Come Close to God and He will Come Close to you

Thursday, September 17th, 2026

4:32 am

Good morning! Today I am in James 4:1-10. James tells us that the quarreling and fighting we do, actually comes from evil desires that are at war inside each of us. When we want something we don't have, we will scheme and kill to get it. We are jealous of what others have, but we can't get it, so we fight and wage war to take it away from them. He tells us that we don't have what we want because we don't ask God. And if we do ask God for it, many times our motives are all wrong, so we don't get it, wanting only what will give us pleasure. Then James tells us that friendship with this world makes us an enemy of God. He tells us that the spirit within us is filled with envy, but God gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. He reminds us that God opposes the proud but favors the humble. So he tells us to humble ourselves before God. And to resist the devil and he will flee from us. To come close to God and He will come close to us. To wash our hands of sin, and purify our hearts, because our loyalty is divided between God and the world. He tells us to let there be tears, sorrow, deep grief, sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy for the sins we have committed in this life. And to humble ourselves before the Lord, and He will life us up in honor.

James tells us right here that as Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, we cannot be friends with this world. This world is ruled by the enemy for now, and because of that the people that belong to this world are ruled by evil desires. The evil desires of this world can be found in Galatians 5:19-21. Our basic human nature is sinful. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, it cursed all of us with the evil sinful nature. But God wants us to not be controlled by that sin nature. And in these verses James tells us how we can overcome that sinful nature, so we can draw closer to God, and live the life that God has created for us to live. We draw close to God by: humbling ourselves before God (James 4:7) - yielding to His authority and will, committing our lives to Him and His control, and being willing to follow Him. Resisting the devil, not allowing him to entice and tempt us. By cleansing sin from our lives, replacing our desire to sin with our desire to experience God's purity. Letting there be deep sorrow and grief for the sins we have committed.

When we are humbling ourselves before the Lord, we are recognizing that our worth comes from God alone, and He is the one that provides what we truly need. When we draw closer to God, He starts revealing to us those sinful desires in our lives that pull us away from Him, and He shows us how to not give in to those temptations. He gives us the power to overcome those desires through the Holy Spirit that He places in each of us as believers. And when we start seeking Him wholeheartedly, our desires start aligning with His will. Then we start asking for what we really need that does not come from a selfish place. Giving us the desires of our hearts at the right time. Because He is the one that gives us good gifts, not this world. We must seek Him for all we need, and submit to His leading. Humbling ourselves before God, because He alone is in complete control, and He knows exactly how to help each of us. But we must take the time to seek Him for ourselves, no one can do that for us. Seek Him, and allow Him to start transforming your life. He has a better life for each of us, in Him.