James 4 - The Way To Go Up

Today, Friday December 4 - James 4 - The root of all of our strife and conflict is pride!  Pride keeps us from receiving God's wonderful grace that enables us to deal with every situation and challenge we face in life everyday! James tells us what to do at this point in verses 7-10.  First we must "submit to God"! This means to surrender our will and our life to Him and be willing to come under His authority and His Word.  Oswald Chambers said it this way, "The only right we have, is the right, to give up the right to ourselves."  Then we must "resist the devil." That means to stand up against him by "putting on the whole armor of God..... and taking up the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God." (Ephesians 6:10-18)  By doing this we draw closer to the Lord and we will find that He will draw closer to us!  This includes, "cleansing our hands" which is to confess the sins of our life and wash them in the blood of Jesus. " (1 John 1:7-10)  We then should evaluate our motives, "purify our hearts", and make sure we are living for Christ alone! To be "wretched and mourn and weep..." means we genuinely and sincerely deals with the pride of our hearts recognizing how deceitful and terrible it is.  This truly brings us to a place of humility before the Lord and then He will lift us up! God is waiting for you to come to Him through His Son Jesus Christ!  Come today!  God bless!