Resist The Devil
James 4:4-10
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.” 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. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
‘Adulterous people’, here refers to those who love the world and thus leave God for it. This makes them an enemy of God. If we love the world, we become its friend, and thus adulterous towards God.
The Holy Spirit who lives inside us is not a small person and so we need to protect Him in us.
But God gives us grace! He opposes the proud, i.e. He is against those who are proud and shows favour to the humble.
We must submit to God (this is a great principle) and resist the devil.
Submitting to God should come from us by hearing God’s Word, writing it in our hearts and obeying it.
When we do this, the devil will flee from us. The Devil takes away people's peace and destroys their lives by bringing wrong thoughts and situations. When this happens, you must submit to God by confessing humbly that God is your Captain, Lord etc with your mouth and believing it in your heart. We should also resist the devil. If there is anything that belongs to the devil in your home or hearts, like idols, throw it out. It can serve as a stronghold.
1 John 5:19-21, it is written, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”
We need to get rid of everything and resist the devil just like Nehemiah did. Nehemiah was highly paid in the King’s Courts when he heard that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down. His enemies Sanballat and Tobiah brought their goods into the Temple of God. Nehemiah took a bold step and threw it all out.
Jesus said in John 14:30, “I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me”
We must be zealous to get rid of all things of the Devil. We must never compromise with him. This is something we must train ourselves to do so by declaring boldly in anger against the devil that we will not submit to his plans instead God rules and reigns over us. Only when we do our part will the devil flee from us.
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up
When you draw near to God, He will draw near to you. We should repent of our sins and humble ourselves in God’s presence. This is when God lifts us up. We must fight the devil and not give him a foothold in our lives.
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.” 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. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
‘Adulterous people’, here refers to those who love the world and thus leave God for it. This makes them an enemy of God. If we love the world, we become its friend, and thus adulterous towards God.
The Holy Spirit who lives inside us is not a small person and so we need to protect Him in us.
But God gives us grace! He opposes the proud, i.e. He is against those who are proud and shows favour to the humble.
We must submit to God (this is a great principle) and resist the devil.
Submitting to God should come from us by hearing God’s Word, writing it in our hearts and obeying it.
When we do this, the devil will flee from us. The Devil takes away people's peace and destroys their lives by bringing wrong thoughts and situations. When this happens, you must submit to God by confessing humbly that God is your Captain, Lord etc with your mouth and believing it in your heart. We should also resist the devil. If there is anything that belongs to the devil in your home or hearts, like idols, throw it out. It can serve as a stronghold.
1 John 5:19-21, it is written, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”
We need to get rid of everything and resist the devil just like Nehemiah did. Nehemiah was highly paid in the King’s Courts when he heard that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down. His enemies Sanballat and Tobiah brought their goods into the Temple of God. Nehemiah took a bold step and threw it all out.
Jesus said in John 14:30, “I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me”
We must be zealous to get rid of all things of the Devil. We must never compromise with him. This is something we must train ourselves to do so by declaring boldly in anger against the devil that we will not submit to his plans instead God rules and reigns over us. Only when we do our part will the devil flee from us.
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up
When you draw near to God, He will draw near to you. We should repent of our sins and humble ourselves in God’s presence. This is when God lifts us up. We must fight the devil and not give him a foothold in our lives.
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About The Author:
Dr. Damien Antony
Born and brought up in a Christian family, Dr. Damien Antony possessed an unquenching quest for truth right from his boyhood days and eventually his relentless search led him to the Bible. He is a Revival Preacher, Bible Teacher, Leadership Trainer, Author and a Life Coach. He moves under the anointing for Prophetic, Healing, Deliverance, Inner Healing and Financial Breakthrough. God has also blessed him with an Apostolic Mandate to take the Universal Body of Christ to the next level of revelation and anointing.
Born and brought up in a Christian family, Dr. Damien Antony possessed an unquenching quest for truth right from his boyhood days and eventually his relentless search led him to the Bible. He is a Revival Preacher, Bible Teacher, Leadership Trainer, Author and a Life Coach. He moves under the anointing for Prophetic, Healing, Deliverance, Inner Healing and Financial Breakthrough. God has also blessed him with an Apostolic Mandate to take the Universal Body of Christ to the next level of revelation and anointing.
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