James 4:7–12 ⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. ¹¹ Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Such a simple promise. Do you believe it?  Do you do it in your daily living?  So often we behave as though we don’t believe he will flee. We listen to his lies that tell us going our own way, going against what God would have us do, will be better or more satisfying for us in our lives. Yet after we sin, we regret it and feel worse. Why do we do this over and over again?

I know I am weak. I am not strong enough to resist temptations. And while that is true, I know there is a solution to this problem. It is not me or my determination or my strength or my willpower. I don’t have what it takes in me. That’s true. But I don’t have to do it on my own. James gives us the answer: Come near to God and he will come near to you. I need to stay close to Jesus. I need to keep my eyes on Him. He has the power I need to resist the devil, and He makes it available to me.

The way this passage begins is important to note:  Submit yourselves, then, to God. Submission is something the followers of Jesus do willingly. We know He has our best interests at heart. He showed us that by taking our place in punishment and dying the death our sins deserve so that we would not have to perish eternally. That knowledge should make us eager to let Him be in control

When I look back on my life, I find that things were better when I let Jesus be in control. I want to submit my life to Him. I want to stay close to Him. Lord, help me walk in your ways today.