At war with God through his enemy: Satan (James 4:6-7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

                                                                                                            Date:  10-20-03

 

My Worship Time      Focus:  At war with God through his enemy:  Satan

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  James 4:6, 7

 

            1.  Message of the verse:  “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ ‘Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.’”  (NIV)    “He gives us more and more strength to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, ‘God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble.’ ‘So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.’”  (NLT)

            The first enemy of God, the world, is in conflict with the Father, and the flesh is in conflict with the Holy Spirit, and this third enemy of God, the devil, is in conflict with the Lord Jesus Christ.  We can see in the gospels that the devil was in conflict with Jesus Christ throughout His ministry while upon the earth, and now the devil is in conflict with The Lord Jesus Christ’s Church.  How does the devil tempt believers into sinning?  He used pride to trap Eve, and this is still one of his prime ways of causing believers today to sin.  I have heard it said that the devil will use the flesh as a landing strip into the believer’s life, and if we are not aware of this he will set up a beachhead there.

            Submit To God:

            In verse six James speaks of God giving more grace to those who are God’s, and God’s grace is greater than the power of sin, the flesh, and the world, and also Satan.  Romans 5:20 speaks to this, “And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”  There is a song that speaks of this subject of God’s grace being greater than sin and the refrain goes, “Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within, Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin.”  (Page # 201)

            There are two words that I want to look at in verse 7, and they are “submit” and “resist.”  Submit is one of those words used in the Bible that at times make men happy to learn about, for the Bible says that wives should submit to their husbands and sometimes we can get a wrong view of this word.  The word “submit” is a military word that means to line up under the authority of a persons commander.  Let’s look at a couple of places where this word or concept of submission is used in the Scriptures.  Luke 2: 51 “And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart.”  This speaks of Jesus being submitted to His parents.  What we are saying here is that the creator of this world was in submission to the rule of His earthly parents, those whom He had created.  Romans 13:1 “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”   This verse speaks of being in submission to the government, and notice that it says that is comes from the authority of God.  Ephesians 5:24 “But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.”  This verse teaches that the Church is to be in submission to Christ and also wives to their husbands.  

            Now the word “resist” is the flip side of submit, and we as believers are to resist the devil.  The word means to take your stand against.  The Bible teaches that there are only two kinds of people on this earth, those who have Jesus Christ as their Lord or those who have Satan as their lord, for there is no middle ground.  Ephesians 2:22 “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”   John 8:44, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”  1John 5: 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”

            There is an illustration that testifies to submission to God and that can be seen in the story of David’s sin with Bathsheba.  When David committed this sin with her he declared war with God, and this war went on for a year until he confessed his sin to God with the encouragement of the prophet Nathan.  David said of this in Psalm 32:5, “I acknowledged my sin to Thee, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And Thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. Selah.”  And in Psalm 51:10-13, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from Thy presence, And do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, And sustain me with a willing spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors Thy ways, And sinners will be converted to Thee.”  Dr. Wiersbe says of this submission that it is an act of the will saying “not my will be done, but thy will be done.”

            2.  Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Sometimes it is good to be reminded of the truths that have been learned in times past, and this section on resisting the evil one has been one of them.  I needed to be reminded that I am to resist the evil one, and also that God’s grace is greater than all of my sin.  This surely does not give me a license to sin, in fact just the opposite, as I look at what it cost God to provide this grace for my sin, then that should make me want to live a life that is in submission tot the One who loves me enough to pay the price for my sin.

 

The Word of God was a good reminder of truths I have learned in the past, and need to continue to live by them always.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To apologize to my wife for becoming angry with her yesterday.  To continue to trust the Lord in this trial that He has sent my way, and to be open to do what Christ would have me to do today.

 

Memory verse for this week:  James 1:1-4 (go over them this week)

 

1.      James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, greetings.

2.      Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.

3.      knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

4.      And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.