James 4:7-10

v7: What does it mean to submit yourself to God? It is to submit to Him “as subjects to their ruler,” but also to a friend who loves you and has your “best interests at heart.” It will involve submitting “your understanding to the truths of God,” and “your wills to the will of God, the will of his commands,” and “the will of his providence.” This submission to God “is what Satan works extremely hard to hinder.” But if with God’s help we resist his attempts to get us to follow “his directions instead of God’s,” he will go away from us. “Resolution shuts and bolts the door against temptation.”

v8-9: If we are to submit to God, we need to draw near to Him, in worship, by the means of grace, and “in every duty he requires” of us. We will also need to cleanse our hands “by faith, repentance, and reformation,” because if we do not turn away from sin, “it will be useless for us to draw near to God in prayer,” or in any other act of devotion.

v10: This is a comforting promise. When we “draw near to [God] in faith, truth, and obedience... he will draw near you to save you.” When we humble ourselves before God, “he will lift us up in our spirits and comforts under trouble... he will lift us up on our way to heaven, so as to raise our hearts and affections above the world... and he will ultimately lift [us] up to glory.”