God Lifts Me Up

Here's another post that looks back at an earlier entry in my quiet-time journal. This one was written in on December 15, 2006 and titled, In My Humble State, God Lifts Me Up.

What always astounds me about the passage that caught my eye that day is that it declares that it is in the believer to cause the devil to flee. And it is an act of submission---to God---that makes the believer's act of resistance to the devil effective:

Scripture:
"But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' 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. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the LORD, and he will lift you up." (James 4:6-10)

Observation:
God is against the proud. He is very generous to the humble. In humility, we submit ourselves to God. Submitted to God, we resist the devil and the devil flees. When we draw near to God, He draws near to us. In grief, in humility before God, He lifts us up.

Application:
I will humble myself before the LORD. I will allow myself to grieve the errors of my ways, mistreatment by those who misunderstand the hope that I place in God, and the malice and insidious oppression of the enemy. I choose to come near to God. I expect that my Father in heaven will lift me up.

Prayer:
Father God, consider my humble state. I surrender completely at your mercy. Dear Jesus, intercede in my behalf. Redeem Your servant's honor that he may not disgrace Your Name. Holy Spirit fill me, war in my behalf against all evil. Guide my path that I may be useful in Your ministry to glorify my personal LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ. For it is in His precious Name that I pray. Amen.