We're Ina Spiritual Warfare

Submitting to God

In just about all of us there are some type of spiritual war going on, and this conflict that we find in side us is hindering us from serving God the way we should, and the way most of us would like to.

James says that there is a spiritual war going on inside of us, listen as I read today’s text found in ~~

James 4:1-10 1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity

[hostil] with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, “The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth [desires] to envy?”

6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

If we might recall when Jesus rode into Jerusalem with the crowds from Galilee following him, he was giving them an opportunity to acknowledge that he was indeed the King of Israel, really the King of the whole world. He was giving them the opportunity to submit to him as Lord of their lives.

But they would not submit to him as king, in fact, they would soon crucify him.

They would acknowledge no authority over their lives other than their own. They remained firmly seated as ruler of their own lives.

This is the same scene, which is acted out in most folks today.

Jesus comes humbly riding in our direction. And it seems as though we are all in favor of his blessings.

But when we learn that he does not come into our lives unless we surrender to his Lordship, then folk become distant from Him. this is where the blessings that we could have receive most likely don’t materialize.

Oh, He still blesses His children but I’m sure not as He could & would if we were only obedient to Him.

If we’ll just think about it, how many of our children receive good things from their parents that are troublemakers and cold towards their parents, not very many I’m sure.

There are people who would like to have the benefits of Jesus Christ being in their lives, but they want to maintain control of their lives. They want him to come in, but they want him to come into a comfortable, quiet corner of their lives — not taking over everything.

People, who consider them selves to be Christians, want God in their lives, but they want him to come in without taking control. They want him to be their friend so they can talk to him and ask for things they need, but they don’t want to surrender their lives to him.

They want to maintain control of at least some areas and have them off limits to God.

This is why we see a rise in the number of people calling themselves Christians, while there is at the same time a decline in the morals of the nation. People are supposedly becoming Christians without it making any real difference in the way they live.

What this does is create a conflict in our lives. The Bible says, in Galatians 5:17 17For the flesh lusteth [covet, desire,] against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.[ wish, or possible might do]

There’s a war raging over who will be in control of our lives. Some days it seems that God is in full control of our life, you know, we’re on the mountain top, but most days we are struggling to be at the controls.

A spiritual battle is going on in side us practically all the time. The conflict brings frustration and unhappiness. It seem as though we just can’t have any peace at all,

The old man will become stronger and stronger if we allow him to feed on the things of the world.