May 21
Submit, Then Resist
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. ––James 4:7-8
One scripture we hear a lot when it comes temptation is the second half of James 4:7: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Great advice and a powerful truth. We all want to resist the devil—whether it’s avoiding that flirty co-worker to turning off the TV once everyone else is in bed to keeping it honest on our taxes.
Here’s the problem: sin management doesn’t work. For example, we know it’s wrong (immoral) to watch pornography. We know how it floods our brains with dopamine, has a potentially addictive effect, and that Jesus tells us that when we lust after a woman, we’ve already committed adultery in our heart (Matthew 5:28). But the fact that it’s not moral makes it enticing—it becomes forbidden fruit. If we are living in the flesh—trying to follow rules—we will fail every time. And when we do, the fact that we watched the porn makes it that much worse—because we know it’s wrong. It’s a circular trap that Satan sets for us.
So how to break the sin cycle and successfully resist the devil? The answer is in the part of James 4:7 that we often skip: “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
Submit, then resist.
When we submit ourselves to God, it means several things:
- We can’t continually beat sin with our flesh; we fight it through the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Unless we activate the Holy Spirit, and ask Him to work in our life, it’s the equivalent of sitting in our house in the dark without ever turning on the lights.
- We must understand our true identity—you are not whatever addiction you may struggle with. That’s what Satan wants you to believe. He will lie and say, “You will never be free of this,” or, “No one else struggles as much as you do.” Reject those lies.
- Your identity is in Christ. You are first and foremost His beloved child; you have been redeemed and now Christ lives in you.
When we submit ourselves to God, we are able to resist the devil. Don’t try to do the latter without first doing the former.
Father, through Your Holy Spirit I resist the temptations the enemy throws my way. Remind me that my true identity is as Your child.