James 4:10 (New Living Translation)
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Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
So let God work his will in you. working for him in humble ways in honor of the Lord for he will honor and reward you in honor say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. He doesn’t have ownership for you God does you are his child Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet. Bow before the king in his honor. Leave the sinfulness alone live a fervent life for Christ
Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious.
◄ What Does James 4:10 Mean? ►
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
James 4:10(NASB)
Verse Thoughts
Not only is salvation given to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as a free gift of God’s grace, but His ongoing favour is readily available to every believer, as we journey along the path of life.
Having been born again of the Spirit, we are called to trust in the Lord with all our heart, and we also have a biblical responsibility to walk in His ways and humble ourselves before His face, as outlined in the epistle of James.
James reminds us of an important biblical principle that is found throughout the pages of Scripture, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” The Lord withstands self-important, arrogant men, but supplies His sufficient grace to those that are meek and lowly of heart.
John the Baptist demonstrated humility of heart when he cried out, “He must increase and I must decrease,” and in like manner, we should all be ready and willing to carry out this conditional directive from James, “if we humble ourselves in the presence of the Lord, He will lift us up and exalt us.”
In 2 Chronicles, we read that humbling oneself before God is linked with earnest prayer, seeking God’s face, and turning from every wicked way… for humbling oneself before the Lord, enables the grace of God to flow freely into our hearts and breathes spiritual revival into our soul.
James lays out his criteria on living a humble life that honours the Lord in the fourth chapter of his epistle. He lists a series of commands that will not only keep us in close fellowship with God, but encourages us towards humility of heart and gentleness of spirit.
We are instructed to submit to God, with a promise that when we resist the devil, he will flee from us. We are told that if we draw near to the Lord, He will draw near to each one of us, and we are directed to be single-minded men and women and not to be tossed about by every wind of doctrine.
We are exhorted to have clean hands and a pure heart, and we are to be people who hate evil and grieve over sin, so that we can receive His gracious comfort and be a channel of God’s solace to others.
James calls every one of us to live righteously before God. He encourages us to love mercy and presents us in this verse with a beautiful, conditional promise, “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
Humility is a fruit of the Spirit that should be exhibited in every life that lives godly in Christ Jesus, but there is much misunderstanding about biblical humility and what it means to humble one’s self before the Lord.
Humility is not disliking who you are or demeaning yourself in front of others. It is not a deliberate exhibition of self-humbling in order to get others to applaud your achievements… nor is it a wringing of hands or a constant declaration that you are a very very ‘umble’ person!
Humility is not generated by human effort or manufactured by emotions. It can’t be acquired through a strict training programme, learned from a college course, or acquired by watching a you-tube video. True humility is a fruit of the Spirit that buds and blossoms in the heart of someone who is submitted to God, walking in spirit and truth – someone who is growing in grace and maturing in the Christian faith.
The one who truly humbles himself in the sight of God is the one who makes himself lowly of heart before the Lord, by admitting the greatness of our God and acknowledging His magnificent majesty. It is confessing that without the Lord we can do nothing. It is trusting Him in all things and relying on Him to carry out the good work that He has prepared for us to do in His power and for His ultimate glory.
May the desire of our heart be to apply all the important biblical principles that James has so carefully laid out in this passage, and may we live in the way that Lord requires of all His children. May we submit to God and single-mindedly draw close to Him and humble ourselves in His presence – for His greater glory.
Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/james-4-10
James 4:10
by Grant Richison | Dec 7, 2000 | James | 3 comments
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
We now come to the 10th divine directive – “humble yourselves.”
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
James again takes up the subject of humility (4:6). The word “humble” means to make low, bring low. We make ourselves low when we see the greatness and majesty of God. Humility is primarily vertical towards God, not horizontally towards others.
The words “in the sight of” come from a Greek term combined of two words: in and eye. A humble person lives his life knowing that God watches everything he does. He lives in the eye of God. Humility always relates to the Almighty majesty of God. This is humility in the sight of God, not men.
Is 6:5, “So I said:
‘Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts’.”
Humility is the surefire cure for carnality.
Php 2:3-3, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”
and He will lift you up
This phrase promises that God will elevate us to new spiritual heights if we humble ourselves before Him. We will find ourselves in a new sphere of spirituality through humility. This is the result, not the cause, of God’s lifting us to new spiritual heights.
Mt 23:12, “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
God will raise us to the summit of spiritual prosperity when we recognize that everything we have, we have because of His grace.
Ro 12:3, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”
1 Co 4:7, “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
PRINCIPLE:
The way down is the way up spiritually.
APPLICATION:
Pride is our biggest spiritual problem. We carry the pride of face, place, and race. If we do not humble ourselves, God will have to do it for us.
2 Co 12:21, “…lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.”
Revival comes when we humble ourselves before the majesty of God. Humility allows God to do His work of grace in us.
2 Ch 7:14, “…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
James 4:10 Meaning of Humble Yourself
Nov 13, 2020 by Editor in Chief
James 4:10
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
Explanation and Commentary of James 4:10
In the midst of a powerful section of the book of James, who was the biological brother of Jesus and the leader of the church in Jerusalem after Peter left on his missionary journeys, this verse has universal application. In context, James has been dealing with the tendency of Christians to act like the world, fighting and quarreling because of the anger brought about by unfulfilled lusts. He, like Jesus, equated this anger with hatred and murder. The root of these fights is pride, which will be the undoing of anyone, including Christians, who fail to deal with it where it arises.

The remedy is simple, “Humble yourselves.” There is a sweet spot for the believer that to stay in will be joy and contentment. First, as image-bearers of God, we have an enormous privilege of being. And as redeemed, adopted, image-bearers, we have even more privilege. This is what we call our identity in Christ. That said, there is all the reason in the world to be confident in Christ, and in who we are as his children. But at the same time, we have no reason to set ourselves above other image-bearers. In fact, we’ve been rescued from playing the comparison game at all. And we live in constant awareness of the greatness of God. We are confident as image-bearing humans, but we know that God is infinitely greater than we are, and so we humbly submit and worship him, living our lives for his glory—the glory that he deserves for who he is, and what he has done.
Breaking Down the Key Parts of James 4:10
#1 “Humble yourselves before the Lord,”
If you are not feeling humble, a good remedy is to go before the Lord. Consider Isaiah in Isaiah 6:1-8. Consider Peter when he saw the power of Jesus displayed (Lk 5:8). The awe and humility that resulted were the right response.

#2 “and he will lift you up.”
Philippians 2:8 says that Christ humbled himself and came down from heaven to serve even unto his death. As a result, God has exalted him above all others. As Jesus said, “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Lk 14:11).
Bible Study on James 4:10
What does James 4:10 mean?
Everybody wants to be exalted. We all want to be glorified. Maybe we wouldn’t say so. Maybe we don’t feel it all of the time. But part of the motivation for living according to the world system is to get exaltation for ourselves. This comes in having the things we want, getting the respect we feel we deserve, or living in the comfort and pleasure we crave. God asks us to quit the world’s way of pursuing those things. Instead, He calls us to trust Him to exalt us when the time is right without trying to get that glory for ourselves.
That requires real humility. We agree not to make our daily lives about ourselves, and our God promises to make it about us when and how He sees fit. That’s how Jesus lived, after all. Paul described Jesus’s life on earth in Philippians 2. Jesus, God Himself, refused to fight for His right to be glorified. He “made himself nothing” (Philippians 2:7, NIV) and became a servant, even to death. Then, when the time was right, the Father exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name (Philippians 2:9).
God calls us to walk that same path: Humility today, God’s glory forever.
Context Summary
James 4:1–12 builds on the end of chapter 3, describing how living according to the world’s wisdom has led to great conflict among James’s Christian readers. They were fighting with each other because they couldn’t get what they wanted. James says that living that way is adultery. It’s ”cheating” on God. He calls them to quit their friendship with the world, humble themselves, repent from their sin, and receive God’s grace. God is the Lawgiver and Judge, not man.
Chapter Summary
What was causing fights and quarrels among the Christians to whom James was writing? They were living by the world’s wisdom. This false perspective says human beings should do whatever it takes to get what they want in this life, even if it hurts other people. James says that to live that way is adultery, but God gives grace. Christians should repent and move close to God again. We should trust Him to provide, to be the Judge, and to lift us up in His time. In humility, we must acknowledge that all of our plans are dependent on Him, and He can change them at any moment
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