Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

"God opposes the proud, but gives grace
to the humble."  James 4:6

Reflection:

I had a friend who had a favorite Bible
quote, he used to quote it to me all the
time. "Resist the devil and he will flee
from you". James 4:7.  Everytime I
turned around there was my friend with
that quote. The problem with him quoting
that verse was that he would forget the
first part of the verse.  "THEREFORE
SUBMIT TO GOD, resist the devil and
he will flee from you".  You see simply
resisting satan is not enough, simply
resisting evil will not make it flee.  If
you want to put the devil on the run,
if you want to get rid of evil, SUBMIT
TO GOD, and resist the temptation of
pride.  James also wrote, "Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and
He shall lift you up."  James 4:10
You see we all have a choice to make,
God  allow us to fall flat on our face,
so that we become humble and
submitted, or we can humble ourselves.
I don't know about you but guess what?
I pick the later. 
When I was an active preacher I found
myself falling into to a false and very
deceptive sense of pride.  After, what
I perceived a great sermon, I found my-
self feeling,"look at me, I'm
sacrificing for the Lord".  Believe me
my outward appearance and attitude
reflected my feeling.  But I soon discovered
that when I humble myself in places no-
body sees, there is less temptation of
pride.  Public humility may bring the
praise of men and woman, but private
humility will bring the public grace and
favor of God.  AND THE GRACE OF GOD
PUTS THE DEVIL ON THE RUN!

Prayer:

Oh God, awesome in power and might.  I
submit to You, to Your authority, to Your
Lordship, to Your power.  There is no God
besides You, I chose humility.  Forgive me
for pride and arrogance.