7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James4:7
There are four forces at work in the world:
- God, His angels and His people as individuals and the church
- My own sinful nature (Paul calls this the "flesh")
- The broken world system
- Satan and the fallen angels (demons) with him.
The problem is that we tend to focus on the devil. We see him behind every bush and some people start to play "spiritual cowboys and crooks" believing that _they_ can vanquish the powers of darkness.
James makes it clear:
If we want to overcome evil and brokenness we must:
- Draw near to God
- Resist Satan
Drawing near to God as James describes it in the verses 4-10 involves humility, submission, confession and sincere repentance. He concludes with verse 10: "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
When it comes to resisting Satan, the sad thing for me is that even Christians do not properly understand that Scripture clearly teaches us that there was a war in heaven and that Satan and ONE third of the angels were thrown out. (Therefore there are two angels for every one demon) Let alone the fact that Christ overcame sin, death and satan on the cross!!!
It is not our job to defeat Satan or even to take the fight to him. We must simply stand our ground (Paul makes this very clear when he talks about the armour of God: "After you have done everything, to stand" (Eph6:13)
So, let's get our perspective right! I need to make some clear decisions with regard to the four forces in the world:
1. God: Submit to Him, humbly trusting Him to save me
2. My Flesh: Confess and Repent sincerely and God will lift me up
3. The World: "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." (Eph5:11)
4. Satan: Wear the full armour of God and stand firm, resisting satan.
There is no point in tackling 2,3,4 without doing 1.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
