Submitting to God
This verse has always intrigued me:
James 4:7 (New King James Version)
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Previously I had focused on the last half of the verse. However, it doesn’t state how to resist the Devil. Maybe the first part of the verse holds the key. I looked up submit in the dictionary and found:
to yield to governance or authority; to yield oneself to the authority or will of another : SURRENDER; to permit oneself to be subjected to something
It seems to me that God is saying ‘Let me handle this for you…’
Since ‘therefore’ is used, I’ll go back and see what it is referencing and look at the context in the Message (MSG) translation to see how it sounds in modern language (emphasis is mine):
James 4:6-8 (The Message)
6 And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find. It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble."
7 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. 8 Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field.
This appears to be something that we can’t do in our own strength - but the good news is that God wants to handle this for us…if we just let Him.
