“…submit (hupotasso: surrender) to God. Resist (anthistēmi: stand against) the devil and he will FLEE FROM YOU.” (James 4:7) What if we do NOT WANT TO surrender to God, we just want to use our own will power. That is just what the devil wants! By the way, according to George Barna only about 60% of Christians believe in a literal devil. If we DO NOT choose to SUBMIT TO GOD then the devil WILL NOT FLEE from us and if he does not flee we are in for a battle that WE CANNOT WIN, why?
Isaiah tells us this about Satan, “HOW YOU ARE FALLEN FROM HEAVEN, O Lucifer (Satan), son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who WEAKENED the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I WILL ascend into heaven, I WILL exalt my throne above the stars of God; I WILL also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I WILL ascend above the heights of the clouds, I WILL be like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the Pit.” (Isa. 14:12-15) Satan is a very powerful enemy, way more powerful than we are. Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and OVER ALL THE POWER OF THE ENEMY, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:18-19)
How do we access this power? By doing what James taught us, “…submit to God.” When we SUBMIT TO GOD He empowers us to “Resist the devil…” and when we do that “he will FLEE FROM YOU.” Then we can, “Draw near to God and HE WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU.” (James 4:8)
-Bill Stockham