JAMES 4:7-8
"So HUMBLE YOURSELVES before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you! Come close to God, and God will come close to you."
How do you humble yourself before God? There will be tears for what you have done. There will be sorrow and deep grief in your spirit for how you had rejected God and committed so many sins against Him. There will be sadness instead of laughter and gloom in place of joy for all the harm you have done to others in your life. There will be a recognition of the harmful words and deeds you committed before you found the beginning of wisdom, the fear of God! When you know God and Love Him you will understand that without Jesus Christ there is no Saviour. You could not have your sins forgiven and received God's mercy without Jesus precious blood. That is a humbling experience.
Prior to your being born again and opening the door of your heart to the Lord, you were being controlled by the devil. He tempted you in so many ways and you never understood his power. The biggest lie is that you would not die in your sins. The devil does not want you to believe in the Lord, in His existence, or His Power over life and death. You were dead in your sin and you did not even know or understand it. Now you have wisdom and understanding and the devil can no longer deceive you. That is what is meant by resisting the devil. You do not want to listen to him or believe all of his lies and temptations. Once you have proven your belief and faithfulness to the Lord, the devil will tire of trying to influence you and he will move on, or flee from you.
Repentance means turning from your sinful path and walking toward the Lord. Once you walked right into sinning and death and you did not even know what the consequences would be. Now you know that you must become more Christ like in all your thoughts and deeds. You must come closer to God. Guess what will happen when you do this? God will come closer to you. As you learn His commandments, laws and about the prophets you will increase in faithfulness and obedience to God and you will become more like Him. What a contrast to that of being separated from God and the consequences of the second death and eternal damnation! The first thing you must do is HUMBLE YOURSELF!
