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“… God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

God resists the proud – who are the proud? The proud are not just the arrogant ones that think of themselves as superior to others. The proud are not just the ones who brag on what they can do or what they have. The proud are not just the unsaved. The Biblical definition of being proud would be anyone who relies on self to do what they can do in their own strength and understanding, by their own resources and abilities, and through their own connections and influence. Being proud is trying to find position with God based on disciplined behavior. Being proud is being self-sufficient. Being proud is being in control.

The opposite of being proud is being humble. The Biblical definition of being humble is choosing to yield to God and pursuing His ways. Being humble is surrendering to His lordship as the authority in a loving relationship. Being humble is relying on God – His strength, His resources, His influence.

The Bible says that God gives His grace to the humble, His grace being His more-than-enough sufficiency for anything that we need. God’s grace is His redemption, placing us in position with Him based on His sacrifice, not our works. His grace is His Presence in personal relationship with us. His grace is God abundantly resourcing what we need by His supply. His grace is His power and His ability to do more than what is required. His grace is more than enough, more than sufficient. His grace is His gift.

The Bible also says that God resists the proud. To resist means to oppose or to abstain from. God withhold Himself from a close relationship with the proud, even the believer who refuses to surrender. God will withhold His grace from the proud, His ability to help, even the Christian who refuses to yield. People that have to be in control, even Christians, are people that are found working against God. People that rely on their intellect are people that are found resisting God’s plans and God’s Spirit; however, people that lay aside their ideas and pursue what God wants and the way He wants it done, are people that God will grace.

You can attract God into your life. You can be like a magnet, drawing Him closer to you. His power is available to you. His resources, His direction, His wisdom, His peace – everything that He is, that He has and that He can do is for those who surrender to His love and authority.

Application: Check your surrender. Are you striving on your own in any area? If so, turn it over to God now and watch what He will do!

“God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” II Corinthians 9:8

Receiving blessings from God can easily become an interest of the Christian. After all, who doesn’t like to receive a blessing? Who doesn’t like to see the Lord working on our behalf? It’s a great feeling to receive a gift. Receiving a gift is receiving from God’s grace. It’s over and above what we have worked for or attained in our own strength.

There is another aspect of grace that God wants to interest us in, and that is the grace to give. The concept is the same – God wants us to lean on Him to go over and above what we could do with our own ability and our own resources. He wants us to rely on His grace, His strength and His supply, to have something to give to someone else.

The heart of God is love, and His love is gracious; His love is generous. We are His children; we are like our Father when we desire to show generosity to someone else. Generosity expresses the compassionate love of God to another person that God loves.

A believer who desires to give is a believer that God will resource to give. A believer who desires to give is a person who trusts God to not only meet their need, but also to use them to meet the needs of someone else. Our interest in being a giver, when it is based on God’s grace, is focused on seeing another person blessed. Don’t wait until you are overflowing with blessing before you become a vessel of God’s grace to bless someone else.

We are like God when His love is ruling our hearts, compelling us to be a blessing to someone else instead of focusing on how we can be blessed ourselves. Our faith opens up our heart to become a wider pipeline to both give and receive God’s grace. Our faith causes us to be open-handed instead of closed-fist. The more open we are, the more liberal and free God’s grace flows through us. The person who matures in their faith is believing God to operate through them with His abundant, over-the-top grace. A person of faith isn’t relying on their own supply to give. They are relying on God’s grace for His supply to flow through them. It is better to give than it is to receive.

Application: According to II Corinthians 9:10, even the seed we have to give is from God. Ask God for seed to sow. God will provide a way for you to become a conduit of His generous love and grace.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

We all faced circumstances when we woke up this morning. Some circumstances we created, some were created for us and other circumstances happened because of the world we live in. Some of our situations are favorable and smile on us, but some circumstances are unfavorable and need to be overcome. Unfavorable circumstances can seem to be small or they can feel monumental.

Here is the good news about God and His grace – God is bigger than any circumstance that we will ever face and His grace supplies more than what is needed to either bring change in a circumstance or to live abundantly through an unfavorable situation. His grace supplies what we lack. His grace gives strength in our weakness. His grace takes us over and above and beyond our ability. His grace is greater!

Are you facing loneliness, depression? God is bigger than that!

Are you facing hurts, offense? God is bigger than that!

Are you facing sickness, disability, death? God is bigger than that!

Are you facing fear, shame or guilt? God is bigger than that!

Are you facing lack, loss, grief? God is bigger than that!

Are you facing divorce or separation? God is bigger than that!

Are you facing temptation, addiction, failure? God is bigger than that!

Whatever you are facing, our God is bigger. Our God is greater. Our God is stronger. Our God is higher. There is nothing incurable, unforgiveable, untouchable, or impossible for God! There is nothing too bent that God cannot straighten. There is nothing too far gone that God cannot reach it. If we think of God in limits, then we are trying to put our God-size God inside a man-size box.

God did not purpose for us to do life on our own in our natural strength. We were meant to live in partnership with a spiritual Father, experiencing His supernatural ability gracing our lives. He is Almighty God and we are His children. He is here, as our Father, to do what we cannot do on our own. Allow God to be big in your life. Allow God to do what He can do because of who He is and because of the love that He has for us.

Application: Ask yourself, “Is there anything I am trying to do apart from God? If there is, I encourage you to invite God into your circumstance, accepting His willingness and ability to demonstrate His love and His power for you. Give Him every area of your life and enjoy knowing Him.