You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “he yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:4-6
Our spirit is the ‘prize’ in the spiritual war that is going on right now. So what is it about our spirit that makes it such a prize? Our will from which we make choices is the key factor that is from which we either decide to follow and agree with God or not. If the enemy of God can get you to ‘agree’ with them — then essentially you have made a choice against God. This ‘battle’ / temptation was from the very first of creation with Adam and Eve.
This is why the enemy must get someone to ‘agree’ with them for them to have ANY power over them. The element of ‘free will’ from which I believe makes love possible is built into the matrix of the created universe. Without choice what exactly is love?
The older I get the more I ponder the elements of real spiritual maturity. What keeps coming up is the character trait of real humility. Humility is absolutely necessary in the battle against pride. Pride seems to be one of the most dangerous things we can hold within ourselves. What was one of the main factors of the ‘fallen’? Pride. There are so many scriptures about the warnings of pride in someone’s life.
In the NT scriptures humility is translated from a long Greek word tapeinophrosune which literally means humility, lowliness of mind, and modesty. The ‘word study’ goes on say that it means living in complete dependence on the Lord, i.e. with no reliance on self (the flesh). This is way more important than most understand. How exactly does one learn to live like that? The only solution I’ve found is a complete reliance on the the indwelling Presence and guidance from the Holy Spirit. This means putting myself in a ‘state’ where I’m listening for and to Him .. at all times. The Holy Spirit rightly helps us ‘see’ God’s perspective. Then we ‘know’ and understand that we must be in complete reliance on Him.
When faced with an increasingly dangerous world the need to press into Him is rising. Are you seeing the danger rising as well? The ‘what if’ questions begin to intrude in our minds when we face the increasingly dangerous situations around us. We have to be careful not to go down those spiraling rabbit holes of ‘what if’ nagging questions. We must focus on Him and stay ‘present’ with Him. Paul writes to his friends in Philippi these instructions …
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9
We must take control of the direction of our thought processes. Paul encourages us to focus on the things things ‘above’. Those Godly attributes of truth, honor, fairness, purity, beauty, praise worthy, and excellence. We are to remember what we have learned from the Spirit of God and ‘practice’ what we have learned. Can we ‘practice’ humility, gratefulness, and repentance? Can we keep those in the forefront of our minds whenever we are encountering others?
We need to be ready at any moment to be His light, love, and life in the dark places and hard times. Are you ready to be used by Him at those times? Are you filled with His Spirit ready to be poured out when He is needed in others? Are you ready to serve others in the most difficult of times?