Submit And Resist
“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7 NKJV
As believers, we often speak about the importance of submitting to God in this life. And we also talk often of resisting the devil in our daily experience. We consider these two things separately but the fact is that to see overcoming victory in our lives we need to consider these two things together. Both are choices that we need to make and both are essential to experiencing that victory we have in Jesus.
To submit to God is more than the giving of our lives to Him at salvation. That is part of what the act of salvation is, accepting His sacrificial work on our behalf and the giving our lives (purchased at the cost of His blood) willingly to Him. The mistake we fall into is in the thinking that by submitting ourselves to Jesus at salvation we have completed that portion of the verse above from James. Submitting to God was not a one time action. This is made clear to us when we read that verse from the Amplified Bible which tells us, “So be subject to God…”
That infers that the act of submitting to God is more than just a one-time event that occurred at salvation. Every day, and continually throughout the day, we are faced with the choice of either submitting to God or submitting to self. In an even larger sense, we choose to submit to God or we make ourselves subject the situations of life that assail us daily. What are you facing today? You will either submit yourself to the Word or to the situation. We will either believe the circumstances or we will believe what is promised to us by our heavenly Father in the Word of God. What is your choice going to be today? Today be subject to God and His promises and do not submit to sickness, or any other torments the devil will attempt to inflict upon you.
The second part of James 4:7 is realized when we take an active role in choosing who and what we will submit to. We have to be active today to resist the devil. It is so easy for us every day just to accept what life sends our way and then just try to deal with it as best we can. We don’t need to just accept what life dishes out. Resist him, or as the Amplified Bible says, “stand firm against him”! When we speak about resisting the devil, this means more than not joining a cult.
This means that every day in this life he will try to assault you and because we are children of God we can resist him and all the traps and torments he plans for your life. Stand firm against him. How do you do that? You stand firm by standing on the Word. Get to know the promises that are yours in Jesus, know the Word of God where He has revealed Himself to you and revealed His promises. Then speak those promises out loud as you stand firmly against all the ploys of your defeated enemy. Stand against everything that is contrary to the Word of God. When you stand and SPEAK the Word in faith the result is consistent, he will flee from you. What and who are you submitting to today?
J Todd Hostetler