James. - Final Part

 "Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded".                                             James 4:7-8  NKJV

We all fall into sin, sometimes everyday. We try our best but then, find ourselves doing what we know we shouldn't do. We then, either feel ashamed or guilty that we have let God and ourselves, down.

One thing we need to do is to recognise that when we do this, we have committed sin. We haven't made a mistake; we have sinned and we need to recognise it as such. Tony Evans comments: 'Some people don't recognise sin as sin but, they claim to 'Make mistakes'. Jesus didn't die for mistakes, He died for sin.'  Tony Evans Study Bible, Holman Press

We need to submit ourselves to God. This is recognising our weakness by fully surrendering ourselves to God as our Ultimate and final authority. Read Romans 12:1-2. Make no mistake, Satan is stronger and smarter than any of us and the only way to beat him is by quoting scripture to him, as Jesus did when He was tempted. In this way, if we resist him, he will flee and we can add praise to our weaponry too.

James mentions drawing near to God and allowing Him to draw near to us. This is done by seeking His face - coming into His presence with praise, prayer and obedience. Note, this must be done on a daily basis, not just on a Sunday at church. Our relationship with Jesus should be on a daily basis, never any other way.

We are to 'Cleanse our hands'. This means that we need to take responsibility for our sin. As we have seen, they are not mistakes, they are sin that we commit and we need to recognise, accept and take responsibility for this. We have no excuses, there are none we can claim. It isn't, 'She made me do this' or If I hadn't become involved with them, I would have been ok'. NO, NO, NO! We are responsible for our own sin, no one else. Accept this fact and then set about asking God to help you get things right.

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