"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you..." James 4:7-8 (NIV)
Here James provides instruction on Christian living by encouraging the people to first submit themselves to God, and then to stand firm against the devil. Only those closely aligned with God will the devil flee from.
We frequently hear this verse partially quoted saying, "resist the devil and he will flee from you." What is frequently omitted is the beginning of the verse which states "submit yourselves to God." Because of our sinful nature, we do not have the power or the desire to resist the devil without God in our lives. The devil will only flee from us when we are close to God. Satan cannot force us to do anything against our will, when we sin we simply give in to his temptations. God gave us the free will to choose to follow Him or choose to follow Satan. If we choose to follow God and submit ourselves to Him, the we will have the victory over sin, the devil, and death.
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