The Battle of Pride per the words of James....

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye 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. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. (James 4:1-10 KJV)

We have this constant war going on in us. The war of pride, I want what I want when I want it and I want it now!! We chase after things that we will never obtain because they were never meant for us. We are motivated by selfishness, self righteousness, and fear. Our insecurities run our minds and we justify our actions by what the quick fix is in making us feel better. We fight and war and have not what we need or desire because we try to do it all on our own. We think we know better than God so we our motivated by our own agenda, consequently we have not because we didnt ask Him and then wait on Him.

However, when we do ask, it isnt of God, it doesnt line up with the heart of Jesus and we ask amiss because its all about us and not about the work of Jesus. That would be to hard. So we consume what we want according to our lusts rather than our Daddy's will being done in our lives.

We literally commit adultery against God running after, or consuming ourselves with anything or anyone besides Him. We commit adultery against God when our hearts and minds are on feeble things, insecurities, emotions and out of control feelings that arent true. We allow ourselves to link up with the world and we get caught up in it. Is it not true we have enough to work out our own salvation, let alone take on someone else's?

Do we think the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

But, but.. but.. what but.... HE gives more grace... He says, (for himself) God resistes the proud and gives grace, Grace, GRace, GRAce, GRACe, GRACE, to the humble.

(sidebar) What is Grace? yes it is unmerited favored, we all like that for ourselves, right? How much more do we like to give it to others who havent earned it? Umm yes now it becomes a little more difficult. The estranged relationship with husband and wife, parent and child, mom and dad friend to friend. Its hard to give Grace which exhibits the love of Jesus through gentleness, kindness, humility and love when we have been wounded or hurt or think bad thoughts about others.

First of all, who are we? We are prideful, sinful people who think we can fix it, and obtain it, remember. We are warring within our ownselves how in the world can we take on someone elses battle? Grace gives us the supernatural ability to love the unloveable, those that dont meet our expectations, those that have wronged us because Jesus gave us grace when we did these things to him and continue in them. God is all about unity and peace. How do we get this grace?

Humble ourselves, acknowlege we have been trying, interferring, plotting, kabitzen, murmering and complaining in our pride rather than resting in the Lord and allowing Him to work in and through us all. Soooo,

Let us submit ourselves to God, RESIST the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, be in your Word and prayer and seeking Him and He will draw nigh to you. Let us....

Cleanse our hands of our prideful heart conditions and purify them as we are double minded. ( I love God, I love myself, I love God, I love myself)

Be afflicted, mourn and weep: feel the pain we have caused our Jesus and others, let our laughter be turned to mourning and our joy to heaviness. ( so we can identify with what we do wrong and how we have wronged God in our adulteress mind, filling up on everything but HIM) It will humble us to admit the pain we have cause our precious Jesus, who knew no sin and took all of our sin on himself for our benefits to be with Him. How ungrateful we can be. We are all on the same playing field, there is no sin which is uncommon to man. We all struggle, war, and battle. The difference is have we prepared to go against it or are we allowing it to take us down?

Let us Humble ourselves in the sight of God and HE shall lift us up. In His presence is where we will find the fullness of JOY!

Lord, help me, help us all as we get caught up in ourselves, in the enemy's scheme against us, and in the world's temptations. Let us remember we are not our own and to remain humble to the cross. Protect our minds and our hearts from pride and allow us to be repentive and forgiving to honor and glorify you!!! Help us to have the right attitude for the Kingdom that we are to multiply and not divide and to esteem others higher than ourselves!! Lord Jesus, I am so thankful for truth and the promise that when we are obedient it sets us free!!! Jesus we love you, adore you, worship you and your Words of life!