Live Free with Josh Howerton - How to Resist the Enemy | Ep. 340 | Friday, May 24, 2024

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

James tells us that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. God loves us so much that He wants what’s best for us. He will help us resist the temptation of the enemy. The same power that raised Christ from the dead will help us! As you head into the weekend, come close to God and stand firm on the words He has placed in your heart. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Well, it is Friday, and for some of you, this might be your very last day of school. Yay! For others, you may be starting an extra long Memorial Day weekend and celebrating the beginning of summer again.

Yay! Before we go jump in a pool or an ocean or a lake, let's remember this weekend to express our gratitude. For those courageous men and women who have given their lives serving our country, I am so grateful to be living here, and their sacrifice needs to be always remembered. I'm Mike Bro, by the way, and I get to host this podcast for a few minutes every day, and I'm grateful for you as well. And if you've been with us this week, then you know we are currently in James Chapter 4, and we left off yesterday with James telling his original readers and us to make sure that we keep God and not ourselves at the center of our universe, to live grateful for his love and his leadership, and to remain faithful to him alone. So let's just pick up where we left off. Talking about God, he says this in verse 6, and he gives grace generously.

As the scriptures say, God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. James reminds us here that grace and pride are like polar opposites. Pride is all about me and my goodness, and grace is all about him and his goodness, and that only the humble are the ones who receive grace. The proud, they don't think they need it. And we talked about pride extensively just a few weeks ago when we did our fatal four, how it destroys everything in its way, including us. And maybe just maybe, that's why it says here, God opposes the proud. Did you catch that?

God opposes the proud. Now, I can think of many forces in this world I wouldn't want opposing me. I wouldn't want LeBron James opposing me in a game of one-on-one. As they say, I don't want that smoke. I wouldn't want Elon Musk opposing me at an auction. I wouldn't want to be up against Adel on the voice. I wouldn't want Tiger Woods opposing me on the golf course. And James says, when I'm full of pride,

the awesome, transcendent, omnipotent, all-knowing, all-seeing, creator of the universe opposes me. And I don't want that smoke. And the word used here for oppose or resist is a strong word. It means to set yourself up in full battle gear and pull out all the stops to defeat the enemy. So here's the deal. God loves me and you, and he knows what pride will do to those he loves. So he goes all out to oppose pride in our lives.

There's a verse in Isaiah chapter 66 verse 2. It's been a good reminder to me. This is God speaking. These are the ones I look on with favor. These are the ones I esteem. Those who are humble and contrite in spirit and who tremble at my word. I want to be one of those, don't you? So James says, God sets himself up against pride, but he showers grace on the humble.

So humble yourselves before God. And then he says this, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. As we said on an earlier podcast, temptation is relentless. I mean, like waves pounding on the rocks on the shore, the enemy of our soul will come at us again and again and again until the day we die. but the Holy Spirit will always show us a way to escape that temptation. You know, somebody once said, the devil will wrestle with Jesus followers, but he won't pin us. Paul writes this in 1st Corinthians chapter 10, but remember that the temptations that come into your

life are no different from what others experience. It's not just relentless, it's universal, we're all in this temptation thing together. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are, he will show you a way out so you will not give in to it. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in us. The same power that sets itself up against pride is in us. The same power that said, let there be light, is in us.

So we don't have to cave into temptation. We can resist. We can escape. We can win. And the primary strategy for winning is this next verse. come close to God and God will come close to you. Resist the devil, he will flee from you. Come close to God and God will come close to you.

You know, some of you might be into like sci-fi stuff. Some of you're probably like Trekkies and Star Wars fans, your outer space junkies. You love all things in the unknown cosmos. And you know what? I think outer space is kind of intriguing. I think it's kind of cool. But I'm telling you, inner space.

That's where it's at. Because everybody I know leads a dynamic. dynamic, effective, deeply satisfying life, has been an inner space jockey. They're not afraid to blaze a trail into their own heart asking, who am I really, why am I here, what needs to happen to my character, what are my core values, what are my fatal flaws, what is it in me that I know could take me out? What is the truth that God has already spoken into my heart? Holy Spirit, show me the escape route ahead of time, inner space stuff. You know, one of the prime ways of escaping temptation is the truth we've already downloaded into our heart and our mind.

those moments of temptation. God will bring those words to mine. We'll hear 1 Timothy 1.7. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, a sound mind. We'll hear Philippians 4, 5, and 6, saying, don't be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition. With Thanksgiving in your heart, present your request to God. He will give you a peace that surpasses human understanding. We will hear things like truth like Romans 837, knowing all these things. We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. There's nothing that can separate us. from his love. We'll hear Philippians 413. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. We'll hear Colossus 117. God has chosen to make known

the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you. That's the hope of glory, not just with you, but in you. Hey listen, temptation. It's going to come at you today. Pride is going to try to raise its ugly head today. So humble yourself. Submit yourself to God, resist the devil, come close to God, and when you come close to God, he will help you resist the devil. He will show you a way to escape the temptation. So let's just live in the truth today. And let's draw close to the one who is the only true and living God and resist the one who wants to be. Have a great weekend. I'll see you back here on Monday. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship,

join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.combe. Church slash daily drive.