Submit Yourselves!

(James 4:7) “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

What do we do with our most prized possessions? We store them in a safe place. Look at banks and the trouble they go to secure their money, the greater the prize the tighter the security. Even we go to great lengths to secure our valuables, it is a default built into our sub-conscience. What has got me thinking along these lines this morning is I realised that we will look after our earthly possessions with great vigour, but what of the greatest of all prizes, why do we not use the same urgency when the thief breaks in to maim and steal. There seems to be an air of complacency to the spiritual realm but no lack of it in the physical. I was taught a lesson yesterday, and I am guilty as charged. I am far too complacent with God’s gracious gift and for this I ask for forgiveness. I made an effort to buy a safe to store my valuables, but what effort is taken to keep the wolf at bay when it comes to my spiritual walk in and through our conquering King, the Lord Jesus. How often do we drop our guard and let the wolf ravage as we open ourselves up to sin, is not faith in the Lord Jesus the greatest of all our possession, it is His Spirit which now lives within all who have been born of the Spirit. We must learn to value this treasure higher than any other; it must be of such urgency in our minds that we find ourselves crying for grace in time of need. We Know in whom we have believe! Yet at times is would appear that we are caught off guard. Let us not be ignorant! We know that the devil goes around seeking whom he may devour, but for him it is an impossible task as the Lord Jesus has completed the work of Calvary, He has defeated all in his death, including the devil, and He proved this though His resurrection.

My prayer is this; that we would have such a desire to find Grace in time of need, that it will provoke us to good works and not leave us lying in the dirt feeling defeated and unworthy of the high call of God. The enemy seeks out our weakness and throws us lures, and we often fall straight into his trap. I suppose this cliché often rings true to my life; “like taking candy from a child.” It should not be this way for the child of God. May we be alert to those traps and when obviously seen may we no longer be ensnared by them, but rather cry out to our Father, who is mighty and who longs for His children to find obedience. This is why the writer of Hebrews penned these words; “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) – It is available! All we need to do is boldly seek it out. This is how we will learn to treasure the greatest of all gifts, the Lord Jesus Himself! His Spirit does live within us; we must not habitually always play into the hands of the devil.

However when we sin we must not always blame the devil, sure he has his part to play, but we are lead about by our own passions. This is what the Apostle James teachers us; “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:3) -  We must learn to put our trust and faith in God’s provision; “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

Finding grace will arm our minds for this warfare and we will in turn as good soldiers astutely pay attention to the armour of God; we must make it our priority.

May God hear our cry as I know He hears the voice of His children; help us Abba Father to find boldness in seeking out grace in time of need. To our great King and Him alone do we pay homage, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone