A Tale of Two Intercessors

The Temptation of Spiritual Pride in Prayer and Missions Movements + Insights from Jesus and Jonathan Edwards

Spiritual pride is one of the biggest temptations for those involved in prayer ministry. Leading worship and prayer for over twenty years, this vice has crept into my own heart time and time again. I have watched it derail some of the most zealous prayer warriors and infect entire ministry cultures. 

Spiritual pride is when we become religious and haughty about our spiritual practices and disciplines. It is easy for intercessors, prophetic people, missionaries and presence pioneers to develop an elitist attitude that looks down on those whom they deem less “spiritual” than they are.

When you’re one of the faithful few that attend the prayer meeting, it is hard to avoid becoming judgmental towards others. When you fast regularly and others don’t even consider it, it’s easy to be condescending towards those that you think are less hungry for God. When you have prophetic insight into what God wants to do, it can be tempting to write off those who aren’t as perceptive as you think you are. 

You can also watch the video or listen to the podcast episode about this topic here:

Spiritual Pride in Prayer and Missions Movements

Jonathan Edwards’ Six Signs of Spiritual Pride

Jonathan Edwards confronted the temptation of spiritual pride during the revival known as the Great Awakening. In Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England he wrote:

“The first, and the worst cause of errors that prevail in such a state of things, is spiritual pride. This is the main door, by which the Devil comes into the hearts of those that are zealous for the advancement of religion…”

Edwards knew that the outward success of the revival must be tempered with inward humility. We would be wise to heed his warning. He goes on to provide six warning signs of spiritual pride, which I will summarize as:

1. Fault Finding

2. Using Harsh & Condescending Language

3. Having A Pretense of Godliness

4. Being Defensive & Easily Offended

5. Loving the Praise of Men

6. Disdaining and Neglecting Those Weaker Than You

When we give into these temptations, we allow spiritual pride to take root in our hearts. Jesus knew that this would be a potential trap, and He confronts it directly in Luke 18.

A Tale of Two Intercessors

One of the most important verses to those participating in houses of prayer is the parable of the persistent widow at the beginning of Luke 18. Jesus addresses one of the major challenges with prayer: persistence.

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Luke 18:1

This parable has been taught by myself and others to (rightly) encourage believers to stay faithful in prayer and to cry out to God “day and night” until Jesus returns.

It is no coincidence that Jesus’ next parable is about a tax collector and a Pharisee who are going to the temple to pray. I call it A Tale of Two Intercessors. 

Here is the passage

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

By all outside appearances, the Pharisee was the more spiritually disciplined and mature believer. He was regularly praying, fasting and tithing, which are all good things. However, in developing his spiritual discipline, he had become arrogant and self-righteous. 

Jesus told his disciples that the tax collector went home justified, but the Pharisee did not. Was the tax collector praying, fasting and tithing regularly? We are actually not told. Unlike the Pharisee, he was not parading his spirituality in front of others. The tax collector was aware of his need for God and offered a desperate cry to the Lord. God released grace to the man’s broken and contrite heart.

If the parable of the persistent widow confronts a ditch on one side of the road of healthy prayer (lack of persistence), then the Tale of Two Intercessors deals with the ditch on the other side of the road (spiritual pride). If you set yourself to pray, then you will inevitably deal with both of these temptations.

An Effective Prayer Movement is a Humble Prayer Movement

After sharing the parable of the two intercessors, Jesus summarizes his teaching with the following statement:

 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 18:14

This call to humble ourselves is repeated throughout the Bible. James touches on this same theme:

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4:6-10

God opposes the proud (I Peter 5:5). He can only release His grace to the humble, and that grace is the power we need to do what He desires. Therefore our spiritual pride is a hindrance to God’s purposes in our lives. We can pray and fast and evangelize and prophesy all day, but if we’re puffed up about it, we’ve shut the doorway to receiving God’s grace in response to our requests.

These New Testament admonitions to humble ourselves are echoes of God’s invitation to Israel to do the same during the reign of Solomon. 2 Chronicles 7:14 is one of the most popular verses used to call people to prayer. Look at it again carefully:

If my people who are called by my name 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.

This is a conditional promise. It’s an if/then statement. God wants to answer our prayers and heal our land, but there are four prerequisites: humble ourselves, pray, worship and repent. 

We will never see the revival that we long to see if the very people who are committed to praying and fasting are also infected by spiritual pride. Unless we humble ourselves, we can never move forward. Humility is the only pathway to revival.

Six Ways to Humble Ourselves

This biblical call to humility raises a question: how do we humble ourselves? If the Scriptures command it, then it must be possible. Here are a few ideas for how to move towards humility and away from spiritual pride. This is not an exhaustive list, but it should help us get moving in the right direction.

1. God-Centered Worship
   Sing songs that are godward and focus on God’s attributes. In light of God’s glory and majesty, we remember how small we truly are.

2. Thanksgiving
   Giving thanks to God helps us focus on His activity in our lives. It makes us more awake of His presence (Psalm 100:4). In thanksgiving, we remember that all we have is not a result of our own doing, but it is a gift from God.

3. Confession of Sin
   In much of the Protestant church, confession is a lost art. Yet there’s not much that’s more humbling than admitting our failures to God and others. Obviously, we want to be discreet about who we confess to, but being vulnerable with trusted leaders or friends about our struggles keeps us humble. 

4. Serving Others
   Yet we shouldn’t linger on our failures for long (which can breed more pride), but move on to loving those around us. It has been said that "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.” Set up chairs, clean the bathrooms, hold the doors, take out the trash. Do what no one else wants to do. Serve humbly.

5. Submitting to Authority
   There is not much more humbling than simply doing what an authority figure tells you to do — even when you don’t want to do it. Submission requires that we surrender our own desires and preferences to honor the authorities God has placed in our life, whether those are leaders in our church, workplace or government.

6. Receiving Correction
   A proud person is an unteachable person. If we think we are more spiritually advanced or discerning than anyone else, we will never be able to receive wisdom and correction from those around us. Yet a wise and humble Christian will heed correction from spiritual leaders and trusted friends in their life, even when it’s painful to hear.

Spiritual Disciplines Are Not Evidence of Spiritual Maturity

Spiritual pride deceives us into thinking that we are mature because of our religious activity. However, according to Scripture, spiritual maturity is not measured by our spiritual disciplines but how we treat others.

I used to believe that I was really growing in God if I read my Bible more, prayed more, fasted more, worshiped with more passion, shared the Gospel boldly, gave money generously and attended church consistently. While these are all good things, and they do help fuel our faith, they are not the biblical metric for spiritual growth.

What is the true evidence of becoming more like Jesus? It is how we treat those around us. It’s growing in love. It’s healthy relationships.

Many from the house of prayer movement, myself included, have emphasized the need for loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Jesus calls this the great and first commandment. 

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:38-40

Yet I wonder if, in our attempts to put the presence of God at the center of our ministries, we have sometimes neglected the second commandment? Have we been fooled into thinking the first and second commitment are pitted against each other? 

Jesus confronts this tendency directly in Luke 10. He shares about the first and second greatest commandments with a lawyer, who follows this up with a question — “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29).

Jesus goes on to tell the famous story of the Good Samaritan in verses 30-37. What I want to point out to you is that the two people who walked by the injured man were a priest and a Levite. It was the worshipers, the intercessors and the spiritual leaders who neglected their neighbor. I imagine them in a rush to the Temple. They wanted to be “faithful to God” by their spiritual discipline, yet they failed to show mercy to the one who was hurting and broken. God forbid that we fail to love those around us because we’re in a rush to to get to a church service or a set at a prayer room.

As prayer movement people, we have realized that our outward works of ministry do not equate to a true relationship with God. We know that many will cast out demons and prophesy in God’s name, and yet, at the end of the age, He will say “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:23).

Yet our prayers, fasting and worship can just as easily become an outward religious work that we use to mask our lack of true love. We are not “loving God” if we do not love the people around us. We can not have the first commandment without the second commandment. Here’s what the apostle John says:

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. I John 4:20-21

John says that it is our love for others that is the true indicator that we love God. We demonstrate our love for God not primarily in our spiritual disciplines but in our relationships with people.

Again, our spiritual disciplines are vital. Yet they must lead us into greater love, healthier relationships, humility and compassion. If they are instead causing us to neglect those around us, then we have become religious, proud and God’s love is not truly in us. 

Let’s do the first commandment — not only with extravagant prayer and worship, but by loving people around us — especially the weak and poor and hurting.

As we long to move towards spiritual maturity, let’s reflect on our lives and be honest about the spiritual pride in our hearts. Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts and reveal pockets of pride where we need to repent.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! Psalm 139:23