God OR the three enemies. Let’s get it in our hearts deeper this week that God is ALWAYS the right choice.
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Jas 4:7 NIV
If we continue to submit to the three enemies, we will continue to make the same choices, and nothing will seem to have changed in our lives. But if we choose to submit to God, then everything changes because instead of doing the same old thing, God will help us to do the opposite. For example, say we have a problem with anger, so the moment someone starts yelling at us, we immediately unleash uncontrollable rage upon them. This is probably a combination of the devil tempting us to act according to wrath, this corrupt world telling us we are number one and so we cannot allow someone to knock us off that pedestal we’ve put ourselves on and/or our old MMI Person saying we will must defend, and avenge ourselves. None of that is godly BTW. As children of God, we are to act according to righteousness, not wrath. We must acknowledge we are NOT number one, God is, so we do not belong on any pedestal in the first place. And we do not need to defend ourselves, but must allow God to avenge us. This cannot be displayed any clearer than with Jesus during those mock trials.
Remember we are learning to lean on God by submitting to Him, then doing the opposite of what we used to do. So let’s say we HAD that problem with anger, and now, the moment someone starts yelling at us, we stop and count to ten. As we are counting, what we are doing is submitting to God. We are what I like to call “taking a moment.” We check in with God, submitting to His Way and acting according to WHO He has, and is creating us to be. So here we would act in patience and listen to the one yelling at us…maybe, just maybe, they have a valid point to make. Then we look for a solution, if possible, instead of continuing, or escalating, the problem. See? Opposites. When we choose to submit to God, those three enemies lose any false power they have and we actually act more and more like Jesus, because it is only FROM Jesus that the enemy will flee.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
21- Lk 23:42
22- Jas 4:7
<>< Peace, Diane
