Resistance and Submission: A Powerful Combination

Many of us have had times when we struggled with issue after issue and felt that there must be some kind of organized demonic activity behind it all. If you thought this, you were right—believers are in a spiritual battle against Satan, who constantly tries to assert his authority over us. The irony is that he has no authority because Jesus has stripped him of all his power and given it to us. We beat the enemy by actively resisting him while deliberately submitting to God.
Because of what Jesus did on the cross, the battle has already been won; all we need to do now is employ our faith to maintain our victory. By submitting ourselves to God and resisting the devil, the devil will flee from us. We do this with actions and words that contradict Satan and agree with God. Whereas faith without works is dead, we show our faith by our works.
Cooperating with the devil empowers him to work in our lives; we rebel by cooperating with God, instead. The enemy has been reduced to simply making suggestions and putting thoughts into our heads that contradict God’s Word. We fight negative thoughts not with more thoughts, but with our words: “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.”
Satan fell from heaven like lightning, and believers have power over serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing can hurt us. We must have faith in our God-given authority, and not be afraid to use it. Unbelief limits the power of His grace in our lives. During His ministry, not even Jesus could do any mighty works in His own country, because of unbelief.
When the enemy attacks, we mustn’t simply put up with it. Knowing who to resist and who to cooperate with gives us the upper hand. We have what we need to crush the enemy under our feet.
Prayer:
God, You’ve given us dominion over the enemy; therefore, there’s no reason to tolerate his attacks. He has been defeated, and we can maintain our victory by resisting him and submitting to You. Thank You for what You did. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Scriptures:
James 4:7
James 2:17, 18, 20
Psalm 107:2
Luke 10:18, 19
Mark 6:1, 5, 6
Romans 16:20, NKJV