Daily Devotional Thursday 3rd December 2020

by William Moody

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. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

(ESV)

In the battle against being controlled by fallen worldly wisdom James now gives crucial guidance. We need humility to realise that we can’t do this ourselves but we need God’s grace (v6). Humility leads to submission (v7) the placing of ourselves into God’s hands by surrendering to His will. Do you trust God to do this?

As we determine to surrender to God we will face terrible opposition from the evil one and we need to be ready to spot and resist his temptations (v8). We will see no progress in this if we are double-minded, we need to be single-minded, totally focused on following Christ.

This road is not easy as it will include an ongoing mourning for sin (v9) accompanied with a pleading for grace to leave sin behind. Many do not advance with Jesus as they are too comfortable in their sin and worldliness. Is this may be true of you?

As we think of Jesus dying on the cross not just to save from sin’s guilt but also from sin’s power, that must strive you on a life of discipleship. As we humbly seek God’s help to go along this path we can be confident that He will lift us to new heights in Jesus (v10). Advance and rise with Jesus!

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.