Monday, October 24, 2011
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7
In this weeks devotion we are going to be looking at 4 verses. James commands his readers with 10 different imperatives (command verbs):
Here are the 10 commands in these 4 verses
- Submit
- Resist
- Draw Nigh
- Cleanse
- Purify
- Be (afflicted)
- Mourn
- Weep
- Let (your laughter be turned to mourning)
- Humble
Today we are going to look at the first two commands:
- Submit– “to line up under”- recognize the authority of God in your life and act upon it. Like a soldier that understands his rank, the faithful Christian recognizes and works under the authority of God. God says go, we go. God says don’t, so we don’t.
Song- “Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.”
- Resist– “to take a stand against”- recognize the enemy that we have. As a soldeir recognizes hi true enemy, we ought to respond to Satan only with resistance! The worst thing we can do is not even realize we have an enemy or that we are in a war.
Submit–> God
Resist–> Satan
Notice Satan’s response–“He will flee from you!” He is a defeated foe.
Application:
Are you being submissive to God? Where are you trying to do things your own way and not God’s way? God has told us what He wants in His Word. We ought to be submissive to Him by reading and following the Bible.
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
This passage or verse is saying that if you restit Satan (aka: the devil) and submit to God then Satan will get out of your life he will flee of you because the power you have for god is to strong for him to handle so he leaves your presence. Sometimes when we read the bible and god tells us to do something and we think we have like a better way of doing it
because we do it our own way and not gods way
because we think our way is like better then his, but sometimes it’s hard to do what god says but you have to just trust in him and he will get you far, and it’s also hard to get Satan out of your system once his in, but when you let god into your heart then Satan will surely flee. So we have to be submissive by reading and following the bible.
if u submit God and resist the devil he will flee from u.
submit -> God
Resist-> devil
gtg 2 school ill comment the rest later!! 🙂
Gosh darn it ben! U did it again! U always help me so much when u put the charts and arrows it helps alot! Thanks! 🙂 so today the devos were talking about submitting and resiting. If u submit u will get god. But if u resist u will get the devil. And tht there is 10 things in the 4 verses. 🙂 great Devo! Love u guys sosososo much! 🙂
Glad you like the charts. I be you’d really like my journal. My first draft for these devos I write in a journal. I draw arrows and diagrams all over the place.
It seems pretty simple but so many times we rely on ourselves, other people, and stuff to put are faith in. So the submitting is something that can be difficult because when things are good we look to ourselves and not God and that is so important to be faithful to God no matter what the circumstances. The cool thing is is that when we submit and put Gods will for our lives before ours God gives us the power to resist the devil and our biggest battles.
Great point Ryan. You’re stepping on my toes a little. Could you please get off? 🙂
You posted really early today…
going back 2 my previous comment,wouldn’t life be better if we didn’t hv 2 worry about the devil!?!? like ryan said God gives us the power 2 resist the devil.
Sumbit-> God
Resist-> Devil
i love the charts and arrows 2!! they always help me!! 🙂 u make a great point mafalda! to be submissive to God then u would read his word.if u believe what the bible says is true then u r surely to be submissive 2 God!! 🙂 love u all!! <3333333 🙂
I definitely needed this today! Because sometimes I have a hard time submitting to God, and I tend to do things my way. But recently, God has really been testing me in this area! I need to work on submitting myself to Him, and letting Him take control of my life and the decisions I make!
I know the enemy, Satan. But I admit I’m not always resisting him. It’s so easy to just give in to temptations sometimes, and let Satan get what he wants. One thing I forget it that when I don’t resist the devil, it makes God disappointed in me. And I hate disappointing people! Itill be so worth it in the end to just do what God says! I heard a song a while ago that said “The temptations I resist, because it’s God I glorify.” I think it kinda goes with what we’re talking about here. We can’t glorify God and be giving in to Satans temptations at the same time! All of these commands kinda go hand in hand, you can’t do one without the other. I know that seems like a lot to do, but really it’s not! If we submit to God, it will be soo much easier to resist Satan!
Great devotions today! & good job on the comments guys! Very encouraging 🙂
Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you! So if I resist the devil he’ll flee from me?! Way easier said then done unfortunately. My passion for my life, is to live the life God designed for me. I want to go down the right roads, make the right decisions, live for God, and most importantly please Him. I most certaintly cannot please God when I’m not resisting Satan. I can’t give into the things that pleases the devil at the same time I’m working and living for God. I think a lot of the time, we’re giving into Satan’s evil ways even if we don’t realize it all the time. Like we’ve been talking about in our series, Practical Atheist, Satan thrives off of practical atheism. Satan is the one who loves to watch us fail and to mess up. This is why we need to resist him. We need to fully submit ourselves to Christ. We say we love Him don’t we? Well let’s start living like we do. It’s all about the baby steps. Admitting we need help, and asking for it from God, and when we’re given help, actually take it! Like Pastor Ben said, we need to be submissive by following and living out what the bible says! Let’s let Satan flee from us when we resist him and submit to our God! 🙂
I like this verse!!! Submit to God, resists Satan. Plain and simple. But isnt it ironic how sometimes we give into what Satan wants us to do? I know i sin all the time, and im not okay with it. Thats why its so important to submit and trust in God cause Hes always there for us when we fall 🙂
This is a really good verse! Submit to god and resista The devil It is as easy as that! But than again we mostly do what the devil wonts us to do rather than what God wants us to do, wich is really bad cause if we keep on doing what the devil want we will be ging down the wrong path insted of the right path wich is the worst thing we could do. But that is why it is so important to submit to God and not the devil
This verse also goes with what was preached on during the sunday night services. Taking off old and putting on the new. If we submit the devil will flee. We can only serve one god in our life and so if we put God where He is supposed to be then all else falls into place. The devil can’t stand God and so the more we have of God involved in our life the more Satan doesnt like it and doesn’t want to be near it.
This helps me in a practical way in my life by just submitting to whatever God has planned for me now. In a book I am reading it has been speaking of living and enjoying the moments we are in now rather than rushing ourselves into the future. We are sometimes not happy with where we are. You want to be older than you are, driving, college, married, kids, and then you want your kids to grow up fast, then retire. Meanwhile you don’t remember much cause you spent the whole time wishing you were somewhere else rather than enjoying the season you are currently in. Middle school goes fast and high school even faster. Submit to what God has for you right now and let Him lead. It will make the time go by and make it worth an investment for the future if you let Him.
I like what you said about enjoying where you are and being content. I need more of that in my life. Can you help me? 🙂