James 4:6-10

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.

Grace is one of God’s greatest gifts to humanity.  He lavishes us with grace upon grace and then gives us even more grace.  God’s grace is made readily available to those who recognize their need for it.  Those who trust on their own strength or think they have no need of His grace will not experience this great gift.  We can enjoy the experience of God’s grace in our lives by pursuing these habits.

TURN FROM SATAN: When it comes to Satan, people tend to go to extremes.  Some seem to ignore him and like to pretend that he does not exist.  Some are intimidated by him and begin to attribute to him attributes that only belong to God.  Satan is powerful and must be taken seriously but he is limited and doomed to defeat.  His resources and knowledge are limited as is his power.  He seeks to deceive and destroy all he can.  When we listen to his lies and begin to fall for his schemes, he is encouraged to continue to implement his plans.  However, if we resist him and stand firm on the truth of God’s Word, he will simply flee from us and seek to employ his limited resources elsewhere.  

TRUST IN THE LORD: In times of trials or tribulations, we will either run from God to Him.  He draws near to us when we trust Him and draw near to Him.  It is an amazing grace of God that He would even desire to be near us.  Drawing near to God involves our hands and our hearts.  We should not imagine that we can claim to be drawing near to God in some emotional way when we are persisting in our practice of sin.  He demands that we avail ourselves to the cleansing and purification He makes available to us in Jesus Christ.  We have no ability to clean ourselves up or transform our wicked hearts.  Only He can do that through faith in Christ and continually entrusting ourselves to His care.  We draw near to God by submitting ourselves to His will instead of striving to convince Him to bless our will.

TAKE ON HUMILITY: God’s grace is lavished upon those who turn to Him in humility.  We have two options: God’s opposition, or His grace.  God responds to our pride with resistance because pride is the opposite of faith and trust.  As long as we insist on doing things our way, in our strength, we will encounter God’s resistance in our lives.  When we humble ourselves before God, and submit ourselves to His will, we will experience His favor and grace.  Struggling in a sin-cursed world and then encountering God’s resistance is not a recipe for success.  Instead, we must repent of our sin, be repulsed and sickened by it and its hideous effects on our lives.  Our hearts should demonstrate genuine sorrow and grief over our sinful condition, and we should come to God with lament about our helpless state.  When we humbly bow before Him in humility, He exalts us by forgiving our sins, cleansing us from unrighteousness, and transforming us to be conformed to the image of Christ.  This sharing in the glory of Jesus is grace upon grace.

APPLICATION: Resist Satan and his deceptions with the truth of God’s Word with an awareness of his desire to destroy us.  Draw near to God by submitting ourselves to His will, being cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and purified by His transforming power.  Humbly come before the Lord with genuine sorrow and repentance so we can experience His grace and glory.