Embracing Childlike Faith: Letting Go of Pride and Self-Sufficiency

By: Abigail DeWitt 

(Photo of Josiah DeWitt by Caleb Brown)

This week I invite you to join me in going back to the answer of this question as I am going back to it myself. 

We live in a world where  “credibility” is priceless, being a “problem solver” is admired and even a career, and titles are door openers. None of these things would belong to a child. Children cannot obtain worldly credibility independently. Our schools even raise them to believe where they are educated is what determines their future, not how much they learned. Brands strive for being a “household label”. An artist who partners with “Nike” basically hits the fame jackpot of brands to work with. Whoever can solve the most problems the fastest is highly sought after. “Build your mind, build your eyes to see, build your ability” would be what the world says. “God helps those who help themselves” is even a common saying speaking to problem solving and independence. You can be more than qualified for a job, but if you don’t have degree letters at the end of your name, the door often closes. Some jobs don’t even care what degree you have as long as it’s there. What is on the inside is disregarded often if the outside doesn’t reach worldly criteria. 

How does this hurt us? We begin to be constantly bombarded with the push to focus on ourselves. Whether that be from the view of abundant self admiration or tremendous self loathing, they both call to our vision dialing in on ourselves and our reflection in the world. This comes/stems from pride. Period. Now I’m not saying this from a place believing I am “holier than thou”. NO! I was just freed from the spirit of pride! Do you know how the spirit of pride was working in me? It was terrorizing me with claims and accusations that any time I tried to open my Bible, God would be mad at me for opening and reading potentially the wrong thing. Could that mean I was hearing God wrong and letting Him down? If I went to pray for someone, “that might not be the person God called you to pray for. You clearly need to hear Him better”. “Something was healed from you asking God? He wouldn’t have healed you if it wasn’t for you praying”. “You’re going to write a workbook on trauma? You can’t possibly write on trauma while healing from your own. You’ll taint it”. 

Do you notice the pattern here? 

Pride took my eyes off of God’s grace and power and blew up my own reflection till it was blocking my vision and causing me to doubt and stumble. Could I break pride off on my own so I could have the peace of the Lord and feel empty for Him? No. I tried repenting when pride crept up, yet shame came rather than healing.

See, our eyes were not designed to focus on ourselves and sin. God designed our eyes to see His glory and the Garden of Eden. Things of beauty- not of shame, things of grace- not condemnation, things of purity- not evil. Pride distorts our vision, causing chaos and confusion where there should be rest. It causes us to think that we are greater than we are, infiltrating God’s grace for us. But His grace is His supernatural power over our hearts. His power is FAR GREATER than ourselves and any spirit of pride that may torment us. Right now I’m writing to you having just been freed from the spirit of pride and do you know what’s coming out? Laughter like a child! 

 Do you know when freedom happened? When confessing to another believer just as it says in James 5:16NLT  “Confess your sins to eachother and pray for eachother that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results”. I sat with this believer to ask for help with the confusion that had been plaguing my mind and the Holy Spirit almost immediately told them of a spirit of pride that was causing the chaos. They are a righteous prayer warrior and prayed over me and I received healing! Praise God! He fulfilled His promise and set me free! Now I feel light, airy, and empty like the vessel I was called to be for Christ- as we all are. 

It is impossible to be childlike when we have the grip of pride suffocating us and drowning us in its grossness. Child-likeness in faith comes from when the living water bubbles through us. Letting the Holy Spirit take hold of your mind and trusting Him. Take a look at Romans 8:6NLT “So letting sinful nature control your mind leads to death, but letting the Spirit control your minds leads to life and peace”. We CAN let the Holy Spirit control our minds by being delivered from flesh and asking Him to control our minds. Give him the space and invitation and He will fill it.

As  an American person who’s physically an adult, the pressure is to build credibility, a personal brand, build degrees up and debt in order to qualify for doors to be opened. But do you know what? The best position for me to be in is at the feet of God. The only title I need, and we all need is “Child of God”. Any authority we have comes from God and God alone. Any worth we have is from being created by God and God alone. Any good gift or door opened is from God and God alone. So rest in His presence and lower the strive for “adulting” to be a child of God who trusts Him and seeks Him first.