Resist the Devil

James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.


The second part of this verse is one that I know quite well. I hear it often in teaching, and meditate upon it frequently. It’s so simple - all I have to do is resist the devil and he’ll flee. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? So why is it so difficult to do it? Why does it seem like our lives are full of his work?

I think part of the problem is that we tend to forget the first sentence in this verse (we must remember to look at Scripture within it’s context). When I was reading this verse the other day, the context really took hold of me. The verse before this, and even a couple verses after, James is reminding us to humble ourselves before God, and then he goes on in this verse, where he tells us to "submit [ourselves], then, to God," before he ever talks about resisting the devil.
When I finally took in the whole picture, it clicked. We cannot resist the devil until we have submitted to God! Wow! It really made me take a look at my own life, and I could see that the times when I have really fallen for the devil’s traps, and made mistakes in my life, are the times when I was not submitting myself to the Lordship of God.

We are taught that, as Christians, we have the power and strength within us, through the Holy Spirit, to turn from sin. It no longer holds power over us. So why is it that we keep sinning? Well, I think that it is because we do not continually walk in complete submission to God. When we are submitting to Him, resisting the devil is as easy as it sounds. And of course the devil will flee from us, then - he knows he is no match for the power of God within us.

My very best friend has (and continues to) overcome a trap that Satan lays for many, and he seems to do it with relative ease. He continues to walk in this victory day after day. As I watch others around me fall into this very same trap, I finally asked him how he is able to steer clear, and his simple remark was "God." Not that it doesn’t take his decision to turn from it - resisting the devil every time he tries to tempt him, but he understands that the only thing that gives him the strength to resist is his submission to God and the Holy Spirit within him. What a great example he is to me! What a blessing in my life.

We must submit, friends - daily, hourly, each and every second, if necessary. And the moment we realize that we are not walking in submission, we must bend our knees that very moment and humble ourselves before the Lord, letting Him fill us with the strength to resist the devil and all his evil schemes.