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Thoughts on Today’s Verse…
James always packs a lot of truth into short messages. Let’s focus on the center of this call to holiness: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. … Come near to God…” Let’s draw our hearts closer to God. When we come into God’s presence and draw close to him, we know our thoughts, motives, and behaviors will be seen for what they are in the light of his holiness, righteousness, and grace. At the same time, we know that the devil is forced out of our presence by the radiance of our Father’s holy and righteous character. Let’s seek God — his righteous character, gracious compassion, and faithful love and justice. Let’s draw near to God, yearning to be in his presence so we can be more like him in our daily lives. Let’s ask God to cleanse us, make us holy, and wholly his!
My Prayer…
Righteous Father, thank you for your love and forgiveness. Now, dear Father, help me as I yearn to draw closer to you, know you better, and reflect you more fully in my daily life. Purify my heart of any duplicity or secret sin. Cleanse my conscience and empower me to exemplify your grace and holiness. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Bible References
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
James 4:7-8
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands you sinners and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Well, James never beats around the bush with getting his point across! I love that he just tells it like it is. The three main points he is stressing here are to submit our will to God’s, resist the devil’s schemes and temptations that he throws at us by drawing near to God, and to confess our sins to God which purifies our fellowship with Him.
Satan is extremely crafty in his attempts to pull Christians away from living for Christ. We must be ever mindful of that as we go about our day. This brings to mind a verse in 1 Peter:
1 Peter 5:8-9
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…..
Peter is warning believers here to be alert to the tricks and schemes of satan. While we are not to live in fear of him, or with a worrisome heart, we should not be blasé about him either. We are to be mindful of his purpose and that is to trip us up and destroy our lives and testimony for Christ.
Just like the gazelle who is devoured by a lion because he is not paying attention and is grazing away from his herd and unaware of the present danger, so are we when we stray from God and spend time immersed in ungodly things and with ungodly people. We are easy pickings for the devil when we get so familiar with this world and its ways and therefore are desensitized to the Holy Spirit within us which results in not standing firm in our faith! Satan then devours our peace in Christ, and brings havoc to our lives.
However when we stand firm in Christ by reading and obeying His Word, by staying in constant communication with Him through prayer, and by surrounding ourselves with a network of godly Christians, satan is stopped cold in his tracks! The devil is not more powerful than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Our precious Savior has already defeated the devil at the cross, and our victory over satan can only be found in a life that is Christ-centered for He is where our power to resist the evil one comes from!
So, draw near and take courage from Christ who is more than capable of taking care of us. We are blood bought children of God!
Thank You Jesus for dying for my sin, thank You for defeating satan with Your precious blood that flowed down that cross for my forgiveness. I love you so my Savior, my Sustainer, the Author and Finisher of my faith, I give You all praise, honor, and glory this day, Amen!