James 4:7 NASB
Submit therefore to God.
Resist the devil
and he will flee from you.
Other translations
New International Version
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
New Living Translation
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
King James Bible
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
New King James Version
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Study
Submit yourselves therefore to God. (But) resist the devil.
This may be the hardest advice of all.
To a man reliant on himself, is submission to any, more especially to the Unknown a very hard thing to do.
But, as a correlative to this, the Apostle shows where pride may become a stimulant for good, viz., in contest with the Evil One.
Submit yourselves therefore to God
The forms of the Greek verbs express a somewhat sharper antithesis than the English. God setteth himself against the proud, therefore, set yourselves as under God.
Submit
There is a threefold submission to God:
- Of our carnal hearts to His holiness;
- Of our proud hearts to His mercy;
- And of our revolting hearts to His sovereignty;
and all this that we may be pure, humble, and obedient
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you
The rule seems to point to the true field for the exercise of the combative element which enters into man’s nature.
- Not in strife and bitterness against each other,
- not in setting themselves against the will of God,
- but in taking their stand against the devil.
In taking their stand against the enemy of God and man, the disciples of the Christ showed that they were indeed men.
Perhaps we may trace in the form of the precept, an indirect reference to the history of the Temptation in Matthew 4:1-11.
He will flee
Or, he shall flee.
“The Devil,” says the strange old book called “The Shepherd of Hermas“, “can tight, but he cannot conquer; if, therefore, thou dost withstand him, he will flee from thee, beaten and ashamed.”
The text is another proof of the personality of Satan; no amount of figures of speech could otherwise interpret it.
Devotional
Let’s admit it.
Most of us would like for spiritual growth to be easy.
We want our ability to withstand tempation to require little effort.
We want the Holy Spirit to do the work and God to protect us from too much stress and strain.
Thankfully, God does empower us through his Holy Spirit.
However, he does remind us that for the Spirit to work powerfully in our lives, we must intentionally submit our will to God and we must resist the devil.
If we will put up a fight against him and his temptations, he will flee from us.
Let’s do our part, trusting that God will do more than uphold his promises!
Prayer suggestions
▪︎ Thank God for His presence and power in you through His Holy Spirit.
▪︎ Thank God for the Scriptures which reveal His will to you
▪︎ Submit your will to His will
▪︎ Ask the Lord to do His will in and through you.
▪︎ Ask the Lord to use you
▪︎ Ask the Lord to motivate and inspire you to resist the devil
▪︎ Ask the Lord to help you to recognize the devil’s attempts to derail your commitment to God.
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