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The Secret Of Spiritual Power
by Chip Brogden
"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 4:6b,7).
There is a principle at work in our life and walk with the
Lord, and it is the principle of strength out of weakness.
"The meek are blessed, for they will inherit the earth"
(Matthew 5:5). If we want the blessing of the Lord then we
must learn what it is to be meek, for the proud will not
inherit anything from Him.
The way of the world says that in order to be stronger, we
must build ourselves up and seek strength and dominance over
others. Christians everywhere are keenly interested in how
to be increased, how to be stronger, how to take authority,
how to rise up, how to get more. They look for methods,
formulas, and techniques for becoming bigger and better.
The results have been disappointing. Many mistakes have
been made and many people have been hurt and disillusioned.
The Lord has a different approach for us to take. He invites
us to accept weakness in order to be strengthened. We do
not become strong by embracing strength, but by embracing
weakness! This is the secret of all spiritual power. When
Paul learned this secret he was able to say, "When I am
weak, then I am strong" (II Corinthians 12:10b). This
makes no sense to the natural man. I do not remember
ever hearing anyone begin a teaching on spiritual warfare
with this verse. It is no wonder, then, that these
teachings never seem to produce any lasting fruit.
This passage of Scripture from James gives us further
insight into why the strong are weak, and why the weak are
strong. Our study of this verse may be divided into four
distinct sections. Let us look at each one individually.
GOD RESISTS THE PROUD
Christians are full of many plans, many pursuits, many
thoughts, many words, many things. It is impossible to say
just how much of the flesh is involved in the things we
undertake in the Name of Jesus. We know they cannot be
purely spiritual works because often there is little fruit
to be found. We labor and toil and work but it seems as if
we make little or no progress. It seems as if something is
always blocking our way and preventing us.
The automatic assumption is that anything which resists us or
hinders us is of satanic origin. That is, if we encounter
difficulty in our spiritual walk, our first reaction is to
rebuke the devil, or ask the saints to pray for us to have a
clear way. Certainly the devil will attempt to hinder us
from anything we undertake that glorifies God and threatens
the darkness. Yet we learn from James 4:6 that there is
Someone else who can resist us. There is Another Who
carefully watches what we do, and frequently hinders us from
making progress.
It comes as a shock and surprise to some Christians to see
one day that God, not the devil, is resisting them. The
Lord Himself resists us, closes doors, causes things to be
unfruitful, and spoils all our plans. How so? Because "God
resists the proud." This resistance from God is
insurmountable. It is a fearful thing to fight the Lord.
We 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. We attribute all
difficulties to the devil, or to other people, or our
circumstances, or our environment, and fail to recognize
that the Lord Himself is resisting us.
God resists the proud. This is an active resistance that
will block our path like a huge rock or a great chasm. All
who walk in pride are in league with the devil himself, and
will receive the same judgment (cf. I Timothy 3:6).
Brothers and sisters, this is a serious matter. If we
harbor the least bit of pride then we will find ourselves on
the wrong side of the Lord, but if we are humble before God
and man then we cannot be defeated because...
GOD GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE
The single requirement for grace is humility. But what is
grace? Grace is more than just a theological term used to
describe how we are saved. Grace is the power of God at
work in my life to do what cannot be done in my own
strength. Grace is energizing and proactive. When I have
reached the end of myself then Grace Himself takes over and
does what I am unable to do. In the first place, what I
cannot do is save myself, and so I trust in the Grace of
God, Jesus Christ, to save me. But Grace will not only
bring me through the Gate; He will bring me down the Path.
Grace does not just get me started in the right direction,
but goes along with me every step of the way. For Grace is
a Man!
It should be obvious that God will not give us grace while
we are still proud. Why? Because He will allow no flesh to
glory in His presence. He desires us to be thoroughly
emptied of ourselves. When we cease doing what we cannot do
then He begins to do what we cannot. The problem is that we
still think we can do so many things. We must learn sooner,
rather than later, that "apart from Me you can do nothing"
(John 15:5b). Nothing! But it is human nature to try and
do it ourselves. This human nature is the flesh. It
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. He will
wait - weeks, months, or years - until we have exhausted our
strength. When our strength is completely gone and we
finally go to Him in weakness, He becomes our strength and
we find Grace is there to do the impossible. Then we know
it was not us, but the Lord. All praise goes to Him, and we
retain nothing for ourselves.
See how many times the disciples tried to correct the Lord.
See how many times they argued with the Lord. See how many
time their thoughts contradicted the Master. See how many
times they urged Him to take action. And the Lord, ever
patient, would correct them. In every case we see that He
is the Lord, and they are the disciples. The roles must
never be confused. He is the Master, and we are His
servants. We do not command Him, but He commands us. We do
not direct Him, but He directs us. We do not lead Him, but
He leads us. He was not created for us, but we were created
for Him. He does not serve us according to our pleasure,
but we serve Him according to His pleasure. So we must be
adjusted to Him, and not the other way around. The Lord
will never apologize to us and say, "I'm sorry, I was wrong.
We'll do it your way." How laughable! How absurd! But we
often live as if we expect Him to do that very thing. We
have not humbled ourselves.
All those who want power with God must see that His power is
released through our weakness (cf. II Corinthians 12:9). Do
realize that you are weak whether you admit it or not, but
the power of humility is in recognizing and agreeing before
God that we really can do nothing of our own selves. God's
power is not for those with natural charisma, talent,
leadership skills, education, training, or "connections".
God is not looking for volunteers to serve at their own
convenience as their schedule permits, but calls for
disciples who will lay down their lives. The flesh counts
for nothing in spiritual matters. God's power is not
revealed to us when we are proud, but when we are humble.
Any demonstration of "power" manifesting itself through a
proud man or a proud woman is, quite simply, not from God
and cannot be trusted. Spiritual gifts may be
counterfeited, but spiritual fruit cannot be faked. We will
know the false from the true by their fruit, not their gifts
(Matthew 7:20). Meekness is an essential quality of
spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:23). Gifts may accompany
fruit, but gifts may never substitute for fruit.
The secret, then, is to...
SUBMIT YOURSELVES THEREFORE TO GOD
Do we need the power of God today? Do we seek the Life of
the Lord today? Do we desire Him to have the preeminence in
our lives today? Do we long for Him today? Then now is the
time for us to be unconditionally and wholeheartedly
surrendered to Him. We need not drag the process out for
several days and weeks, months and years. "If any man will
come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross
daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). Do it today, do it now.
If we must daily take 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. The secret to
overcoming is dying daily.
If 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 squirming, stop arguing, stop reasoning,
stop bargaining, stop all that and just surrender,
yield, give up, and lay down before Him! Humility is not
some outward show, but a heart attitude that says in effect,
"I will not resist the dealings of God. I will not argue
with the Lord. I will not insist upon my own way. I
recognize and admit that apart from Him I can do nothing. I
am finished. Lord, I look to You to do in me and through
me what I cannot do." Friends, if we truly mean that when
we say it then we will naturally spend more time praying,
more time in the Word, more time ministering to God, because
we will realize we do not know anything and we can not do
anything without hearing from Him. If Christ is to have the
preeminence in all things right HERE is where it begins.
Humility is offering no resistance to the dealings of the
Lord with us.
When we are submitted to the Lord, we find Grace. We find
peace. We find rest. All things are in His hands, and He
does all things well. We need not fear what any devil or
any man can do to us. To be submitted to the Lord is to be
under His care, under His guidance, under His power, under
His protection. Whom shall I fear? What can man do to me?
What can the devil do to me? If I have humbled myself
beneath the mighty hand of God then He will exalt me in due
season; He will justify me; He will defend me; He will fight
for me. If our submission to God is complete, if our
surrender to the Lord is total, then victory is assured. We
will...
RESIST THE DEVIL, AND HE WILL FLEE
So many times we try to resist, but we are defeated. Why?
Simply because we attempt to resist the devil before we have
first submitted ourselves to God. There is a proper order
that must be observed without fail. First, we must
understand the principle of God resisting the proud but
giving grace to the humble. This is the foundation of
everything we do. Second, the word "therefore" signifies
that those who learn this principle will act upon it
accordingly. If they understand the truth just stated, they
will submit "therefore" to God. Third, as a result of their
submitting to God, they will find the devil flees whenever
and wherever they offer him resistance. The word "flee"
means "to run away in terror". How wonderful! How
delicious to see the devil running from us in terror,
instead of the other way around! That should be the normal
experience of all Christians. That is the normal Christian
life, a life that overcomes.
The whole object of satan is to bring us down from the
heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2:6) and entangle us
into some kind of earthly, fleshly thing that saps us of our
strength and diminishes spiritual authority. Knowing this,
the Lord has us to pray daily, "Deliver us from evil"
(Matthew 6:13ff). That 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 work
evil against us. Deliver us from all that hinders and
distracts us, and bring us into the Kingdom of Your dear
Son, that we may walk in Spirit and Truth, in the heavenly
places, demonstrating your preeminence over all things
Below." Brothers and sisters, praying in this way is what
it means to resist the devil. He cannot stand before us
when we take the high ground and maintain the Lord's
Testimony.
If we grow impatient and fall into the flesh then we become
weaker. To react in the flesh diminishes spiritual
authority, and this must be avoided at all costs. Allowing the flesh to have its way for only a moment guarantees defeat against a spiritual adversary. "We worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in
Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh"
(Philippians 3:3). To lose all confidence in the flesh is
to take the higher ground of the Spirit. To meet flesh with
flesh means the victory will go to the strongest, and there
is always someone stronger than you according to the flesh.
Instead, if people come against you in the flesh, let them
come against you. If they wish to rail and argue with you
according to the flesh, do not respond in kind. If they attack you
without cause, let them attack, because the fleshly, the
carnal, the natural cannot defeat the spiritual. The one
who is submitted to the Lord has authority over those who
remain unsubmitted to Him. Flesh is overruled by Spirit. Hate is
overruled by Love. Darkness is overruled by Light. Death
is overruled by Life. Earth is overruled by Heaven. "He
that comes from above is above all" (John 3:31ff).
We offer no resistance, no defense, no argument, no
justification to people who mean us harm. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12a). We resist satan,
not the person. We stand against the devil, taking no
action against the instruments the devil uses. We submit to
God, we offer no resistance to man, but we stand firm
against the spiritual adversary. Outwardly, before others,
we appear weak. But inwardly, before God, we are strong.
"Though we walk 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" (II
Corinthians 10:3,4). If we war after the flesh then we are
emptied of spiritual strength. If we war after the Spirit
then we are emptied of fleshly strength. Which will you
have, spiritual authority, or fleshly power? You can have
either one you want, but you cannot have both.
We face perilous, dangerous times. The secret of
spiritual power to see us through these times is humility. The arm of the flesh will fail us. Brothers and sisters, since we cannot avoid weakness,
we may as well make the best possible use of it. Let us
accept the dealings of the Holy Spirit with us and offer no
resistance to Him. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the
Lord, and He shall lift you up" (James 4:10). Amen.
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