WITH GOD'S HELP WE CAN RESIST THE DEVIL

Proclamation:

“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 … Humble yourselves before The Lord, and He will lift you up.”  James 4:7-10 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by James, the half brother of Jesus, The Christ, (Galatians 1:19) under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, to the believers who scattered after the crucifixion of Christ. (James 1:1)  He wrote this letter to provide them with practical advice on Christian living.  He begins this fourth chapter by telling them that they desire things which are for their pleasure.  They pray and ask for the wrong things and that is why their prayers are not answered. (James 4:1-3)  He said that they act like worldly people and that those who like the world are enemies of God. (James 4:4)  He tells them that they need to submit themselves to The Lord God and resist the devil.  If they humble themselves before The Lord, He will lift them up.  He ends by telling them that to know what is right and to choose not to do it, is to commit a sin. (James 4:17)

Application:

Most of us like this verse because it says that if we resist the devil that he will flee from us.  The problem is that we do not have the power to resist the devil on our own.  We missed the first part of this verse which says that we need to submit ourselves to The Lord God.  If we would first submit ourselves to Him, then He would give us the power to resist the devil and cause him to flee from us.  We need to keep in mind that we by ourselves are nothing and powerless.  It is only by the grace, strength, and help from The Lord God that we are able to accomplish anything.  We need to humble ourselves before Him.  We should not even talk about the things that we are going to do, or are planning to do, without acknowledging Him.  We should say that we will do this or that, if it is The Lord’s will. (James 4:13-16)

YIELD NOT TO TEMPTATION

Proclamation:

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.  When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me."  For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." James 1:12-15 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by James, the half-brother of Jesus, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  James offers statements on wise living and on practical examples of Godly behavior.  Christians are blessed when they exercise Godly behavior when they are confronted with temptation.  They are blessed when they persevere under trials and withstand the tests.  James makes it clear that God is not testing them by tempting them.  Temptation comes from their own sinful nature and desires when in their mind they want to do that which is sinful or which leads to sin.

Application:

We need to understand that the temptation is not a sin, the yielding to the temptation is the sin.  The temptation to sin is a trial, a test that we endure.  God is not tempting us, but through His permissive will, He is allowing the temptation to occur.  The devil does not make us sin, although he is frequently blamed for it.  Our sinful nature causes us to desire to commit sin.  Once we think a sinful thought, we try to rationalize it or justify it before we give in to it.  However, we have a choice and we can choose not to act on our sinful thoughts.  We are blessed when we do not give in to the temptation to sin.  We need to pray regularly and frequently for God's help to withstand temptation and for us not to yield to the temptation to sin.  I truly believe that the more time that we spend reading God’s Holy Word the less time we will spend contemplating and committing sinful behavior.

RESIST THE DEVIL

Proclamation:

“Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

Explanation:

These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by James, the half-brother of Jesus, The Christ.  His point was that we must choose virtues instead of vices.  We frequently obey the suggestions of the devil and sin instead of following The Word of God.  James states that we must make a conscious effort to resist the devil and choose to submit ourselves to God and follow His Word.  Only then will the devil flee from us.

Application:

The devil is busy.  He attacks us and tempts us all of the time.  If he is not bothering you, then maybe you are already doing what he wants you to do.  As Christians, we do not have to give in to the devil.  We have a choice in what we do.  However, we cannot resist the devil by ourselves.  The beginning of this Bible verse says, "Submit yourselves to God ..." and the verse which follows it says, "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you ..."  Only with God's help can we resist the devil.  We need to get closer to God and do His will or we do not stand a chance against the devil and his powers.  God has already defeated the devil.  We just need to get on The Lord's side and make a conscious effort to obey The Word of God and then the devil will leave us alone for a while.  Remember, the devil temped Jesus three times before he let Him alone. (Matthew 4:1-11)  Even after Jesus rebuffed him twice the devil continued to tempt Him.  So, don’t be surprised when you resist one temptation to sin and the devil presents you with another different temptation.  We have to continually be on guard for attacks by the devil.  That is why we must put on the whole armor of God in order to stand up against the devil and his attacks. (Ephesians 6:11-18)

RESIST THE DEVIL

Proclamation:

“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)

Explanation:

These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by James, the half brother of Jesus, to the dispersed believers during their persecution after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  His purpose was to encourage righteous living and godly behavior and he gave them practical examples of how to do so.

Application:

As Christians, we do not have to give in to the devil.  We have a choice in what we do.  The Bible says for us to "... Resist the devil and he will flee..." (James 4:7)  However, we cannot resist the devil by ourselves or on our own.  The beginning of that Bible verse says, "Submit yourselves to God ..." and the verse which follows it says, "Come near to God, and He will come near to you ..." Only with God's help can we resist the devil.  We need to get closer to God and do His will or we do not stand a chance against the devil and his powers and the tactics.  Jesus, The Christ, has already defeated the devil.  We just need to get on The Lord's side and use His power to resist the devil and his temptations.  The devil is busy. He attacks us and tempts us all of the time.  If he is not bothering you, then maybe you are already doing what he wants you to do.  In order to withstand the attacks of the devil we need to submit ourselves to The Lord and be wrapped in the whole armor of God. (Ephesians 6:11)  We need to pray and ask God clean our minds and our hearts to help us do His will. (James 4:8)  Then if we submit ourselves to God we can resist the devil and he will flee from us.

Yield Not To Temptation

"And Jesus answered and said unto him, 'Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship The Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."  Luke 4:8 (KJV)

After Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, He was led by The Holy Spirit of God into the wilderness, and He remained there for forty days and was tempted by the devil. (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13)  When Jesus said "Get thee behind me, Satan" He was refusing to yield to temptation.  

It was not a sin for Jesus to turn rocks into bread.  The sin would have been for Him listen to Satan and take matters into His own hands and not to wait on God to provide for Him in God's own way and time.  The devil tempts us in many different ways to go against The Word of God.  Satan wants us to doubt God, and to believe that God will not do what He says that He will do.  He approaches us in moments of weakness, when we are going through trials, troubles, and tribulations, and suggests that God has forgotten about us, or that God will not do what He said that He would do.  God said that He will supply all your needs, (Philippians 4:19), but the devil says that you are doing without things now.  God said that your joy would be fulfilled, (John 17:13), but the devil says that you are going through sorrowful or depressing times.  God said they that wait upon The Lord shall be blessed, (Isaiah 30:18 and 40:31), but the devil says why should you wait, you can have it now.  The devil wants us to doubt or not believe in God.  I recently heard a preacher say that when we say yes to temptation and sin, we are saying no to God.  We believe the lie that the devil tells us, rather than believe the truth in The Word of God. Do not say no to God and yes to the devil.  The devil is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (John 8:44)  Yield not to temptation, for yielding to temptation is sinning.  The only way to resist the devil is to submit to The Lord God. (James 4:7)

Resist Temptation And Stand With God

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."  1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

In his letter to the believers in Corinth, the Apostle Paul told them that temptation is common to all men and that all of them would be tempted.  Then he told them that God would not let them be tempted beyond that which they could bear.  When they were tempted, God would always provide them with a way out to avoid sin and to do that which was right.

Today, all of us are tempted to sin.  The devil tempted Christ repeatedly, and he will tempt us. (Matthew 4:1-11)  Being tempted is not a sin, it is yielding and giving in to the temptation that is a sin.  The devil tempts us with a host of sins. (Romans 1:20-32 and Romans 2:1-8)  Most of us do not like to think about our sins or the number of times that we give in to temptation.  We sin when we break on of the ten commandments.  We sin when we misuse and abuse our body, which is the temple of The Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:19)  We sin, not only by what we do and say, but we also sin by what we think. (Proverbs 23:7 and Matthew 5:28)  In fact the Bible teaches us that all unrighteousness is sin. (1 John 5:17)  All of us are sinners, we just choose to sin differently. (Romans 3:10 and Romans 3:23)  We choose to sin, and we can choose not to sin.  When we are tempted, God always provides us with a way to avoid sin.  Submit to The Lord and we can resist temptation, and the devil will flee from us. ( James 4:7)  Reading the Bible when we are tempted to sin will help us stand up to the temptation.  Praying to God and focusing all of our attention on Him when we are tempted will also help us to stand up to temptation.  We all need to ask God to forgive us of our sins, and we need to ask for His help to keep us from yielding to temptation and sin.  Let's yield to sin less, and glorify God more.