. God opposes the proud; however, he gives more grace to the humble. Being humble can be a hard struggle. I don’t know about you, but I do not want God to oppose me. I, personally, want more of His grace. Grace is God’s unearned and undeserved favor, mercy, kindness, consideration, help and spiritual empowerment. This allows us to respond to Him. God’s grace gives us power to do and be what he desires. God hates pride. Pride causes God to turn form our prayers and withhold his grace from us. God cuts us off from his help when we exalted ourselves and pursue the honor and esteem from others in order to satisfy our pride. For those who are humbly submitted to God, and pursue a deeper relationship with Him, He gives a generous amount of grace to us.
James gives us 5 ways of obtaining “more grace”
- Submit to God
- Resist the devil
- Draw near to God
- Cleanse your hands
- Purify your hearts.
Submit to God and resist the devil. Doesn’t that just sound so easy! I don’t know about you, but it is hard to resist the devil when my flesh is wanting to do something that is not pleasing to God. Most of us focus on the second part of this verse of resisting the devil. We are left with disappointment, frustration, and defeat when we chose the devils way. We forget that in order to resist the devil, we have to constantly submit to God the first part of the verse. We have to be completely submitted to God. We have to have God’s help in order to resist the devil.
We have to let go of any sin that is in us, pray for help from God, give up any habits or activities that may lead us into temptation or progress of our spiritual growth. Other ways are to surrender our own preconceived ideas and strategies on how to overcome sin. God will show us this by praying and studying His word. We need to do exactly what God shows us and to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading. We need to be actively pursuing God’s purpose and taking positive action towards spiritual matters. Keep a humble attitude towards God, others, and any situation. One should turn our attention fully to God with the desire to do what honor him. We need to continue to rely on God and pursue his purposes after you have gained spiritual victory. Last, we need to have gratitude to God for helping you resist and overcome the devil.
God promises to come near to all that turn away from their old ways of living. God will purify our hearts when we ask for forgiveness. When are pursue God and depend on him, God promises to be with us.
Do you have pride in your life that needs to be taken care of?
Are you submitting to God?
Are you drawing near to God?
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for loving us generously and giving us more grace with we are humble. God help us to seek you first. Help us to depend on you and your ways. I pray that each of us will have a desire to seek you every day and to do your will.
In Jesus Name
Amen
