I hope that I am communicating with a bunch of empty containers today! Are you emptied of pride and ready to be filled with God's grace, dear lady? I hope that each of you made sure that step one of "submitting yourself therefore to God" has taken place in your life so that you won't be reading all of this information below in vain! Why do I say that? Because unconditional surrender is the only way to complete victory. We must be stripped of all our customary defenses if we would be applicants for God’s grace. Hence, if there is any area of your lives at all that you are keeping back from God, that will be the area where you will struggle most. You will not have God's grace to achieve victory in the matter. Where there is no grace, there is no serenity. Grace makes you gracious and the Giver of grace makes you give… SO, again I ask you: Are you absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt, sure you are fully submitted to God??
Okay then, having dealt with that, we can now begin by taking a look at step two to becoming a "getter" of God's grace as found in James 4:7, which is:
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
How could you and I ever think we could possibly resist the devil if we hadn't first submitted to God?? Only pride would think so conceitedly! You see, by submitting ourselves to God we are actually putting our heavenly Father out in front of us; we position ourselves behind the Lord and He deals with Satan through and for us! Ladies, when grace comes into our souls it is a Divine energy even more powerful than electricity! However, when we aren't fully submitted to God, then we are out in front of God - all alone - trying to resist the devil in our weak, frail, human flesh - minus God's grace! Surely you agree we are definitely no matches for the devil? Even so, through submission we are stronger and able to resist Satan, and our adversary flees whenever he encounters the power of God’s Spirit!
Romans 10:3 (KJV)
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God.
Psalm 66:3 (KJV)
Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness
of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.
Yes, the devil tucks tail and runs because of the power behind our submission! Satan flees because his strongest weapon is pride. He wants us to depend on ourselves. He is the author of all "do-it-yourself" attitudes. The devil regularly encourages believers to "do it your own way", or "look out for #1". Yet, when we have emptied ourselves of pride, then Satan has no weapons with which to fight against us, with which to pull us down, with which to tempt us. We can resist the devil when our pride has been emptied and we are filled with an attitude of submission to God! Such a godly spirit is completely foreign to Satan - even repulsive to him!! He runs from the very scent of submission and he runs from Christians who are fully submitted to God. Are you one of them, I hope? Or have you made it easy, perhaps even a bit comfortable for the devil to hang around at your house?
Ephesians 4:27 (KJV)
Neither give place to the devil.
Ladies, is there a place in your heart, mind, or life that you have given to the adversary today? Whether you believe it or not, there are really only two beings you can give place to - either God or Satan. You might think, "Well, I'M holding onto it right now, I haven't given that place to either of them yet." Don't deceive yourself, Christian woman! If God doesn't have that place, then you can be sure Satan does! What hasn’t been submitted to God is open target for the devil! Do you like the thought of succumbing to Satanic invasion? I don’t! Better reconsider those unyielded places in your heart, your mind, and your life one more time and make sure you have given EVERYTHING to God for safekeeping!
1 Peter 5:8 (KJV)
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring
lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
So we learn today, that what has taken place at step one via submission, is that we have totally disarmed the enemy of one of his chief weapons in his warfare against the saint and the Savior: PRIDE. The devil cannot force your will if it has already been bowed to God! Submission has made resisting the devil an easier step to take because we have gained God’s help. Always remember, ladies, God wants us to be humble, Satan wants us to be proud. While God resists the proud, Satan resists the humble and flees from them! Do you see now why God puts these steps to becoming "getters" of His grace in perfect order in His holy Word?
Incidentally, who would you rather be at war with - God, or Satan?? When we defy submission, we are actually declaring war with God. We are stubbornly holding that which He has lovingly asked us to hand over to Him. We clutch our own selfish desires to our breast and say, "No, mine!" much like an infant responds when his favorite toy is being taken away from him. Ladies, people who are at war with God are actually at war with themselves! Their selfish living and selfish desires always make them very unhappy people. It is a battle they can never win… They are a people filled with the pride of life that Satan is so famous for encouraging them toward. Such individuals are taken captive by him at HIS will, the Bible says in 2 Tim. 2:26. Christians are unable to resist the devil when filled with pride and actually become enemies of their heavenly Father!
2 Tim. 2:25-26 (KJV)
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; [26] And
that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are
taken captive by him at his will.
Are you SURE there aren't some of you out there still holding onto certain areas of your life where you are unwilling to submit to God?? Is your resistance to the enemy low? If so, I want you to realize the danger you place yourself in as a child of God when you won't fully submit to your Lord and Savior. Instead, you have submitted yourself to Satan and whatever he decides to do with you. Do you realize that??
The Bible says not only are we to resist Satan, but we are to "resist him steadfast" according to 1 Peter 5:9. In what situations in your life do you now see where you need to conscientiously resist the devil? Can you look back on your life and see those same old struggle points where you fall into those same old traps Satan has laid for you because you have not first submitted those areas to God in order to increase your resistance to the devil? How long has he been tempting you with self-reliance and getting away with it? Don't be lazy about such an important matter - fight back, get the victory - get some GRACE for a change!!
The key ingredient to getting God's grace is submission. And the key ingredient to resisting the devil is submission as well. Are you missing the key ingredient to taking both steps in your life today? No point in going any further - take care of it right now! It is our duty to submit, and it is our duty to resist. Before tomorrow, before we go on to step three in our march toward receiving more of God's grace, please make sure that you are doing both!
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2000 Pamela A. Iannello
Revised 2004
