“...the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4b
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
There are two key weapons in the Christian’s arsenal for resisting temptation. One is our sword of the Spirit, the word of God. We need to know it and obey it. When the enemy tempts us, God’s word shows us what we need to do. Even so, knowing what to do--or what not to do--and doing it--or not doing it--can often be two different things. Why are we not always victorious against temptation even though we know what we should do and are determined to do it? We are weak in our humanity. But there is good news. Although we are weak, God is strong, and His strength is available to us.
1 John 4:4 tells us that the One who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. Who is the one in the world? Satan. Is he stronger than we are? Yes. He has powers we don’t have. Who is the One who is in us? The Holy Spirit. Is He stronger than Satan? Yes, indeed. Do we have access to His power? Indeed we do. When we allow the Holy Spirit to be in control of our lives, He will live the Christian life through us in His power and wisdom. So the secret of victory over sin is to be in total submission to the Holy Spirit. Will God ever sin? No. Will the Holy Spirit who is a member of the Godhead ever sin? No. If the Holy Spirit in in control of our lives, will we sin? NO!
James 4:7 tells us to submit to God and then resist the devil. The order is crucial. If we have submitted to God--asked the Holy Spirit to be in charge of our lives--then we can resist the devil with God’s power. What happens when we do that? He will flee from us. We will have victory by resisting temptation!
We need to be warned however. Luke 4:13 says, “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him [Jesus] until an opportune time.” One victory will only defeat the devil temporarily. He will never leave us alone permanently. If we resist him, he will flee from us, but he only retreats to regroup and try again. We can expect to be battling him as long as we live, so we might as well dig in for the long haul. He can’t take away our salvation, but he will try his best to destroy our peace, undermine our faith, and besmirch our testimony. Don’t let him!!!
Father, may I be victorious in Your strength to meet all the temptations the enemy throws my way. May I desire to please and obey You more than to have anything the world offers. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment