Pride isn’t just a bad habit—it’s a spiritual trap that can block God’s blessings and derail your purpose. In this episode, we explore what the Bible says about false pride, why it’s so destructive, and how to replace it with humility.

🦋 You’ll hear:

✝️ A relatable story that reveals pride’s hidden dangers

✝️ The powerful Bible account of King Nebuchadnezzar’s humbling

✝️ Key scriptures that warn against arrogance and self-exaltation

✝️ Practical steps to cultivate humility in your walk with Christ

If you’ve ever struggled with needing recognition, comparing yourself to others, or resisting correction—this episode will help you surrender pride and embrace God’s grace.

📖 “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” — James 4:6 (NIV)

If today’s message spoke to you, please share it with a friend and follow Born to be a Butterfly so you never miss an episode. 

📖 Ready to dive deeper into healing and transformation? Get my book, From Broken to Butterfly, on Amazon today! 

📩 If you have any questions or want to connect, send me a DM on Instagram at Born To Be A Butterfly or email me at ninapajonas@gmail.com. I love hearing from you! 

Remember, the Lord can turn your wounds into wings—you were Born to be a Butterfly! 🦋

Born to be a Butterfly © 2025 Nina Pajonas All rights reserved. The content of this podcast is for informational and inspirational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. For the full disclaimer, visit ⁠ninapajonas.com.

Imagine this.

You're at a church potluck on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

The tables are lined with casseroles, pies, and every version of macaroni salad imaginable.

A man named Tom is making the rounds, and he's telling anyone who will listen about the substantial amount of money he's contributed to the church.

He's talking about his businesses and the recent sales,

how they've hit and they've broken records,

and how the pastor called him just last week to express gratitude for his quote unquote contributions.

On the surface, Tom seems confident and secure both in himself and his accomplishments.

But if you were to look closely,

you might see who something else.

His smile fades the moment someone else shares a personal victory.

His eyes narrow just slightly when someone else receives praise.

And when the conversation drifts away from him,

he finds a way to bring it back.

The story I'm telling about Tom is fictional, but you've probably met someone like him.

False pride can sneak into our lives in ways that we don't even realize.

Whether it's through boasting,

needing constant recognition,

or refusing to admit when we're wrong.

I cannot stress this enough.

Pride is not just a bad habit,

it's a danger zone designed by the devil himself.

Today we're going to talk about what the Bible says about false pride,

sometimes called arrogance, haughtiness,

or self exaltation,

and why it is so detrimental to our spiritual growth.

Welcome to Born to Be a Butterfly, where we embrace healing and growth to experience true transformation.

My name is Nina Pajonis and I pray that today's episode ministers to you.

First, let's start with a question.

What is false pride?

The Bible describes false pride as an inflated view of oneself where personal strength,

wisdom, or righteousness put us above God's authority and grace.

We all know this verse,

but it's more than a cliche.

Pride blinds us to our weaknesses.

It makes us think we're doing fine when we're not.

And if we can't see our faults,

we won't self correct.

In the Recovery community,

the first step is in a 12 step meeting is to admit that we are powerless over the substance that we've been abusing.

And we also have to admit that our life has become unmanageable.

That's a humble confession and one that's very hard to come by for most of us.

In my own life, false pride kept me stuck in addiction for 17 years.

Here's the Self Bravado often hides deep insecurity.

If you dig deep enough into someone who constantly brags,

you'll usually find regret,

fear,

or pain that they're terrified to reveal.

Vulnerability is the enemy of pride,

which is why those trapped in it avoid it at all costs.

When you're prideful,

someone else's win feels like your loss.

You're not peaceful because you're constantly competing.

It's unfortunate that some people think of humility as humiliation when it's the furthest thing from it.

Humility isn't about things thinking less of yourself or having other people think less of you.

It's about you thinking about yourself less.

It's about staying right sized,

which means we remember that we have a God and that we're not him.

And now I want to reference a story in the Bible about King Nebuchadnezzar.

One of the clearest pictures of false pride in Scripture,

and it's found in Daniel 4.

King Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful man in the world at that time.

His kingdom of Babylon was unmatched in wealth and influence,

but his success led to arrogance.

One day as he was walking on the roof of his palace, he said,

is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?

The words were still on his lips when a voice from heaven declared that his royal authority was taken away.

God humbled him.

Literally.

Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind.

He lived like an animal and ate grass for seven years until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over all kingdoms.

When he finally humbled himself, his sanity was restored and he praised God.

He said, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven,

because everything he does is right and all his ways are just.

And those who walk in pride,

he is able to humble.

Pride brought Nebuchadnezzar down.

Humility brought him restoration.

Let's jump over to James 4:6 NIV but he gives us more grace.

That is why Scripture says God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.

Think about that.

God doesn't just disapprove of pride.

He actively resists the proud,

but he pours out grace on the humble.

That means when you push forward with pride,

God will push right back.

We must remember God can pave the way with his grace,

but if he doesn't,

you will travel a very rocky road where you trip over almost every stone you'll constantly be brought to your knees because you keep falling. And every time you get back up, you're more and more exhausted.

Why?

Because you're being prideful and you're trying to do everything in your own strength.

You're trying to fight the ways of the world without the one who created the world.

Your pride has stripped off the full armor of God that you once had on.

The armor of God is forged with your faith in the Lord.

But when you're prideful,

the fullness of your faith is in yourself.

We are all guilty of this at one point or another.

It could happen early on our walk with the Lord,

when we think we know best because we haven't yet learned better.

But it could also happen later on in our walk,

after we've been bestowed with many blessings from our Savior.

All of a sudden, pride can start creeping in.

We could start believing that we manufactured the miracles instead of our Messiah.

That's exactly where the enemy wants you and me,

mentally,

spiritually and emotionally.

All of a sudden you start praying less and planning more.

You try to figure things out on your own when you were never meant to.

Before long, you're walking in your own will and wondering why. You feel lost.

You wonder why the giants in your life feel bigger than they ever have.

And it's because you haven't kept up your constant contact with Christ.

If you had,

you would remember that God is bigger than any giant.

It doesn't matter what problem you face.

Every solution can be found in your Savior.

Pride is what got the devil cast out of heaven,

and the devil desperately wants you to fall into the same trap Satan loves to set a snare and call it success.

You think you've achieved a great victory,

but any goal you achieve without God is hollow.

You'll feel a void where victory should have lived.

You can have an extraordinary story,

but you must give God all the glory.

He will take you on an incredible spiritual adventure. But you must give Christ the credit.

God loves making his children look good because He's a good God.

Jesus will show us off through the things he does in us and in our lives.

But if anyone says that they like what they see,

if they sit there in disbelief about what has happened and who you've become,

you must point to heaven.

You must praise his holy name.

That's what awaits all of us when we walk in the Lord's will for our lives.

This reminds me of a speaking event I did not too long ago, as a matter of fact.

And a woman came up to me after and she said,

you're an eloquent speaker and so brave to share your story the way you did.

I couldn't have done that.

I only had a minute to speak to her because I had a meet with someone else and they were waiting for me.

So I quickly replied,

if you like what you see in me,

look up.

What you like is him in me.

I remember the look on her face after I said that because she smiled.

I wish I had had more time to speak with her because I would have told that woman that Christ makes me courageous and that he could do the same thing within her if she fully surrenders to Him.

I'm going to refer to Ephesians 2:8:9 NIV for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves.

It is a gift of God,

not by works so that no one can boast and so we come full circle in this episode.

We would not be saved were it not for God's grace.

We are not worthy because of our works,

nor will we ever be.

God knew that if people could be saved in that fashion,

they would boast and do his work for all the wrong reasons.

It was the Lord's will that we be saved because he wanted to love us and give us a chance to be loved by him eternally.

Any work we do for the king or the kingdom should be done because we love him,

but more importantly because he first loved us.

Now I think we should discuss some practical ways that we can let go of our pride and embrace humility.

1.

Ask God to search your heart.

Psalm 139, verses 23 through 24 is a great prayer.

Search me God, and know my heart.

See if there is any offensive way in me.

Number two Celebrate others genuinely.

When someone else succeeds,

thank God for blessing them.

Celebrate others, your sisters.

Celebrate your brothers.

Encourage them. Congratulate them.

That's what we're supposed to do.

Number three Confess quickly.

Don't let pride keep you from admitting when you're wrong.

4.

Remember the source Every success,

every skill comes from the Lord.

God gives us every great gift,

but we must remember that he could also take it away.

When we focus more on God and less on ourselves,

pride has no room to grow humility and dignity. Walk hand in hand and as daughters of the Most High God that in is what we are striving for.

Now I'm going to ask you a couple of questions.

Question number one can you think of a time when pride kept you from asking for help or admitting that you were wrong and if so,

how did it affect the situation?

Number two,

in what areas of your life is God calling you to replace self reliance with reliance on him?

Heavenly Father,

we come before you today asking for your help to see pride for what it is.

A barrier between us and you.

Lord, we confess that there have been times when we've elevated our own strength,

wisdom or accomplishments above your will.

Forgive us, Lord.

Teach us to walk in humility just as Jesus did.

Help us to celebrate others,

to admit when we're wrong and to give you glory for every good thing in our lives.

Replace our pride with a heart that seeks only to please you.

In Jesus name,

Amen.

I would like us to take a few minutes to reflect on where we would be were it not for God's grace.

Who we were,

what we were doing,

and what our lives looked like before our Savior rescued us.

Before he left the 99 to find us.

Everything and anything that he brought you out of, I want you to remember it. Not to dwell,

not to sit in sorrow,

not to sit in self pity. No, no, no, no, no.

So you could remember every single day of your life that you are to give glory to your God.

And when you do that shows him gratitude that you appreciate that he saved you not only from this broken world, he saved you from yourself.

Because if we're being honest, ladies, we are our own worst enemies.

We are.

Nobody can hurt us more than we can hurt ourselves. And that's the truth.

We're fighting our flesh every day.

We're fighting our minds that want to make broken decisions because of the broken places where we used to live. We don't know what to do without Jesus. We really don't.

We think we do,

but we don't.

We don't have all the variables for the equation that is life.

He is all knowing. He knows the beginning from the end. We do not.

So he knows when we're making a wrong turn. He knows if we think we're making a good decision but it's going to end in disaster.

That's who we have in our God.

He is loving, he is kind,

he is merciful, he is wonderful and he gives us grace.

And his grace saved our lives.

So think about that today.

Think about that every day.

And anytime you feel like you're getting a little too,

I don't know,

proud of yourself, let's say.

Remember who deserves all the credit.

His name is Jesus Christ.

I'm sorry I went on a rant,

but that was Holy Spirit inspired. I assure you I did not plan those words.

They just came out of my mouth and when that happens, I don't stop it.

I definitely get out of the way when I feel the spirit is moving and and he was definitely moving.

I pray that today's message spoke to you,

and if it did,

please share it with a friend and follow Born to Be a Butterfly so you never miss an episode.

If you'd like to dive deeper into my story of healing and transformation,

you can get my book From Broken to Butterfly on Amazon.

If you'd like to reach out with any questions,

or if you'd like me to speak at an event,

Please feel free to send me a DM on Instagram at @Born to Be a Butterfly, or you can email me at ninapajonas@gmail.com. You can find both links in my episode description.

Until next time,

Remember,

the Lord can turn your wounds into wings.

You were born to be a butterfly,