Drawing Near to God
Part 5: Humble yourself before the Lord

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: Humble yourself before the Lord--------------- Date: 10/15/1999
Keywords: "humble" "self-sufficiency"

Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation.

This is part five in a five part study on drawing near to God. James gives us insight on practical ways we can move closer to God, the source of our strength.

Passage: James 4:7-10*

7. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

9. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

10. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Questions

1. How might you humble yourself before the Lord?

 

2. What happens when you do?

 

Practical help

God, by his grace through Jesus Christ has brought you back into his presence. If you're not sure you're in God's presence, click here to find out how you can be.

Yet even while you're in his presence you can choose how close you want to be to him. If your choices lately have been putting a lot of distance between you and God then take a note from James -- God wants you to be near and here's one way:

Humble yourself before the Lord.

This can be one of the hardest things you do because you have to do battle with your worst enemy -- self-sufficiency.

When you were created by God, he gave you a feeling heart, an intelligent mind and a free will. All these were given you so that after trusting in God's gift of grace, you could draw closer to him in an ever deepening relationship.

Problems enter in when you decide you're in better control of your life than God is. You start to venture away from his guidance and love. Then the farther you move away from God the easier it is to let pride in your own intelligence convince you that you (without God) know how to make the best choices.

If pornography has its hooks in you and you feel like you're treading water in a sea of bad choices then give it up. Stop depending on your own power and tell God you need him. Bow before your mighty creator and he will lift you up.

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*Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version © Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.