22 Mar Shut the Front Door! (Learning to shut the door to the enemy in your life) PART 10

Posted at 08:00h in Uncategorized by

What gets your attention…gets you!  What you continually mind, you will eventually find. 

It’s time we shut the front door to the enemy! 

Let’s talk about it! 

Over the last few months we have shared with you the key verses for this series:

  1. John 5:14 “Afterward Jesus finds him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold you are made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come on you.”
  2. I Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.”
  3. John 14:30 “Hereafter I will not talk much with you; for the prince of this world comes and has nothing in me.”
  4. I John 5:18 “We know that whosoever is born of God sins not; but he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and the wicked one touches him not.”

I then gave you “Four Biblical Balances to Opposition”:

  1. If you’ve never had a head-on collision with the devil…chances are you’re walking with him!
  2. With divine opportunity comes demonic opposition.  
  3. When you experience opposition, don’t just assume you are doing something wrong…it may be you are doing something right!
  4. Many times the tallest trees experience the harshest winds.

We then began to share “Six Entry Exhibits”:

  1. Worry (I Pet. 5:5-8)
  2. Internalized anger (Eph. 4:26-27)
  3. Strife (James 3:14-16)

This month let’s continue our series:

     4. Pride (James 4:5-7)

Here the Bible tells us, “Do you think that the scripture says in vain, The spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy?  But he gives more grace.  Wherefore he says, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.  Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

At first glance, these verses are a bit difficult to understand until you grasp the Greek language.  The Greek word for “lust” is “epipotheo.”  “Epi” means “over” and “potheo” denotes an “intense craving.”  The Greek word “envy” means jealousy.  

What could the Spirit of God possibly have such an “intense craving” and “jealousy” about?!  The answer is…YOU!  In context (James 4:1-4), there are Christians who have walked away from God and He has intense craving to get them back…that is how much He loves people!  

In verse six, we find the word “resists.”  This is the Greek word “anti-tassomai” which literally means “to arrange against.”  Why would God arrange Himself against the proud?  Pride goes before a fall…and God is always against His kids falling!  

Now notice in verse seven, the Greek word translated “submit” means “to arrange yourself under.”  From that position (a position of humility) and only that position, can we successfully resist the devil.  The Greek word “flee” here is “pheugo” which means “to run in stark terror.”

You can clearly see from these powerful verses that in order to shut the front door to the enemy in our life, we must shut the door to pride!

Join us next week as we continue our series…