Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I wonder if you’ve ever been involved in a backyard water balloon fight or maybe you’ve been courageous enough to engage in what they call a ‘paintball’ game? When either a water balloon or paintball pellet hit something hard, they ‘splatter’! I guess the same thing happens when an infant pushes their glass of milk off their highchair and it hits the concrete floor! That’s a strange word… ‘SPLATTER’, isn’t it? This morning as I am reading James 4:6-10 in my Bible I’m getting the feeling of rapid fire “spiritual splatters’! Is it fair to say that sometimes, when God speaks, He wants His word to “splatter” in our minds and hearts, so that His truth affects how we live, and touches every person that our lives touch? Would you join me today, once again, in James’ little letter in the New Testament?
James writes: “God gives us more GRACE. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’. Submit yourselves then to God” Did you just get “SPLATTERED” with God’s powerful truth in James 4:6? James is moved by the Holy Spirit here to remind his Jewish Christ followers, all across the Roman Empire, that great Old Testament truths, which they knew well, should be very uplifting, strengthening, and encouraging in difficult times…especially if you let them ‘splatter’ all over your life and the difficult situations you find yourself in!
Today, let’s invite the Holy Spirit to give us His insights into each of these ‘splatter statements’. Yes, one of God’s main themes found frequently throughout the entire Bible is that no one can out give God when it comes to GRACE! Grace is undeserved kindness, unmerited favor. Everyday, every breath is God’s GRACE! A gift of kindness from God to each of us, especially those people who disregard God or reject God or mock God…isn’t that seen from cover to cover of the Bible? So look around my friends and take note of how much GRACE from God you are living in right now, this moment! How do you thank God for all His Grace “splattered” all over you?
In many places of the Bible God makes it very plain that PRIDE disregards GRACE and will separate us from God, for pride says “I don’t need God, I can do life myself, without God’s help.” Over and over in the book of Proverbs, Solomon warns about the folly, the danger of pride and arrogance. Pride can blind us can’t it? Have you found pride to be one of your greatest enemies? Listen to Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Or how about this “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Prov. 16:18) You’ve noticed, I hope, that you cannot honor God, praise God, or submit yourself to God and have a prideful heart at the same time… it’s impossible! Pride doesn’t submit to anything or anyone. Pride splatters all over us and quenches the work of God in our lives… think about that!
Next James says… “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Now that’s a powerful,’ spiritual splatter’ statement isn’t it? Do you remember the apostle Paul wrote “Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes…” (Ephes. 6:10-18) And Peter wrote “Be self controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour . Resist him, standing firm in the faith…and the God of all GRACE…will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be all the power and the glory.” (2 Peter 5:8-11)
The message of encouragement is clear from all three of these great men isn’t it? We, the people of God, are empowered by God to resist the devil. The devil MUST respect and submit to the authority of the NAME of Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:6-11), the WORD of God (Hebrews 4:12), and the BLOOD of Jesus which earns our ransom, our forgiveness, our adoption by God. God’s people empowered by the Holy Spirit and armed by the Word of God, can resist the devil victoriously! Now when you allow that great truth to ‘splatter’ all over your heart and mind, it gives you strength to step out into our dark and evil world with confidence and strength, doesn’t it?
Do you see James’ next ‘ spiritual splatter statement’? “Come near to God and He will come near to you.” (James 4:8) It’s what King David said to his son King Solomon as he passed the mantle of leadership: “my son Solomon, serve the God of your father with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind your thoughts. If you seek God He will be found by you...” (1 Chronicles 28:9) Years later it’s also what the prophet Azariah said to King Asa “The LORD is with you, when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you...” (2 Chron. 15:2) Do you have a deep desire to pursue a close relationship with God or are you satisfied to occasionally dip your toe in the water and simply flip your Bible open to anyplace and read a verse or two, or maybe recite a little bedtime prayer you memorized as a child, and that’s enough for you? James was writing to desperate people living in desperate times... that wasn’t enough for them! They needed God much closer, more personal and more powerful, so James assures them that if they pursue God He will respond!
Do you see what James says next? “Wash your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts you double-minded.” I wonder if James was remembering what David had written so many years before: “Teach me Your way O LORD and I will walk in Your truth, give me an undivided heart that I may fear Your name!” (Ps. 86:11) Do you see the similarity of appeal in those two Scriptures? We can’t have it both ways can we my friends? We can’t expect to live a spiritually victorious, Holy Spirit empowered life and at the same time be dabbling in the darkness, giving the devil regular footholds in our lives (Eph. 4:27,30) The apostle John said it like this: “God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet we walk in the darkness, we lie and the truth is not in us. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:5-7) Did you just feel the ‘spiritual splatter’ hit you?
Do you have time for one more ‘spiritual splatter statement’ from James? Listen to this in James 4:9,10 “Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up.” No it doesn’t mean people who are followers of Jesus are to live their lives weeping, or grieving. It means we are to be honest enough to see in ourselves those attitudes and behaviors that grieve God, and rather than laughing about it or ignoring it or pretending those things are not real in our lives, we should be remorseful and repentant.
I think James might have been reminding his Jewish Christian readers about their Old Testament prophet Ezekiel who wrote this when God was chastising His people for ignoring their sin: “…when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their conduct…so I poured out My wrath on them because they had shed blood in the land and defiled it with their idols. I judged them according to their evil conduct…they profaned My holy name. But a time will come when you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices.” (Ez. 36:16-32) James is reminding us here that it’s dangerous when we ignore the evil in our lives. Honesty with ourselves and with God is important, and honesty should lead us to repentance, for only there is forgiveness and restoration found!
And so James concludes these ‘spiritual splatter statements’ with this: “Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up.” What great words of hope and promise especially in a world where self-advancement, resistance to correction or accountability is so widespread in every society, every city, every family, even every person. So today my friends, let these brief blasts of God’s truth splatter all over you, and I challenge you to spend some time inviting God to work His truth deeply into your mind and heart…enough so it will make a difference this entire weekend in your life!
I suggest you take your journal, and write each of these brief statements and then after each statement write an application sentence or two as the Holy Spirit leads you to consider how HE wants to apply these statements into your life today. And here’s a song that might help you with this process…”Speak O LORD”:
Today’s Scripture is James 4:6-10.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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