“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,

which is hypocrisy,” said Jesus.   Hypocrisy?  Trying to appear strong/together.  Dishonest about weaknesses, failure, neediness.  Invisible pride.  Appearing strong/together/un-needy has unconsciously been my main core value all my adult life, I now see.  Nurtured by the society around me, outside the Church, and inside too.  Satan loves the Church operating just like the world around It, by human power, like the Pharisees, so It’s neutralized, impotent, fruitless, saltless — of no use.  Independent, not Jesus-dependent.

How do I change?  Impossible.  I need Jesus working in me, exposing more and more of the yeast-like independence that seeps into every area of my life.  So I can confess more.  Invisible pride.  Satan hates me confessing, and loves me trying harder to change, trying to believe better, depend better.  And hate myself when I fail.  Pride.  Jesus-dependency is impossible without Jesus working by His Spirit, freshly convicting me of the sin of independence.

–DumbSheepDave, having the best year of his life, because folks have been praying, hoping the pre-believers around him are noticing

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