Sunday, April 8, 2018

April 9, 2018

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

There is a lot of commotion these days about the bullying issue. I personally think it is way overblown. As long as there have been kids there have been bullies. While I am not condoning it I do believe it is part of the process of growing into adulthood.

I had to deal with bullies growing up and so did my kids. I turned it into an opportunity to teach life principles. One thing that helped in dealing with bullies was having a big brother who would help protect you from the bullies. Life was safer when you were with your big brother!

In this verse, James, who ironically was the brother of Jesus, reminds us that we have a big brother Who can help us against the spiritual bully known as the devil.

If you you were not too proud to admit to your older brother that you needed protection and if you would submit to his protection, life would get a whole lot safer and stress free. It is the same with Jesus.

James says, "Submit to God". The word "submit" means to "line up with" or "surrender to".

If you line up your heart and your mind with God and surrender your will you can have His protection. You get all of His other blessings as well!

Notice also, James says "resist the devil and he will flee from you". The thing you have to understand about this statement is the "you" refers to you AND God! In other words, "you and the God you have submitted to resist the devil" then he will flee from you!

There is a bully in the world who delights in harassing you and terrorizing you. You can face him alone or you can unite with an advocate, a protector, a big brother! Somebody is going to flee, it may as well be him! Let him flee - you be free!

Where do you need to "line up" with God today?