Come Up Here And See

My Hiding Place Connect group of ladies gather weekly to study a chapter of the Bible so that we are hiding the Word of God in our hearts. We have been studying the book of James and I have always loved the inspired writings of James which I see as a New Testament Proverbs guy. James was the half brother of Jesus and a pastor to the early church.

I thought I would share with you the inspirations that the Holy Spirit gave me about James 4. I pray that it would encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit for a fresh sight from James 4 or whatever chapter of the Word of God that you are reading right now. If you are not reading the Word, I pray that this writing would place a deep desire to read His Word because of the Lord’s love for you and me. Let me tell you with all certainty that God is no respecter of persons. He loves you and yearns for you day and night. He wants you to come home, to draw near to Him, to love Him, to honour, and to submit to Him because this is a place of safety, and it is the only place where you will find your purpose.

The Holy Spirit zealously loves us and wants more and more of us every day.

• Not only that but the Holy Spirit passionately desires to be obedient or yearns to fulfill His responsibilities to God the Father to help, teach, guide, and empower us. He desires to possess all of us.   Rick Renner – Sparkling Gems

This is why in James 4: 4 the Word tells us that when we make ourselves a friend of the world, we have become an enemy of God, it even describes us an adulterer. Oh, my goodness, that means when we are more in love with the world and all it seems to have to offer, we have placed ourselves as an enemy of the Lord. James 4:5 the Word tells how much the Holy Spirit passionately wants us; it is a greater passion than most of us can even comprehend because nothing on this planet comes close to the intense love that the Lord has for us.

• James 4: 4-5 NASB You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”?

• Oxford describes passionate as: showing or caused by strong feelings or a strong belief.

       Similar words are heartfelt, excited, zealous, vehement, addicted to, consuming, crazy about.

Thankfully the Holy Spirit guided James to write his letter showing us His consuming love, the zealous love, the addicting love that He has for us first before He guided James to write to be humble and submit to God.

When we see the depth of the love that the Holy Spirit has for us and that that love is jealous for us Not jealous of us then the word submission does not seem to be a dirty, scary word of being beaten down as the world screams at us their definition of submission.  True submission is a place of protection and beauty because we are in the arms of God Almighty our lover. This place of submission to God is the only way that we can resist the enemy, the devil and then he will have to flee.

• James 4: 7 AMP So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you.

• Proverbs 3: 5-6 AMP Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart And do not rely on your own insight or understanding. ⁶ In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].

In verse 8 James continues to encourage us to draw near or come close to God, seek Him face to face and then God will come running near to us.

• James 4: 8 AMP Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Verse 10 James proceeds to exhort us to humble ourselves in the presence of the Lord and at that moment God will exalt us.

• That place of exaltation is not on a stage or being known for singing, speaking, writing, being a mom, or a dad, president, high official, whatever you have been wanting to be placed at a high or powerful level; but it is to be exalted to God because the Lord is the high and exalted One as Isaiah says. John Bevere – Drawing Near

• James 4: 10 AMP Humble yourselves [with an attitude of repentance and insignificance] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up, He will give you purpose].

• Isaiah 57: 15 AMP For the high and exalted One He who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy says this, “I dwell on the high and holy place, But also with the contrite and humble in spirit In order to revive the spirit of the humble And to revive the heart of the contrite [overcome with sorrow for sin].

One of my precious ladies was reading from a Jewish Bible and James 4 verse 11 says that if you are judging a brother then you are judging the Torah and at that moment my heart was gripped. My Bible version says the law. I know that “the law” is the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, God’s Inspired Word but when she said the word Torah suddenly, I had a righteous fear of the Lord in my heart and revelation of oh my goodness when I judge a Christ follower, I am judging God’s Word. Remember that James was a pastor, and he was writing to believers, to his church. As I continued to meditate on that verse this week the Holy Spirit was encouraging me that the law, God’s Inspired Word, was the beginning of God’s love letter to me. Now I may not understand all of it, but it is still His love letter to me of how much He loves me, and He put the law into place so that I would have boundaries to keep me safe from the enemy.

Not only that but James reminds us that there is only one Lawgiver and His name is Jesus. For me who has found it easy to judge, roll my eyes at others and say why are you doing this that way, I was put into my place once again and I am grateful. That is the power of the Inspired Word of God and the necessity to read the Word, meditate and share about it, and ask the Holy Spirit for a fresh revelation every time we read the Word.

• James 4: 11-12 AMP   Believers, do not speak against or slander one another. He who speaks [self-righteously] against a brother or judges his brother [hypocritically], speaks against the Law and judges the Law. If you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law but a judge of it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy [the one God who has the absolute power of life and death]; but who are you to [hypocritically or self-righteously] pass judgment on your neighbor?

This is what I saw in a fresh light from James 4 in September 2023. I know and trust God that the next time I read the book of James the Lord will have fresh manna for me.

Holy Spirit I pray that we would ask You for a new vision of the Word of the God every day when we read the Word and that You would bring it back to our remembrance when we need it. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.