Resistance

 The devil is a liar. He always has been. It’s not as though he’d been telling you the truth, then all of a sudden, he went off the rails. He is the father of lies, the originator of deception, so anything he says is suspect from the start. One of the narratives being floated is that there’s no point in going against the flow. It is inevitable, and we might as well stop fighting it. This is the new normal. It is now the way of things, irrevocable like the pinkie promise you made to your schoolgirl crush. The devil would have you believe that resistance is futile, so you might as well stop resisting.

A hunter doesn’t ask a deer how he should hunt it. A deer will never be honest or forthright about the right way of going about ensuring its destruction. The same can be said of the devil and his children, who are constantly advising as to how they can be defeated. You’re asking me to believe that your magnanimity extends to your giving me counsel to aid in your own destruction.

You see this in politics all the time, and it makes you chuckle. Individuals who are rabid for their particular party start bloviating about what the other side needs to do to win, and you wonder who it is they’re trying to convince.

It’s like all those pastors who went to branding and marketing firms trying to figure out how to grow a congregation. The suggestion was simple, as it has been since the beginning of time, a no-brainer really, something obvious and easily identified: Give the people what they want! That’s it—magic in a bottle; Insta-church. Tell me I’m pretty, tell me I’m smart, and say I’m a winner right from the start. Don’t ask for changes; who’s got the time? Tell me I’m saved, and I’ll throw you a dime.

Resistance is not futile, even though the devil would love for you to think it is so. It’s the narrative he’s been building upon for generations because he knows that if the church realizes all that is required for him to flee is for the church to resist, he’d have a much harder time infiltrating congregations and spreading messages of division and disunity.

James 4:7, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

You can’t resist the devil without submitting to God first. You can’t submit to God as long as your flesh dictates your actions. One or the other must be in control. One or the other must hold the position of authority, the primacy of influence over your trajectory, direction, and goals.

When I submit to God, my will, desires, dreams, aspirations, and plans become irrelevant. They are no longer part of the equation because if they remain, I will always try to find a way to please two masters, which is an impossible task. 

It’s hard for some people to accept the master and servant paradigm, especially when voices are insisting that they are little gods, masters of their own universe, and the arbiters and deciders of their journey through this present life. It’s why so many people suffer needlessly, why they fail, hurt, and grow despondent and disjointed. It’s because they have not submitted to God, and every action they undertake pulls them in two separate directions. How long do you think that’s sustainable? How long before you’re either torn apart or acquiesced to the dominant half of your inner turmoil?

Which is the dominant half? That’s an easy self-diagnosis. Which do you spend more time nurturing, feeding, coddling, and maturing? If you spend more time in your Bible, prayer closet, and the presence of God, then eventually, you will submit, surrender, and walk humbly with your Lord in all things.

If you spend more time feeding the flesh and looking for preachers who will excuse sin and compromise, then the Word will grow ever more bitter for you because the flesh constantly grates and bristles at it. There’s no getting around the fact that the spirit and the flesh are at war. The same goes for the light and the darkness, good and evil, godly and ungodly. Why would your sworn enemy ever give you helpful advice? Why would the devil tell you what you must do to overcome?

The devil is not an unbeatable foe. He knows this but hopes you don’t. The only way he wins is if you don’t resist. The only way he becomes a constant in your life, always trying to slow you down, wear you down, and beat you down, is if you allow it.

We know that the Word of God is yes and amen. The Word tells us the devil will flee if we resist him. It is a definitive outcome. The Bible doesn’t say he may flee or that chances are good that he will. If you resist him, he will flee from you.

So why are so many believers still shackled to their old ways, prisoners of their old lives, and victims of the devil’s snares and devices? The answer is obvious, although uncomfortable. They have not submitted to God or resisted the devil, so the devil had no reason to flee.

To have the outcome God promised, you must do as God commanded. To do as God commanded, you must submit to His will and purpose for your life entirely. Half measures don’t work, but the devil is quick to insist that they do. I wonder why?

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.