One-minute read.
Power to Resist
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7
Submission differs from obedience. We must surrender our will to God before we can become obedient to His commands. A master at manipulation and deceit, the enemy doesn’t stand a chance when we submit ourselves to the Lord, using His power to resist the devil’s ploys. Without submission, we can’t have victory.
“First pride, then the crash, the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.”
Prov. 16:18 MSG
Our egos get us in more trouble than anything else. Because we don’t submit, we become disobedient and lose access to the Lord’s power. The enemy knows and uses our weakness to his advantage, making us think we can do or handle something in our strength, not submit ourselves to the Lord.
In the garden, the serpent spoke to Eve’s ego, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). Eve’s will or God’s? Our will or the Lord’s? Making us question the Lord’s commands and focus on our will instead of God’s causes us to fall. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5). Eve fell for the devil’s ploys because she submitted to her will, not God’s, desiring to become like the Creator.
We have a choice; God gives us free will. The question remains the same as it did initially: my will or the Lord’s? If we want to become obedient to Christ, we must first submit.
Application:
God gives us the power to resist when we submit.
Prayer:
Lord, thank You for giving us the power to resist the devil’s temptations when we submit our lives to You. Help us to keep You at the forefront of our minds, not letting our egos stop us from submitting to Your will. Give our hearts the desire to follow You, becoming more and more obedient each day.
IJNIP. Amen
