Pastor’s Corner: “In the Footsteps of Jesus”
James 4:7-8 (NIV) – 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Most of us are resisting and battling the wrong things. We battle people and circumstances around us, but the reality is that we are oblivious and blind to the real enemy. Ephesians 6:12 (NIV) – 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. The devil is an expert at distracting us to battle one another instead of resisting our real enemy. And boy have we taken the bait. We are bloodied, bruised, injured and wounded from fighting one another, and the enemy doesn’t have to lift a finger.
Devil means divider. The Christian life is a battle. Spiritual warfare is real; angels are real; Satan is real. As the sworn enemy of our Savior, satan’s greatest desire is to turn people away from Christ through his lies and deceit. For a Christian to function as if this is not a reality is a recipe for spiritual disaster. Although the Devil cannot snatch believers away from Christ (1 John 5:18), he is still hard at work to cause division among believers, render them ineffective in their testimony, and damage their relationship with God. Because of this reality, Christians are called to “resist the Devil.” We are to stand firm and oppose the adversary of God’s people.
Resist the Devil. He prowls around like a like looking for who he can devour. If you’ve watched any animal shows like Animal Planet, we see that lions are into surprise attacks. They slowly and silently creep up on their prey and then pounce at the opportune moment. Satan works in the same way. He makes sure you can’t see him before he makes his move.
The Bible teaches us to defy the Devil by first humbling ourselves and submitting to God. We don’t passively resign ourselves to his attacks. God tells us to fight back. The New Testament often describes the Christian life as a spiritual battle against evil forces, using war terms such as fight, conquer, strive, and overcome. Christians are often compared to soldiers serving in enemy territory.
The first step of submission is to accept God’s salvation – receive His son Jesus. “Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17 NLT). You won’t be able to say no to the devil unless you’ve said yes to Christ. Without Christ we’re defenseless against the Devil. Remember this: If you are a believer, Satan cannot force you to do anything. He can only suggest.
Submitting to God and Resisting the Devil Go Hand in Hand. Submission to God is itself an act of resistance to the devil. As people align their lives with God, the result becomes a growing resistance to the temptations of the devil and he loses any foothold and must flee. To think that we can resist Satan without humbly submitting our lives to God is the height of arrogance.
Second, you must use the Word of God (sword of the Spirit) as your weapon against Satan. Jesus modeled this when he was tempted in the wilderness. Every time Satan suggested a temptation, Jesus countered by quoting Scripture. He didn’t argue with Satan. He didn’t say, “I’m not hungry,” when tempted to use his power to meet a personal need. He simply quoted Scripture. We must do the same. There is power in God’s Word, and Satan fears it. We need to spend more time in God’s word to equip ourselves for the battle.
Your fight is not with the problems you can see—depression, a broken marriage, addiction, or financial troubles. These are just the symptoms, the true disease—the true battle—is against the devil and his armies. We resist satan, not to make our lives easier, but to restore our walk with Jesus. Just as submission to God is an act of resistance to the devil, so is a passionate pursuit of God. Satan cannot dwell in the presence of God. So the one who desperately runs to the throne of grace can rest assured that the devil cannot follow him there.
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton