Hello you blessed saints of God!
Listen to this scripture:
James 4:5 Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love?
4:6 But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).
4:7 So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you.
The Spirit of God dwells in us and yearns over us. He jealously protects us against any evil infulences, and will never leave you to fend for yourself. He needs to be welcomed into our hears. Open the deepest part of your heart, that part which you try to protect and which is always locked away. God can always go deeper into our hearts, and show us more of His goodness in deeper revelation. He wants to show you who you are, but you need to trust Him in order for Him to do it. Trusting the Spirit is having faith in Him. You can't trust someone if you think he's out to get you. You need te realise that God is good. He is your protector, and He wants to keep you safe from all corrupting influences, but most of all, all accusing influences.
You need to hear and believe the Gospel of Christ, which tells us about this good God. By believing the Gospel, the Spirit testifies in our hearts that it is the truth, and we are able to believe He is good, and ultimately trust Him. If you think you need to keep things away from God, fearing judgment from Him, you will never be able to trust Him. So realise this: God gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes might not perish, but have eteral life (John 3:16). Going on in verse 17, He says: God did not send His Son in order to condemn the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound in Him. Those who believe will never be judged. Those who believe not, are judged already, because they did not believe in His name. Now, Jesus is not the one that condemns them, but the law of Moses. Remember the law came before Jesus, through Moses. The law was impossible for man, but Jesus came to fulfill it. Rom 10:4 says: Christ is the end of the law. John 1:17 "For while the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." So Moses = Law and Jesus = Grace and Truth.
John 5:45 says "Put out of your minds the thought and do not suppose [as some of you are supposing] that I will accuse you before the Father. There is one who accuses you - it is Moses, the very one on whom you have built your hopes [in whom you trust]." If we trust in the law of Moses, we fear judgement, and we are condemned by the law, because we are too weak to fulfill its demands. If we trust in salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, we are set free from the demands of the law, and all accusations, and His grace and truth lives in us and brings life to us. 2 Cor 3:6 says that the letter (Moses) kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Back to James 4. If the Spirit is welcome in our hearts, we will trust in God, and He will have access to our hearts, and His grace will be able to produce something in us. If we trust in the law, our hearts will close towards God, out of fear of judgment, because we would think that God wants to condemn us. He is then shut out from our hearts, and the law, which is the letter written on stone and which produces death is at work in our hearts. God is your greatest desire and your most wonderful companion. You don't need to hide what is in your heart from Him. He will not condemn you like Moses. He wants to set you free. Trust the Lord, and welcome the Spirit in your heart. Open your heart towards im and let His love wash over you.
Verse 6 says that "He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). This is how God handles your evil tendencies. Not by condemning you, but by condemning Himself on the cross, and giving you grace upon grace and more and more grace to overcome your evil tendencies. Your evil tendencies comes from the knowledge of sin, which comes from the law. Knowledge of sin comes from the law, and the law gives power to sin. God does not condemn us like the law does, no, He gives us grace and grace, so that we can understand that He loves us, and does not resent us. All your evil tendencies will be consumed by the love of God. He will completely restore your identity to sinless perfection and to the likeness of God Himself.
God gives grace to the lowly, to those who are humble enough to receive it. He sets Himself against the proud. The proud are those who trust in the arm of the flesh, the law of Moses, who wants to produce a righteousness of their own. The humble are those who trust in Jesus, who know that they can not make it on their own, and who trust in the work Jesus did on the cross. The humble are those who believe God when He tells them that they are forgiven and made holy by the blood of Jesus. The proud are they who try with all their techniques, and principles and deliverance seminars to try and set people free who are already free by His blood. The more you are involved in your righteousness, the more proud you are. The less you are involved, and the more you stand on what Jesus did for you to make you righteous, the more humble you are.
Then verse 7 says that you must resist the devil and He will flee from you. The devil is in the business of accusation. He uses the obsolete and fulfilled law of Moses and deceives God's people into thinking that they can be dirty. The name Satan means: "One who is against", or "adversary", or "accuser of the brethren". He will trick you into thinking that you need to do something to get free, when Jesus has died for you already. Rom 7:8 says: "But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment [to express itself], got a hold on me and aroused and stimulated all kinds of forbidden desires (lust, covetousness). For without the Law sin is dead [the sense of it is inactive and a lifeless thing]." 7:11 "For sin, seizing the opportunity and getting a hold on me [by taking its incentive] from the commandment, beguiled and entrapped and cheated me, and using it [as a weapon], killed me."
Satan uses the law to accuse you. Jesus doesn't accuse you (John5:45 above). He then uses the law as a weapon against you to bring death to you. Now, James 4:7 says to resist the devil and He will flee from you. This means that you need to stand your ground in the faith. Keep on believing that you are already forgiven, and that God is trustworthy and He will never condemn you, on the grounds that Jesus blood has washed you clean. Close your heart to accusational teachings of churches. Stop listening to the devices of the devil which brings death to you. Resist accusation, and condemnation by believing in the blood of Jesus, and the devil and all his fleshly evil tendencies, and temptations will flee from you.
God gives us more and more grace (power of the Spirit) to meet this evil tendency and all others fully. Receive grace, and keep on receiving grace, so that you can keep on standing blameless in the day of accusation. Resist the condemnation of the Devil and he will flee from you. Hold fast to Jesus, and what He has done for you.
Bless you
Gerrit
