Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Do you want to overcome temptation in your life and have a closer walk with YHWH? Well, here it is. Yet, it seems that many only remember that last half of this verse. The part that says “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The problem is that there is a crucial step right before that. It’s the part that says “Submit yourselves, then, to God.” you have to make the first step in submitting to YHWH.
Look at the following verses even.
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
If you notice in these verses, we are the ones who have to make the first move. Then, and only then, will YHWH move on our behalf. So if you want YHWH to draw close to you, His response will always be “You first.”
Let this be a focus in your time of meditation throughout the day. Until next time, Shalom.
SOURCE: Steve Moutria at TorahFamily.org (Posted with permission)
https://torahfamily.org/you-first-james/
Come near to God, wash your hands, purify your hearts, grieve, mourn and wail and humble yourselves before the Lord
Isaiah 55:6-7
Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
AMEN!
Come to think of it you are right we all know that we must resist the devil but we tend to forget the first part about submitting.
Yes, because God has give us free will.
But I believe He works in us first with His Spirit but then He waits for us to take action.
Blessings.
He loves us, but yeah we must make the first move!