·
Pray
- Review:
- 1. God Chooses to draw near to us – up to us
2. We hunger for what we feed on. Regularly
feed on the Word.
3. Protect
hunger - meditate on Word daily.
- Prov. 4:23 …guard your heart
… - (issues of life)
4 We
need to want to be in God’s presence because of who He is – not what He can do.
5.
We
need to have holy reverence – the fear of the Lord
· Humility
Our text scripture has been James 4:8 – but lets look at
what God say to us through James before and after this verse – the entire
passage.
James 6-10
6 But he giveth more
grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the
humble. 7Submit 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. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and
weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 10 Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
Lets also look at Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
1.
God
loves humble people
2.
hates
pride
·
Most
have a misconception of Godly humility –
1.
as
used here means to make oneself lower than the other person on purpose
a) Blessed are the humble (Matt 6)
b) He who is first will be last -
c) Defer to others –
d) We are supposed to put other’s needs
as a priority – help people – James calls this “true religion”
·
Let’s
take a look at another form of Godly
humility –
2.
agreement
with God – being in tune with Him : example 1 Sam 17:26-28
many
confuse being in agreement with God with being conceited
1.
Little
Shepard boy arrives on scene bringing supplies
2.
finds
mighty warriors of Israel hiding behind rocks
3.
finds
all are afraid of Goliath
4.
who
is this uncircumcised Philistine? – (what is going on here?)
5.
Brother’s
reaction
6.
God
calls David man after His own heart
other
examples:
1.
Moses
– Numbers 12:3
Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were
on the face of the earth.)
Who
wrote Numbers? – Moses!
2.
Jesus
– Matt 11:28-29
28 Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble
in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Humbleness
here consistent with the idea of
1.
obedience - Jer. 29:11 - links obedience and humbleness
2.
dependence
on Him – 2 Cor 3:5 – 2 Cor. 12-9-10 – giving all the credit to God
3.
our
view of ourselves – 1 Cor 15:9 For I am the least of the
apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
church of God.
Humbleness and fear
of The Lord the
aspect of Christian life that God is looking for –
If
you know nothing else, but truly Seek His Presence showing these two things:
you automatically will – be obedient in truth – because of who He Is,
You
will be in agreement with Him.
Proverbs
22:4-5 tells us He
will then reward us with His presence:
4 By humility [and] the fear of the LORD [are] riches, and honour,
and life
5 Thorns [and] snares [are] in the
way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.
(Amp
says He will reward with his presence)
If
you want to be in agreement with God, you must get to know Him, much easier to
agree with someone when you know them.
-
Meditate
on Word – Josh 1:8
·
End
meeting in prayer
