James 4:6-10
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Grace is what makes us different. Grace is bigger than sin.
Sin seeks to open the door, but grace shuts the door.
Sin does everything to get us down and to choke us out of God's hands, however grace comes to the rescue.
Then it says to submit to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you. If we will only learn to give it to God and resist what the devil tries to place in our way. The devil is constantly trying to find a way in looking for the door to pollute our life with all kinds of sin. However if we will resist the devil (put up a road block) then grace will stop the devil in his tracks.
Every year most of us will make a list of goals for the new year. In 3 months most goals are forgotten or left behind. We become less and less focused on those goals because we start feeling that they are not attainable.
I encourage you not to let go of the goals in your mind. And make most of your goals spiritual and not material. This will make your life better.
If you are looking behind you at what used to be then you will not see what is coming ahead of you.
Things that we all need to work on this year are:
- Resist Temptation
How many of you have ever been tempted to stay home on Sunday Morning because it is New Years Eve and I know we will be up late tonight so I don't won't to go to church this morning as well.
It is easy to decide not to come to church when the devil temps you to do so. Maybe, you are tempted to buy that next pack of cigarettes when you keep thinking of quitting. Maybe you are being tempted to take something from work that doesn't belong to you. Maybe you are tempted to tell your neighbor off because there dog keeps barking.
Whatever it is we all get tempted to do things that are not right or they are a clear sin. In James it says to Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
So this next year in 2024 we must learn to Resist Temptation.
- Pray For A Renewing
We need to be renewed in our Faith in Christ and a renewing in our spiritual life.
How many of you have gotten dry in your walk with God. Many time we get in a time of not feeling God. We feel like God is not there or not listening. I have prayed many time when I thought and prayed why don't I feel you God.
We often talk about when I was young we used to stay at the church on Sunday night until 11:00PM or 12:00PM praying and seeking God. The problem is we want to blame everything and everyone else for our low spirituality. It is always someone else fault or I have something happening.
Let me tell you that God has not changed, but we have. Just because you stay praying until late means nothing, but that connection and communication with God means everything. We must spend enough time on our knees that we have a special connection with God.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Then it says to Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Stop trying to live your life on a teeter totter and live life on a rocket. Another words quite going up and down in life and get on the level with God.
Romans 12:2
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
We should not live our life like the world does. We are different, because God made us different when He saved us from our sins. He changed my life.
- Pray For A Cleansing
Praying for a true cleansing of your soul and your household.
You might say well my house is clean and yet you still have things that you are holding on too.
My daughter and myself were talking the other day about being filled with the Holy Ghost. There are times that people are not filled with the Holy Ghost because they don't won't to let go of something that they are making bigger than God. Maybe they are putting their job above Him. Maybe they are putting their phone above God.
You might say what do you mean. We make sure that we look at Facebook or Instagram before we kneel to pray. We need to text someone before we seek God. We play with other things during church instead of listening to the preacher tell us about God.
The Bible says in Exodus "Do not put any other gods before me.
- Pray For Growth In Our Walk
We need to pray for a growth in our walk with God. Starting reading your Bible and get to know the word of God so that you can walk on a higher level.
In our life the only way we get to know someone is to spend time talking with them and getting to know their likes and dislikes. We need to do the same with God. The more we read and study the Bible then the more we will know what He will approve of and what He will not.
If we know that then we can grow in our walk with God.
When I look back at all of the things in my life that I have done wrong then I can see how I have changed. I have gotten rid of the sin in my life and starting to do what God want in my life.
In this next year we need to:
Resist Temptation
Pray For A Renewing
Pray For A Cleansing
Pray For Growth In our Walk
And We need to:
Pray For The Love Of Christ In Our Lives
The one thing we must know is that when you know Christ then you know true love and we must show it to others.
Love is one of the most important things that we must know how to do.
Lets show people that we love them and care for them. Let's spend time getting to know them and care about them.
One of the things that I wanted to start is showing people that we love them more than I have ever showed. I can however never show the love that Jesus showed for us.
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.