“Pride, we may be sure will keep us out of God’s presence, because it would not suffer angels themselves to stay in it” (Edward Pelling, 1692).
When we look at the professing “Church” in the United States today, we see a lot of individual charisma, programs, music, large buildings or campuses, and extensive ministries. But what we don’t see is a people seeking the presence of the living God. It may be the case that people want and long for exalted feelings and a desire to feel loved by God, but that can be a totally different thing than wanting God Himself. If God is to be sought, then people will deny themselves and seek holiness rather than seek self, but in our day we have preachers and services set up to preach a god that will cater to virtually every desire that the human flesh can have. After all, it appears to be thought, if God loves me then He will love me as I love me.
Now, of course, many people would nod their heads in agreement. They want to blast those self-centered preachers who preach a so-called prosperity gospel. But it goes way beyond that. It is not necessarily against the flesh (self-centered pride) for men to long to hear conservative preaching. It is not necessarily against the flesh and pride of man to long for strong morals to be preached. It is not necessarily against the flesh and pride of man to long for preaching that is against all the social ills. This is simply to say that when God is not sought for Himself and His presence, there are many avenues for the pride of man to be sought. The heart of man is so wicked that it will take pride in almost anything.
It is virtually certain that religious pride is the most insidious and perhaps hated in the eyes of God than any other kind of pride. Yet this is hardly ever spoken against in the modern day. While true Christianity should be focused on seeking the presence of God by a crucified Savior, many false forms seek self in religious forms, morality, and in orthodox creeds. Now this is not to say that true Christianity may not have certain forms, morality, and orthodox creeds, but it is to take note that these things can serve as fuel for human pride and so God will not be among the proud. How wicked and deceptive is the human heart when it takes the things that are meant to seek God and instead use them to seek self.
The professing “Church” should seek God for true revival, which in reality is God Himself coming down and dwelling with His people. But instead the subject is used as a means of selling books, funding so-called “evangelists” and their crusades, and to have many activities in the local churches. How many prayer meetings are ostensibly held for the sake of revival and yet God is not sought for the sake of God? How many prayer meetings are held for the stated purpose of revival, yet the real issue is the pride of man in having a prayer meeting for revival? Until God is really and truly sought, there is no prayer meeting and no seeking of true revival.
It is far easier to have a special speaker who is acquainted with the historical facts of revival to come in and give a series of lectures than it is to seek a broken and humbled heart. If it is true that God opposes the proud, then there is no reason to seek revival until we are seeking Him for humbled and broken hearts. A proud heart cannot seek revival for any other reason than to seek itself and its own pride, so it appears that many proud men are seeking themselves in saying that they are seeking revival. It is also possible to seek for a humbled heart simply for the appearances of it, but that is not the same thing as seeking a heart that God is pleased with.
It would appear that it is possible to have conferences on revival as a historical interest, but not seek God. It appears that men can seek something they think of as revival, but still not seek God. Men can have prayer meetings in name, but still seek the things of God for the purposes of self. If those things are true, the real problem has to do with the pride of the hearts of men. Until the proud hearts of men are dealt with by God, and not just proud men who out of their pride don’t wan to appear proud in their religious circles, there is no true seeking God in the local church and there is no true seeking of God for revival. The Scriptures are quite clear that God opposes the proud, which we immediately try to turn and say that means the non-Christian. While that may be true, God opposes all the proud and that means all the professing Christians as well. It can also mean that His true people that are full of themselves will be opposed in certain ways as well. But we must never, ever, forget that God will not dwell with a proud people whether they recognize their pride or not. God will never dwell with a proud people even if they are deceived by their orthodoxy, their morality, and extensive evangelism. God opposes the proud. Period.
God Loves... Himself 
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