Submit And Resist!
"Therefore submit to God.
Resist the devil and he
will flee from you."
James 4: 7
A case can be made for pride being
the
oldest of sins. Paul said as much when
he wrote that pride condemned the
devil (1 Timothy 3:6).
And in Isaiah 14:13-15, we have the description
of Satan expressing his fivefold intent to be like
God. Satan’s failure was his unwillingness to
submit to God, an unwillingness that God
opposed.
Apostle James warned Satan might
tempt Christians
to be prideful, resulting in God’s opposition (James 4:
1-7). Why would Satan tempt us to be prideful?
Pride
can lead us to a failure to submit to God. Any time we
are tempted to sin against God, we can be
sure that
Satan is fueling that temptation.
What must we do when it happens? Two things,
which are two sides of the same coin of victory:
Submit to God and Resist the devil (James 4:7).
When we're tempted to sin, resist the devil by
submitting to God. When we submit and resist,
the devil “will flee from us.”
Satan is always looking for a foothold
(Ephesians
4:27). Stop him in his tracks
by resisting him and submitting to God.
"Nothing is more
powerful
to overcome temptation
than the fear of God."
John Calvin