Submit, Resist, Draw near
James 4:7-8
“Submit to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
Spiritual warfare is frightening to most believers. We would rather hide or run to some safe place, and not have to deal with it. But spiritual warfare is not a choice we can make. Satan makes that decision for us. He shoots his arrows at us, tries to trip us up, tempt us to do sin and challenges our faith. We can not choose when or where he will attack us. We can choose our response, however. In verse 6, James tells us that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore we must recognize our weakness and realize we can not defeat Satan. We must learn that only God can defeat Satan and we must depend upon God to fight this battle for us. We must learn to Submit, resist and draw near. These three statements give us clues as to what our response should be.
Submit to God The word submit means to subordinate to, obey, or become subject to Holy God. When we do this voluntarily out of love, submission to God is an act of humility and service. It is an act of obedience to God, because we recognize who He is. Submitting to God is to place or arrange oneself as a good soldier, under an officer of higher rank. So, get in rank. Those who come to God in humility will receive His abundant grace.
Resist the Devil. Christians are not commanded to bind Satan, as some today suggest, but rather to resist him. Only God can conquer Satan, but every believer can resist him. Jesus gave us the example. He resisted Satan with the truths of Scripture. Those who in arrogant pride reject God’s claim to be Lord of Lords and King of Kings, will very soon discover that God opposes them. So if one chooses to go his own way, or to attempt to fight Satan by himself, in his own energy and strength, he will quickly loose in every spiritual warfare battle
Draw near to God. How encouraging to know that when we draw near to God, He immediately comes close to us! So how do we draw near to God? We repent of our sins, and we purge our lives of unrighteousness.
Notice that drawing near to God requires cleansing your hands and purifying your hearts. He warns that we should not be double minded, which means vacillating between two opinions, or having a divided heart. Before we try to defend ourselves, notice that a divided heart most often follows divided interests. We can not draw near to God while holding interests like we see in the world. Like the Old Testament prophet said, “If the Lord be God, follow Him” (1 Kings 18:21). Don’t touch that which is evil and unclean. Purify the heart by filling your mind and heart with the Word of God and love for Him. Don’t leave room for thoughts of evil or sin. Don’t “give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:27). “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph.6:11).