By Rachel L. Hunter
God’s deepest desire is for His children to be made whole again. For far too long the Church has been enduring the enemy’s attacks – believing that they were powerless to stop it, and that any attempt would be a futile effort. Constant is the stream of whispering voices and lying tongues.
They surround us and overwhelm our senses so all we can see, hear, taste, smell and feel is all the negativity of the world around us.
It makes us feel stuck – like our feet are somehow cemented into concrete.
But here’s the thing: God has created a way for us to move. We can’t fight the devil on his own turf (horizontally) and He knows that. So God (through Jesus’ death and resurrection) made a way for us to move vertically and gain the advantage from higher ground. It is no secret that the devil revels in finding new and creative ways to attack us. He loves to play with us, to throw us around. He’s constantly seeking to find a way to drop us like a hot potato… back down to the earthly realm where he can wreak havoc over our lives.
But the devil can be stopped. The key can be found in James 4:7: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” In this verse, we see four steps to take to make sure that only good can ever touch us.
Step 1: Don’t be Double-Minded. When we lust after the things of the world and the things of God’s Kingdom, we give the devil the authority to take us from the position to which God has appointed us. However, if we consciously choose to abide forever on high with God, then the devil has no legal access point to us.
Step 2: Accept God’s Opinion. God’s opinion about us determines the value we having in His Kingdom – and it is always good. God sees us right now as His skilled and inventive creations that He made to serve a unique purpose. When we accept what God thinks of us, none of the devil’s lies will take hold in our lives… because the truth always wins out in the end.
Step 3: Form a Personal Conviction. We need to take God’s opinion about us, and be so convinced (and therefore, resolved) in that truth that nothing and no one can move us. When we have formed a strong personal conviction, it is embedded into our heart so deeply that nothing can cause us to waver.
Step 4: Take an Active Stance. When we submit ourselves under God’s authority and humble ourselves under God’s control (knowing that we are powerless on our own), God gives us the power to take an active stance against the devil. He knows (through personal experience) that the devil will flee. In fact, God calls him predictable in this regard.
God has not made us to be powerless. So why do we let the world walk all over us like we were created to be doormats? The devil has tried to break us down to the point where we could not even imagine taking a stand against him. No matter what you see or how you feel, God has something better in mind. Don’t let the devil’s mirage fool you… God has only wonderful things in store for His children!
Rachel L. Hunter is the features editor of a small weekly newspaper in Northern New York.