18 Aug Badge (discovering that authority is the channel through which God’s power flows): Part 3
The Bible tells us in James 4:7, “Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Over the years this has been one of the most misquoted verses in the Bible!
This month we have been sharing “6 Submit Standards”, but first let’s review these verses in more detail…
Please allow me to break these verses down from the Greek. The Greek word translated “submit” is hupostasis. This is a Greek compound word “hupo” which means “under” and “tasso” which means “arrange.” Put them together and “submit” literally means to “arrange yourself under.” The second word I want to highlight is the word “resist.” This is the Greek word “antihistemi” where we get our English word “antihistamine” from. It too is a compound Greek word… “anti” which means “against,” and “stemi” which means “to stand.” Put those words together and it literally means “to stand against.”
Lastly, let’s bring out the word “flee.” This is the Greek word “pheugi” which means “to run away, escape or vanish.” When we put all these powerful Greek words together this verse could be translated like this: “Arrange yourself under God and stand against the devil, and he will run away, escape and vanish from you!”
With that in mind, we began to share the first of our “6 Submit Standards”:
- There is a difference between submit and surrender (Mark 8:34-35).
I look at our hearts as I would a house. God wants us to give Him every room in our house. Have you ever had unexpected guests tell you they were about to “pop” in to your neighborhood and make a surprise visit? What do you do? You quickly yell at all the family and ask them to throw all the clutter in a back room, and then you shut the door to that room! When you give your guests a tour of the house, you certainly don’t allow them to go in “that back room.” Many times we do the same thing to our Lord!
The Bible tells us, “He who seeks to save his life shall lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s, shall find it” (Matt. 16:25). In other words, whatever you hold onto for yourself, will end up a mess. Whatever you give to God will ultimately end up blessed!
Have you ever seen the internet meme of Jesus with a little girl? In the picture Jesus is trying to gently coax a little teddy bear from this little girl with one arm, and behind his back in the other arm Jesus has a very big teddy bear. If she will just let go of the little teddy bear, Jesus is ready and waiting to give her this big teddy bear! Over 35 years of ministry I’ve learned that Jesus doesn’t show you the big teddy bear but simply encourages us to trust Him, and let go of our little teddy bear.
The reason so many of you struggle letting go is because you don’t truly have a revelation of how much God loves you!!
Remember this: Always submit yourself to God, but never surrender to the devil!
2. You must get under what is over you, in order to get over what is under you! (James 4:7)
Over the years I have heard this statement made on occasion, “Pastor, I resisted the devil and he didn’t flee.” To which my response is always similar. If your “resister” is not working…check up on your “submitter.”
The Bible tells you clearly that the devil has been defeated and is under your feet (see Ephesians 1:18-23, Rom. 16:20, Col. 2:15). Therefore the devil and all his works of darkness are under your feet! However, God is clearly over us (see Col. 1:16-18). Let me reiterate that we must get under what is over us in order to get over what is under us! In other words, “Submit yourself to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
“Pastor, how do I practically submit myself to God?” you might be asking at this juncture. Simply submit yourself to HIS WORD!
Remember: You can’t resist the devil on top of life’s table when you are playing footsie with him under the table! You don’t have to live a perfect life to resist the devil, but you can’t live a rebellious life and resist the devil.
Join us next week as we continue in the series…