Humility and Prayer

 May 11, 2021

“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.” —James 4:6-7 

James talks a lot about prayer. In chapter 1, he tells us we must pray in faith, not doubting. Here in chapter 4, he tells us that our prayers go unanswered not only because we don’t ask in faith, but because we don’t ask at all (4:2), or because we ask for selfish reasons (4:3). Among other things, prayer is an exercise in humility. To pray is to acknowledge our weakness and need, the lesser begging from the greater. Rather than pray about it, we would rather fight and scrap to get what we want (4:1). The fact is, humility is a prerequisite to prayer. The proud never pray. 

Without prayer, we cannot win the battle against the Enemy of our souls. Before we can resist the devil, we must submit—humble ourselves before God. I’ve heard many a prayer in which the person praying speaks loudly and confidently about kicking the devil’s butt or giving him a good thrashing. Such prayers have nothing in common with humility, but are pride dressed up in religious clothing. Here’s the problem: Pride is the devil’s stock in trade. It had its origin in him, and he knows how to manipulate it to his purposes. Any hint of pride, and he is all over it like flies on manure. Prideful prayers are a gift to the devil himself, not to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. If I fail to submit to God at the beginning of prayer, I can shout and command in Jesus’ name all I want, but instead of running away, the devil just laughs. 

Humble submission to the will of the Father is the only way we can begin to resist the devil, which resistance is the only way to make him flee. And only in his absence can we draw near to God and know he is drawing near to us. So away with pride! Shun it with every fiber of your being, and humbly ask God to grant your every need. Come to him in repentance and confession, cleansing your hands and purifying your heart (4:8) so you will no longer be double-minded, unable to receive the blessing he has reserved for you.