Something hard in my inBox

I was going to post a piece of my study from this morning, then I got this and WOW this was some good, hard stuff to chew on.

Diabolical Wisdom
Nancy Leigh DeMoss:
Our culture rewards ambition and makes a hero out of the super-achiever who gets ahead of everybody else.
It’s a good thing to pursue excellence in whatever you do, but do you know if you are motivated by selfish ambition, the Bible calls that demonic!
James said, “If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast . . . . This . . . wisdom . . . is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”
The solution is to do everything out of love. The Bible tells us that love does not envy. We work hard, not to set ourselves apart and get ahead of the pack; instead, we do what He’s called us to do with all our might because of love for God and a desire to serve others.
Ask God to examine your heart. Are you motivated to do what you do out of selfish ambition or out of genuine love and a servant’s heart?

so of course I really sat with this and and contemplated it in my own life. Lord search my heart expose this ugliness. I know that I can not bear the thought of going to heaven and thinking that I did this or that for the Lord in the name of serving only to get there to see that God never recognized it as anything other than prideful, selfish ambition. What are the warning signs I asked and this is what I came up with.
- Have you really sought the Lord in fervent prayer for all of it?
- Are you irritated by others suggestions or even questioning of your ideas?
- Do you feel you are owed respect for your ideas and position?
- Are you full of joy and peace while serving or is it irritation and burdened?
- Do you own your ministry and not allow for others input because you feel like they have nothing to do with YOUR ministry?

So all these questions came to mind because I have been somewhere in all of them at one time or another. Ugliness that God calls DEMONIC.
I want to sit here and say that I have grown from all of those past mistakes and can recognize the signs when they are rearing it's ugly head. But one thing if you are anywhere in any of this You can not do this on your own. You need someone to hold you accountable. I pray you all have someone or ones in your life that care more about who you are in Jesus than who you are as a friend. If not I urge you to begin to pray that God will bring those relationships to you. I honestly believe that without true loving accountability we can not stay away from this very dangerous pit hole.

Here's a question for you:
How's your real hearts condition in your 'serving' these days?