Grace Lifts Us Up

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. James 4:6 (KJV)

Grace is God’s willingness to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves- it is His divine enablement. James says that God gives grace and even more grace, but as believers how do we access it? James 4:6-8, 10 tells us.

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…. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. James 4:6-8, 10 (KJV)

To obtain God’s grace, we must submit to God, coming under His authority and doing what He wants. This enables us to resist the devil because we are no longer under the enemy’s authority-and he will flee. Next, we draw near to God, coming close to Him through the Word, worship, prayer, etc. We keep our minds on God, practicing His presence. Verse 8 tells us to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. We do this by confessing our sins and repenting of them. We receive His forgiveness and are empowered to do right. He cleanses us with the blood of Jesus when we come to Him.

The cool thing is that God gives us His ability to do these things. He graces us to do what is needed to get grace. In other words, He gives us grace and then more grace.

But he continues to pour out more and more grace upon us. For it says, God resists you when you are proud but continually pours out grace when you are humble.” James 4:6 (The Passion Translation, TPT)

Verse 10 caps it off.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. James 4:10 (KJV)

God gives us the choice to humble ourselves. To humble means to get low before God. The word humble in the Greek means low degree, base, does not rise far from the ground. But as we lower ourselves, God Himself will lift us up by His grace. The humble get grace for their time of need. Grace lifts us up when we lower our hearts before God.