Read: James 4:7
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
Understand:
- Who are we to surrender our lives to?
- What happens when we resist the devil?
Listen: Merriam-Webster defines surrender as “to give up completely or agree to forgo especially in favor of another.” As a control freak by nature, I have a tendency to avoid surrendering control in certain situations. This could be a pride issue with me thinking that I know best. It could be a fear issue with me believing that if I surrender things won’t work out for the best. Either way, this is a hard habit to break. I recently left a job that I had been at for eight years. The people there are my family and I love them dearly. We have walked through trials together and celebrated happy events. We grumbled at each other, lovingly of course, but we were there for each other. There is comfort in that. Comfort in knowing that you’re surrounded by people who will pray for you and are always there for you.
I had known for a couple years that God was calling me into a new season in life and, to be honest, I refused to surrender to that calling. That sounds kind of brave that I would actually argue with God. It was actually fear. I was afraid to leave my job; afraid to leave the comfort of being supported and valued as a co-worker and a friend. I was afraid that I would fail at whatever God had lined up for this new season in my life. Do you see the issue here? Look back at our verse for today. The first thing it tells us we should do is to submit, or surrender, to God. Now look at the definition we read from Merriam-Webster; to . . . agree to forgo especially in favor of another. I used the last part of this definition because of the word agree. Agree means willingly make the decision. I had to be willing to make the decision to forgo what I wanted to do for what I knew God was calling me to do. I also want to focus on the next part of our verse. It says to “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” I allowed fear of failure to dictate my behavior and my decision making even though I knew God was telling me it was time to make this decision so He could lead me where He needed me to serve. This is thing. We have to be willing to listen and then be obedient and take action when God calls us. It took me a couple of years to do this. Had I trusted completely in God, remembering His promises and His faithfulness I would not have allowed Satan to throw those doubts at me that resulted in my fear. Trusting God and having faith is resisting the devil. It’s focusing your mind on Christ and relying on His strength and His power to see you through anything. I had to submit to God and place my trust completely in Him.
I’m not saying this is easy to do. In fact, surrendering to God’s will can be tough because we have a tendency to cling to what we want to do even though God has something so much better for us if we will just listen and willingly be obedient. I want to leave you with this visual. I saw drawing one time of Jesus leaning down to talk to a little girl. He was reaching out for her small, stuffed teddy bear and she said, “But, I really like it.” She didn’t want to give up her teddy bear. What she couldn’t see was that Jesus had a huge stuffed teddy bear behind Him that He was wanting to give her in place of the small bear. I think that’s what happens to us sometimes. We hold on to the known, to our comfortable place even though Jesus is asking us to give it to Him. Trust is not seeing the huge, stuffed teddy bear He has behind His back but accepting that if He is asking for something that He knows is important to us that He must have something else in mind that is much bigger and much better.
Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for always looking out for us and for wanting to bless us even when we are resistant. Help us to trust you in every situation, remembering Your faithfulness. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Majacka Literary Creations 