But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. James 4:6-10
When the Good Lord was rebuking Job for questioning His goodness and power He said to him:
Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty. Disperse the rage of your wrath; Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; Tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, Bind their faces in hidden darkness. Then I will also confess to you That your own right hand can save you. Job 40:9-14
One of the great Characteristics of God that is very evident in reading the bible is that He looks on everyone who is proud, and humbles him. He looks on everyone who is proud, and brings him low. This is quite evident in book of Daniel chapter 3 when mighty king Nebuchadnezzar's heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses. As a result the king wrote:
Nebuchadnezzar the king, To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me. Daniel 4:1-2
And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, "What have You done?"
At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me.
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down. Daniel 4:34-37
Looking at the attitude and deeds of religious and political leaders in America and their pride, I am afraid that many are going to be humbled by events in life that they cannot control. Maybe if they are wise they will learn their lesson that those who walk in pride God is able to put down? Or maybe they will find themselves in the same place as king Nebuchadnezzar's son king Belshazzar who knew and heard about all that his father went through and did not learn at thing? As a result Daniel would tell him something he never expected to hear:
"O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor. And because of the majesty that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he wished, he executed; whomever he wished, he kept alive; whomever he wished, he set up; and whomever he wished, he put down.
"But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. "Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses.
"But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. "And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.
"Then the fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written. "And this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. "This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; "TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; "PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."
Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old. Daniel 5:22-31
Yes, God lives forever but man is here today and gone tomorrow. God’s dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. As King Nebuchadnezzar wisely stated:
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, "What have You done?" Daniel 4:35
There are many who think that by defending the status quo they will have achieved God’s good will because after all has He not given the words and interpretation to them and them alone. They think that they are the only ones who have received the invincible truth of God and they are the custodians of the interpretation of that truth.
If God had called only one people to that knowledge then He would not have included the Gentiles. However, He did include them and the rest of the world because He had given the truth to ALL who would receive it. And, He had given them ALL the truth and not just part of it as the many religious ones have. They have only part of the truth and not ALL of it and in this they are arrogant and smug assuming things they ought not to assume and presuming to throw out truer Children of God than they are.
There are two sides to every coin and the many religious ones have one side of it and are full of their own pride because of it, having becoming Pharisees in their thinking and believing they have made themselves of no value to the God whatsoever. They stare at one side of the coin and vigorously shine it up and proudly present it to all who will listen, in the meantime having missed the other side of the coin completely.
It takes two sides to make up a completed coin and in this case, the other side is the Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit in human lives on earth. When Jesus resurrected from the dead and in returned to the earth, briefly, in great Power and Glory He sent the Comforter, or the Holy Spirit, to the Children of God in the upper room. They began to manifest the Power of the Holy Spirit in speaking in other tongues, in witnessing the manifestation of cloven tongues of fire resting on people and they received boldness to speak the truth to men.
To deny the Power of the other side of this coin is to deny the LORD of Hosts and His ability to change men. He has His methods to bring healing and change to human kind and it is foolishness to intellectual men-so be it! The knowledge of the Bible is one side of the coin but the Word and Power of God is the other side of the coin and one cannot really exist without the other and visa versa.
Both sides of the coin are necessary in order to make a completed whole. The wholeness of man is very important to the LORD and He desires men know all the truth about Him and His purposes for men. He wants them to know to "Receive" all of His truth and not just the parts they chose to receive. Unbelief is still unbelief. If you can't receive it, it is because you don't believe it and the loss is yours. God doesn't need your approval He desires your obedience to His methods and ways. Obedience is better than sacrifice. His word is unchanging:
But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"
And Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed."
Then Samuel said to Saul, "Be quiet! And I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak on."
So Samuel said, "When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel? "Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, 'Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' "Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?"
And Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. "But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal."
Then Samuel said: "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king." 1 Samuel 15:14-23
http://billyburke.org/PrayerMinistryRoom/JourneyofYourPrayerRequest/tabid/142/Default.aspx
EXTRACT FROM Be Filled
http://walthope.tripod.com/befilled.htm
http://walthope.wordpress.com
https://plus.google.com/u/0/100302133262254344211/posts
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