Submitting and Resisting
We live in a time in which personal self-defense
has become a major issue. Across our
community children are taking martial arts classes, adults are encouraged to
take some type of self-defense training and others are simply purchasing hand
guns. The message that is being conveyed
is crystal clear – if you don’t defend yourself, no one else will.
If we are not careful that same
self-protective mindset can creep into our spiritual life. Instead of relying on God’s strength and
power to give us the victory, we can resort to spiritual self –defense tactics that
will not produce the necessary results.
Consequently, we experience continual defeat and discouragement
wondering why we cannot be victorious.
The prescription for spiritual
victory is found in James 4:7-10. In
this brief passage James gives us ten quick-hitting commands, that if applied,
will result in victory over our hated enemy.
The ten commands are summarized in verse seven, “So humble yourselves before God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Quite frankly, this is one of the most
neglected prescriptions for spiritual victory that is offered to Christians. Here are a few thoughts that I trust will be
helpful.
1.
Make sure that you get the command in the
right sequence.
Whatever you do, never resist God and
submit to the devil. How tragic it is
when believers get those two commands reversed. In reality, salvation is a
change of ownership. Whether cognizant
of it or not, before giving his life to Christ the unbeliever was loyal to the
devil. At the moment of salvation,
though, that loyalty changes; the Christian exchanges Christ for the
devil. Jesus becomes the new Lord of His
life. Consequently, daily spiritual victory comes when we recognize to whom we
should submit and who we should resist.
Romans 6:16 – Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you
choose to obey? You can be a slave to
sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to
righteous living.
2.
Make sure that you do both
Submitting to God and resisting the
devil is not an either or proposition.
Fulfilling 50% of the formula is not enough. The commands go hand-in-hand. They function together. You must do both in order to be victorious!
Quite frankly, I believe there are many
Christians that try to resist the devil with the best of intentions. They frequently make commitments and personal
promises to not give in to temptation. Yet,
their attempts prove to be unsuccessful because they fail to realize that they
cannot do it alone, they desperately need Gods help! Remember that Ephesians 6:10 says that we must be strong in the Lord and in His
mighty power. It is only when we
practice both disciplines that we are promised that our enemy will flee.
3.
How do you “submit” and “resist”?
The habit of submitting to God and resisting
the devil is a practical one. It is a
daily exercise which involves three factors.
·
You
must trust in God’s character
When I fully realize how magnanimous,
altruistic, benevolent, compassionate and innately good our great God is, it is
so easy to humbly submit myself to His leadership. As I come to intimately know Him I learn to
trust Him with all of my heart and not depend on my own understanding and
abilities (Proverbs 3:5).
·
You
must claim God’s promises
The Word of God is filled with
precious promises the believer can claim and appropriate during the moments of
spiritual attack.
II Peter 1:4 – And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us
great and precious promises. These are
promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s
corruption caused by human desires.
·
You
must apply biblical truth
Applying biblical truth means that I
do what the Bible says and don’t do what God’s Word prohibits. I heed its warnings and listen to its
commands. David realized the power of
applying biblical truth when he said, “I have hidden your Word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11)
