The Secret of Spiritual Power

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James !"b,#$. %here is a principle at wor& in our life and wal& with the 'ord, and it is the principle of strength out of wea&ness. %he mee& are blessed, for they will inherit the earth ((atthew )!)$. *f we want the blessing of the 'ord then we must learn what it is to be mee&, for the proud will not inherit anything from +im. %he way of the world says that in order to be stronger, we must build ourselves up and see& strength and dominance over others. ,hristians everywhere are &eenly interested in how to be increased, how to be stronger, how to ta&e authority, how to rise up, how to get more. %hey loo& for methods, formulas, and techni-ues for becoming bigger and better. %he results have been disappointing. (any mista&es have been made and many people have been hurt and disillusioned. %he 'ord has a different approach for us to ta&e. +e invites us to accept wea&ness in order to be strengthened. .e do not become strong by embracing strength, but by embracing wea&ness/ %his is the secret of all spiritual power. .hen 0aul learned this secret he was able to say, .hen * am wea&, then * am strong (** ,orinthians 12!13b$. %his ma&es no sense to the natural man. * do not remember ever hearing anyone begin a teaching on spiritual warfare with this verse. *t is no wonder, then, that these teachings never seem to produce any lasting fruit.

%his passage of Scripture from James gives us further insight into why the strong are wea&, and why the wea& are strong. 4ur study of this verse may be divided into four distinct sections. 'et us loo& at each one individually. GOD RESISTS THE PROUD ,hristians are full of many plans, many pursuits, many thoughts, many words, many things. *t is impossible to say 5ust how much of the flesh is involved in the things we underta&e in the 6ame of Jesus. .e &now they cannot be purely spiritual wor&s because often there is little fruit to be found. .e labor and toil and wor& but it seems as if we ma&e little or no progress. *t seems as if something is always bloc&ing our way and preventing us. %he automatic assumption is that anything which resists us or hinders us is of satanic origin. %hat is, if we encounter difficulty in our spiritual wal&, our first reaction is to

rebu&e the devil, or as& the saints to pray for us to have a clear way. ,ertainly the devil will attempt to hinder us from anything we underta&e that glorifies God and threatens the dar&ness. 7et we learn from James !" that there is Someone else who can resist us. %here is 8nother .ho carefully watches what we do, and fre-uently hinders us from ma&ing progress. *t comes as a shoc& and surprise to some ,hristians to see one day that God, not the devil, is resisting them. %he 'ord +imself resists us, closes doors, causes things to be unfruitful, and spoils all our plans. +ow so9 :ecause God resists the proud. %his resistance from God is insurmountable. *t is a fearful thing to fight the 'ord. .e spend most of our lives wrestling with God instead of cooperating with God, and in the end we have nothing to show for it. So much time and effort is wasted because we proceed in our own, stubborn way. .e attribute all difficulties to the devil, or to other people, or our circumstances, or our environment, and fail to recogni;e that the 'ord +imself is resisting us. God resists the proud. %his is an active resistance that will bloc& our path li&e a huge roc& or a great chasm. 8ll who wal& in pride are in league with the devil himself, and will receive the same 5udgment (cf. * %imothy <!"$. :rothers and sisters, this is a serious matter. *f we harbor the least bit of pride then we will find ourselves on the wrong side of the 'ord, but if we are humble before God and man then we cannot be defeated because=

GOD GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE %he single re-uirement for grace is humility. :ut what is grace9 Grace is more than 5ust a theological term used to describe how we are saved. Grace is the power of God at wor& in my life to do what cannot be done in my own strength. Grace is energi;ing and proactive. .hen * have reached the end of myself then Grace +imself ta&es over and does what * am unable to do. *n the first place, what * cannot do is save myself, and so * trust in the Grace of God, Jesus ,hrist, to save me. :ut Grace will not only bring me through the Gate> +e will bring me down the 0ath. Grace does not 5ust get me started in the right direction, but goes along with me every step of the way. ?or Grace is a (an/ *t should be obvious that God will not give us grace while we are still proud. .hy9 :ecause +e will allow no flesh to glory in +is presence. +e desires us to be thoroughly emptied of ourselves. .hen we cease doing what we cannot do then +e begins to do what we cannot. %he problem is that we still thin& we can do so many things. .e must learn sooner, rather than later, that apart from (e you can do nothing (John 1)!)b$. 6othing/ :ut it is human nature to try and do it ourselves. %his human nature is the flesh.

*t prevents us from entering into Grace. God cannot save someone who is still trying to save themselves. Similarly, God cannot do what we are still trying to do. +e will wait @ wee&s, months, or years @ until we have eAhausted our strength. .hen our strength is completely gone and we finally go to +im in wea&ness, +e becomes our strength and we find Grace is there to do the impossible. %hen we &now it was not us, but the 'ord. 8ll praise goes to +im, and we retain nothing for ourselves. See how many times the disciples tried to correct the 'ord. See how many times they argued with the 'ord. See how many time their thoughts contradicted the (aster. See how many times they urged +im to ta&e action. 8nd the 'ord, ever patient, would correct them. *n every case we see that +e is the 'ord, and they are the disciples. %he roles must never be confused. +e is the (aster, and we are +is servants. .e do not command +im, but +e commands us. .e do not direct +im, but +e directs us. .e do not lead +im, but +e leads us. +e was not created for us, but we were created for +im. +e does not serve us according to our pleasure, but we serve +im according to +is pleasure. So we must be ad5usted to +im, and not the other way around. %he 'ord will never apologi;e to us and say, *Bm sorry, * was wrong. .eBll do it your way. +ow laughable/ +ow absurd/ :ut we often live as if we eApect +im to do that very thing. .e have not humbled ourselves. 8ll those who want power with God must see that +is power is released through our wea&ness (cf. ** ,orinthians 12!C$. Do reali;e that you are wea& whether you admit it or not, but the power of humility is in recogni;ing and agreeing before God that we really can do nothing of our own selves. GodBs power is not for those with natural charisma, talent, leadership s&ills, education, training, or connections. God is not loo&ing for volunteers to serve at their own convenience as their schedule permits, but calls for disciples who will lay down their lives. %he flesh counts for nothing in spiritual matters. GodBs power is not revealed to us when we are proud, but when we are humble. 8ny demonstration of power manifesting itself through a proud man or a proud woman is, -uite simply, not from God and cannot be trusted. Spiritual gifts may be counterfeited, but spiritual fruit cannot be fa&ed. .e will &now the false from the true by their fruit, not their gifts ((atthew #!23$. (ee&ness is an essential -uality of spiritual fruit (Galatians )!2<$. Gifts may accompany fruit, but gifts may never substitute for fruit.

%he secret, then, is to= SUBMIT OURSELVES THERE!ORE TO GOD Do we need the power of God today9 Do we see& the 'ife of the 'ord today9 Do we desire +im to have the preeminence in our lives today9 Do we long for +im today9 %hen

now is the time for us to be unconditionally and wholeheartedly surrendered to +im. .e need not drag the process out for several days and wee&s, months and years. *f any man will come after (e, let him deny himself, and ta&e up his cross daily, and follow (e ('u&e C!2<$. Do it today, do it now. *f we must daily ta&e up the cross anyway, let us bow our head and give up the ghost instead of struggling to stay alive, which only prolongs our agony. %he secret to overcoming is dying daily. *f God gives Grace to the humble, then we should live a surrendered life so we can tap into grace. Die to Self, die to effort, die to trying, die to scheming. Stop wrestling, stop fighting, stop s-uirming, stop arguing, stop reasoning, stop bargaining, stop all that and 5ust surrender, yield, give up, and lay down before +im/ +umility is not some outward show, but a heart attitude that says in effect, * will not resist the dealings of God. * will not argue with the 'ord. * will not insist upon my own way. * recogni;e and admit that apart from +im * can do nothing. * am finished. 'ord, * loo& to 7ou to do in me and through me what * cannot do. ?riends, if we truly mean that when we say it then we will naturally spend more time praying, more time in the .ord, more time ministering to God, because we will reali;e we do not &now anything and we can not do anything without hearing from +im. *f ,hrist is to have the preeminence in all things right +ERE is where it begins. +umility is offering no resistance to the dealings of the 'ord with us. .hen we are submitted to the 'ord, we find Grace. .e find peace. .e find rest. 8ll things are in +is hands, and +e does all things well. .e need not fear what any devil or any man can do to us. %o be submitted to the 'ord is to be under +is care, under +is guidance, under +is power, under +is protection. .hom shall * fear9 .hat can man do to me9 .hat can the devil do to me9 *f * have humbled myself beneath the mighty hand of God then +e will eAalt me in due season> +e will 5ustify me> +e will defend me> +e will fight for me. *f our submission to God is complete, if our surrender to the 'ord is total, then victory is assured. .e will=

RESIST THE DEVIL" A#D HE $ILL !LEE So many times we try to resist, but we are defeated. .hy9 Simply because we attempt to resist the devil before we have first submitted ourselves to God. %here is a proper order that must be observed without fail. ?irst, we must understand the principle of God resisting the proud but giving grace to the humble. %his is the foundation of everything we do. Second, the word therefore signifies that those who learn this principle will act

upon it accordingly. *f they understand the truth 5ust stated, they will submit therefore to God. %hird, as a result of their submitting to God, they will find the devil flees whenever and wherever they offer him resistance. %he word flee means to run away in terror. +ow wonderful/ +ow delicious to see the devil running from us in terror, instead of the other way around/ %hat should be the normal eAperience of all ,hristians. %hat is the normal ,hristian life, a life that overcomes. %he whole ob5ect of satan is to bring us down from the heavenly places in ,hrist (Ephesians 2!"$ and entangle us into some &ind of earthly, fleshly thing that saps us of our strength and diminishes spiritual authority. Fnowing this, the 'ord has us to pray daily, Deliver us from evil ((atthew "!1<ff$. %hat is to say, Deliver us from the earthly, the fleshly, the worldly, the carnal, the selfish, the natural, the human, where satan has influence to wor& evil against us. Deliver us from all that hinders and distracts us, and bring us into the Fingdom of 7our dear Son, that we may wal& in Spirit and %ruth, in the heavenly places, demonstrating your preeminence over all things :elow. :rothers and sisters, praying in this way is what it means to resist the devil. +e cannot stand before us when we ta&e the high ground and maintain the 'ordBs %estimony. *f we grow impatient and fall into the flesh then we become wea&er. %o react in the flesh diminishes spiritual authority, and this must be avoided at all costs. 8llowing the flesh to have its way for only a moment guarantees defeat against a spiritual adversary. .e worship God in the Spirit, and re5oice in ,hrist Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (0hilippians <!<$. %o lose all confidence in the flesh is to ta&e the higher ground of the Spirit. %o meet flesh with flesh means the victory will go to the strongest, and there is always someone stronger than you according to the flesh. *nstead, if people come against you in the flesh, let them come against you. *f they wish to rail and argue with you according to the flesh, do not respond in &ind. *f they attac& you without cause, let them attac&, because the fleshly, the carnal, the natural cannot defeat the spiritual. %he one who is submitted to the 'ord has authority over those who remain unsubmitted to +im. ?lesh is overruled by Spirit. +ate is overruled by 'ove. Dar&ness is overruled by 'ight. Death is overruled by 'ife. Earth is overruled by +eaven. +e that comes from above is above all (John <!<1ff$. .e offer no resistance, no defense, no argument, no 5ustification to people who mean us harm. .e do not wrestle against flesh and blood (Ephesians "!12a$. .e resist satan, not the person. .e stand against the devil, ta&ing no action against the instruments the devil uses. .e submit to God, we offer no resistance to man, but we stand firm against the spiritual adversary. 4utwardly, before others, we appear wea&. :ut inwardly, before God, we are strong. %hough we wal& in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh! for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (** ,orinthians 13!<, $. *f we war after the flesh then we are emptied of spiritual strength. *f we war after the Spirit then we are emptied of fleshly strength. .hich will you have, spiritual authority, or fleshly power9 7ou can have either one you want, but you cannot have both. .e face perilous, dangerous times. %he secret of spiritual power to see us through these times is humility. %he arm of the flesh will fail us. :rothers and sisters, since we cannot avoid wea&ness, we may as well ma&e the best possible use of it. 'et us accept the dealings of the +oly Spirit with us and offer no resistance to +im. +umble yourselves in

the sight of the 'ord, and +e shall lift you up (James !13$. 8men.