbling and submitting ourselves entirely to God. We must come to a point in our lives where we “love not our own lives even unto death.” When we do, we begin to walk in proper kingdom authority and become true ambassadors for Christ.

Being effective at spiritual warfare begins and ends with humility. Satan will continue to have his way with us if we don’t settle this in our hearts. Without humility, we will be deceived into doing his bidding, hurting others, and bearing fruit for his kingdom instead of the kingdom of God. It is a tragic reality that we all face.

2 Corinthians makes it clear that our war is not against people

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

A view of the Church these days looks very much like the world in this respect:

Because of pride and selfishness, we engage in heated political arguments, fuel racial tension, and despise authority. We give ourselves to watching ungodly shows and news networks that spew forth lies, stirring up anger and hate in our hearts. We use social media platforms to voice ungodly opinions and think we have a right to “straighten people out.” Doing this fuels emotional fires that cause us to look and act just like the world. It has destroyed our witness and hindered us from being fruitful. The 2020 presidential election exposed the Church’s weaknesses in these areas.

We don’t know God like we think we do. The truth is, we are far too familiar with a God we barely know. If one person could acquire all the knowledge in the world, that individual would still be an infant in their understanding compared to our eternal God.

Practice humility

          Humility is expressed verbally, spiritually, and naturally. We can do practical things to maintain and guard a humble perspective.

Submitting to authorities, deferring to an elder, how we refer to others in our conversations, and how we prefer others over ourselves are all actions of faith concerning humility. Our conduct will express our humility or the lack of it.

          How we approach God with our words and body language also speaks volumes. Kneeling to pray or laying face down on the floor in worship when no one else is looking is a physical expression of humility and an acknowledgment of His greatness. Not multi-tasking when we are in communion with Him. These are all expressions of humility and a living faith when done honestly.

Humility has a divine strength attached to it. It is time we gain some understanding, expose the enemy’s strategies, and push back the darkness encroaching on the Church. Then we will be able to help the world. It all starts with humility. Without humility, we will never become the “bride without spot or wrinkle.”

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