“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”(James 4:7)

Each one of us in Christ can have the lion’s heart in the face of fear.  But how do we resist the devil.  I was actually asking God this myself this morning and then I was reminded of the confrontation of Jesus and the Devil in the wilderness.

And if we look at this confrontation as a type of battle between man and the devil, then we can understand how man can defeat the devil by resisting him.  In that scripture the devil comes to Jesus tempting him with things that might satisfy a fleshly man.  The way Jesus seems to have overcome in those moments was with the word of God.

Satan, knowing the heart of Christ, uses the word as a part of the temptation process.  He gives him enough truth to try to overcome him.  This worked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and has probably worked with most of mankind since that time, but it did not work with Jesus.

Jesus resisted the devil with the word of God.  You might say, “But Jesus knew what was in store for him in eternity, therefore the devil’s temptation was shallow.”  Maybe, but in order to inherit what was in store he had to endure the cross and we know from his moments in the garden of Gethsemane, that this was a great trial for him. 

You and I are not much different.  We know the promises of God for our own lives too, but the process can be hard.  We don’t want to die to our own ways, so if a quicker way presents itself that seems to cost less, it can be a real temptation.  And yet, there is no achieving the will of God in our lives without remaining in the Vine or by submitting ourselves to God. 

We have to be able to recognize the devil when he approaches.  And many do not.  Many confuse the devil for God and jump into his bed like it is filled with roses.  That bed is a bed of suffering, shame and guilt and those who are seduced by it will be overcome.

There are seasons that you will be pursuing God in a marvellous and real way and the devil will come to you at that time to present to you a counterfeit that seems so seductive you will have to have the gift of discernment in order to know that it isn’t God presenting it.

I have had friends who have pushed into the deepest places of revival fall because they could not recognise the seduction of the enemy when he came. They settled for something smaller, less wonderful than what God had in store, and deep in their hearts they know it.  In the hour of temptation they failed.

There have been times in my own life when I have been tempted by the enemy to short cut the process that God has to cleanse my life.  But I have come to understand that there is no avoiding the refiner’s fire. You have to submit your life to the fire in order to glow with a passion to reach nations for the Lord.  You cannot take a shortcut to Zion.

The way was paved by Calvary and when we submit ourselves to the Cross we will enter into the fullness of Christ by the hand of God.  Christians will experience the temptations of the devil, but by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony and the power of God working through them they will overcome.

We must become people of the Spirit because when we walk in the Spirit we will overcome the flesh.  Learning to hear God’s voice and walk in the sound of it will keep us from hundreds of temptations because the people of faith will walk a different path where temptations are beneath their feet.

Learning to overcome temptation is a key to achieving your greatest destiny in Jesus Christ.