James 4:9 KJV [9] “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.”      The Lord wants our lives to be full of joy and laughter. However, there is a time to mourn and a time to weep. We must weep over sin. There should always be an affliction of the soul when we stray from God. That is what James is telling us in this verse. To experience the joy of the Lord, we must repent of our sins.      When I read this verse, it reminds me of the …

James 4:8 KJV [8] “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”      The devil wants us to think that we cannot be close to God. He wants us to believe that it is difficult to have fellowship with Him. The devil is a liar, and we must not listen to his lies. We must trust what God says rather than what Satan tries to put in our minds.      Here we have a clear invitation to draw closer to God. It is such a …

James 4:7 KJV [7] “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”      It is never appropriate to brag on the devil. I have heard people testify in church about how the devil had been on their back, yet they said very little about God. God never gets glory when we magnify Satan. However, we must be aware of two things about the enemy. First, we have to remember that he is a defeated foe! God kicked him out of heaven, cursed him in the garden, and then crushed his head at Calvary! One …

James 4:6 KJV  [6] “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”      Our verse today contains three truths about the grace of God. The first truth we see is grace promised. God has not only promised to give us grace but to give us more grace. That means that no matter what we face in this life, God has promised to provide the grace to see us through. As believers, we can rest in the knowledge that this grace will be there to help us in times of need, …