Verses to Abide In
“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
James 4:4-10 ESV
Digging Deeper
Greater Grace (which is the same as “more grace” in ESV)
As Augustine once said "God gives what He demands." And in context He demands our love and loyalty to Himself instead of to the evil, "anti-god" world system, which exerts a powerful pull on all men, specifically on the fallen flesh of both the unsaved and the saved (who still possess the flesh, but now in Christ and "under grace" [Ro 6:14-note] have the power to say "no" to the pleasures of the world - Gal 6:14, cp Ro 6:11-note, Ro 6:12, 13-note) (Note that this strong "magnetic" pull of worldly pleasures is the emphasis in Jas 4:1, 2, 3,4). It is only by grace that the believer can "resist" the attraction of the pleasures (albeit passing! cp He 11:25-note), the power of His grace always being greater than the attraction of the world's pleasures. But the only way to be a benefactor of His greater grace is by maintaining a humble attitude (Jas 4:6), which is manifest by submission to Him and His will (His Word), resistance to the allures of Satan (Jas 4:7), a drawing near to God with clean hands and pure heart (Jas 4:8), and a heart attitude which laments over sin (Jas 4:9)
Dave Roper commenting on greater grace says
That is the kind of heavenly husband we have. When we have gone the world's way and have become adulterous he pours his grace out to us. And the rest of this passage, from verse 6 through verse 10, is an account of how we can receive that grace.
He gives a grace—a gift greater than you can receive by pursuing your passions on your own—a grace greater than the world can give, a grace greater than any other resource. He wants to give, and give, and give. That is the kind of Lord we have. He does not want to withhold one good thing from you or from me. He wants us to have everything good, worthwhile, valuable, proper, and constructive. And he will give it. So why do we seek it apart from God?—because we want it according to our time schedule. We want it now. So we trample over people, and engage in arguments and conflict with people because we want it now. God says, ‘‘Wait. I will give it to you. Ask me, and I will give you the desires of your heart.” (HOW TO HANDLE STRIFE)
Pride versus Grace
Guzik - God resists the proud: Grace and pride are eternal enemies. Pride demands that God bless me in light of my merits, whether real or imagined. But grace will not deal with me on the basis of anything in me, good or bad, but only on the basis of who God is.
Draw Near To God
In context, the love of the world (worldliness, cp Jas 4:4-note, cp 1Jn 2:15,16, 17, Gal 6:14) results in straying from God (cp "double minded", Jesus' warning in Mt 6:24-note). James is saying (as recipients of greater grace) we must counter the anti-God influences of this world (and even our own fallen flesh) and draw near to God.
All of the above commentaries are from preceptaustin.com.
Humility
Revival comes when we humble ourselves before the majesty of God. Humility allows God to do His work of grace in us. Grant Richison
From the Heart
The Wachovia Center in Philadelphia—now the Wells Fargo Center—was packed with somewhere between ten and twenty thousand women.
My mom and sister beside me, we sang our hearts out and soaked in teaching through the weekend with Women of Faith, September 12–13, 2008.
At one point, I was looking around, enjoying the fellowship surrounding us, when a stillness came over me and a picture of a king in fine robes looking over his kingdom came to mind.
I knew in that moment it was Nebuchadnezzar from the book of Daniel.
Next, I saw this mighty king on his hands and knees, with long hair hanging down around him, eating the grass like a beast of the field.
Then, with complete peace, I felt like God was saying to me, “You are going to get sick again, but I will be with you.”
I told a couple of friends about it and tentatively said that I hoped it wouldn’t be for seven years.
I waited.
It happened four months later.
It was like a switch went off and my body just shut down.
I would wake up literally paralyzed and just wait for when I would finally be able to move enough to sit up.
My husband was my caregiver, and family and friends surrounded us and supported us.
The doctor who had helped me improve through the flare-up before this one was totally stumped.
He said to keep searching and then let him know if we found anything.
The doctor encouraged me that, since clearly rest was helping, I should rest.
I rested.
I didn’t leave the house for the first 9 months.
The rest helped, but I was still bedridden for most of the day, if not all of the day.
We searched for doctors and treatments.
We found some helpful treatments and some that did not help.
But God worked in my heart during it all.
He continued to teach me:
…that I cannot control anything, but he controls everything.
…to submit to him.
…to keep truth in my heart and mind, even if it was just one verse or one phrase to hold onto in my fog-hazed mind, moment by moment.
…to keep fighting with prayer.
…to resist the devil.
…to keep drawing near to God.
…to cleanse my hands and purify my heart, to be single-minded, fixing my eyes on Jesus.
…to mourn and weep, not just in lament of my health, but of the sin in my soul.
I clung to the Lord and am so thankful for Michael and our sons and our loved ones.
I grew in the Lord.
Like a switch clicked, my health turned again, but this time it turned on…
Seven years later, I was able to start going to church consistently on Sunday mornings again, I was able to rejoin the worship team, and I was able to restart the process of reading the Bible cover to cover.
I like to label seasons of life by what God has taught me in them.
This seven-year season I labeled “Grace.”
Abba,
We acknowledge that we once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind, but God…
We take comfort that you, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which you loved us—even when we were dead in our trespasses—made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5 ESV).
Thank you.
We praise you.
We humble ourselves before you. Thank you for giving us more grace to be able to battle our flesh (James 4:4-6 ESV).
So we submit ourselves to you (James 4:7).
O God, show us what that looks like in our day-to-day living.
Help us to flee the devil so that he will flee from us (James 4:7).
We draw near to you right now and anticipate you drawing near to us (James 4:8). Thank you for the comfort of your love in this. We are excited to fellowship with you.
As we draw near, is there any old way in my heart, any sin that I need to confess to you right now?
Please forgive me for my pride, my self-reliance, any bitter jealousy or selfish ambition. Forgive me for when I am self-centered or speak without my thinking and, in turn, without loving. Forgive me for not submitting to you. Forgive me for giving in to temptation when I need to run from it (James 1:19; 3:14-4:10)…
Am I in sin? Cleanse my hands.
Am I double-minded? Purify my heart (James 4:8).
Please forgive me for…
As we view our sin, may we be wretched and mourning and weeping (James 4:9)…
May we feel the grief and remorse so that we can know all the more the riches of your forgiveness and comfort (1 John 1:9; Matthew 5:4).
We ask and trust that you wash us, cleanse us, and purify us (Psalm 51:2; 7).
We humble ourselves before you, that you would lift us up (James 4:10).
May we then all the more serve you in the meekness of wisdom (James 3:13).
We trust in you. You are our trust (Jeremiah 17:7).
In the name of Jesus, whose grace is sufficient for us, whose power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Amen!
May God multiply his grace and peace to you,
Laura
Praise God for a wonderful evening of outreach on the boardwalk of Ocean City, New Jersey! We took a group from our church and joined Family Life Ministries in spreading out and letting people come and take the heaven test.
Sunday, July 5, 4-7pm
America 250 Celebration
We will wrap up this beautiful evening at about 6:40 with a few songs and a word from Michael
Crossing Community Church
80 Lower Silver Lake Road
Newtown, PA 18940
Saturday, August 1, 2026, 7-9pm
Acts of Grace Coffeehouse
1609 Woodburne Road
SUITE 403B (very back of complex)
LEVITTOWN, PA 19057
Monday, August 3, 2026, 7-9pm
Karen's Place Outdoor Concert
Doylestown Mennonite Church
590 N. Broad Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
Saturday, August 8, time 7 PM
Red's Room Online Concert
Red's Room Entertainment