The Letter of James can easily be seen as a tool by which shock therapy is performed just to make sure we are paying attention to what God is saying to us. We read in 4.5-7: Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? The Holy Spirit of God doesn’t just hang around in a state of being at ease with anything and everything going on in the life of a person.

God’s Spirit establishes the presence of Almighty God in the life of that person and in a very real sense is the declaration of ownership: But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Not one thing which opposes the presence of God in a life will get off easy if any attempt to dampen the Spirit of God is present. Any hint of pride brings about a shaking.

The choice is very simple. One can choose to serve the self, or one can elect to serve the living God, but the results of that choice will clearly determine the peace within one’s life at any and all times. What God desires—and moves to bring about by the presence of his Spirit—is the option to be exercised in God’s own favor: Submit yourselves, then, to God. To choose to serve God is to allow his influence to reign.

From the position of submission to Almighty God one can: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Do note that the devil can be me! Any choice of submission to anyone other than the Lord is the choice of serving another god! Father God will allow us to make such a stupid decision, but it will come with a price tag which includes serious shaking within us. I would rather be shaking with excitement for him in my life.