Only, if you choose to submit to God is He in control of your life. James 4:7 tells us to submit to God first and then says to resist the devil who will flee from us. Why is this so important?

Is God in control of your life?

What does it even look like to submit to God? First, we have to spend time with Him developing an intimate relationship with Him. I am so thankful that you are reading this blog. Thank you! If I only accomplish one thing though, my number one goal is to point you to reading, studying, and meditating on the Bible. When we ask God questions about His Word, His will, His plans, we are praying and worshipping Him.

True Worshippers Submit to God

In John 4:23, Jesus tells the woman at the well, “But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. Jesus goes on in the next verse to say, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

Pride Gets in the Way

In Mark 7:23, Jesus says about a list that includes pride, “All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Pride is an “evil thing” according to Jesus. Pride will keep us focused on how good we are or how wretched we are. In other words, pride keeps our focus on us instead of Jesus. God resists the proud because pride is deadly for the person who is deceived and distracted with pride.

But He gives more grace. Wherefore He says, God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble.

James 4:6

Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

1 Timothy 3:6

Submit to God; Resist the Devil

Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness with the same temptation he used on Eve in the garden and is still using to tempt us today. The devil questioned Jesus’ identity, “If You are the Son of God…” prove it! Thankfully, Jesus knew who He was and knew the Father intimately, and Jesus knew that He didn’t have anything to prove. God had just made the public announcement with an audible voice from heaven!

And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Matthew 3:17

The Temptation

Satan was asking Jesus, “Did God really say that you are indeed the Son of God? Can You prove it?”

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread…

And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands, they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Matthew 4:3,5

Resisting is Not Arguing!

Jesus did not say, “Well, didn’t you just hear what God said from heaven in an audible voice?” Jesus didn’t get offended and say, “I’ll show you just exactly who I am!”

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

1 John 2:16

No! Jesus said, “It is written…” every time because He knew what is written, and He believed what is written no matter what His physical body and circumstances were telling Him.

It Is Written

Jesus knew how to submit to God and resist the devil, and the devil did indeed flee. The enemy will point out “facts” that we can “see” with our carnal senses to cause us to question God! The enemy also added to and took away from Psalm 91. See Andrew Wommack’s free Online Bible Commentary for a more detailed explanation. This is why we need to study to rightly divide the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15).

Walk by Faith to Submit to God

The Apostle Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 5 that while we are in these physical bodies here on earth and until “that mortality might be swallowed up of life,” we must walk by faith, not by sight.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

How can you really have faith in what is written without an intimate knowledge of what is written? The Holy Spirit brings God’s Word to our remembrance exactly when we need it. How can He do that if we haven’t sown His Word into our hearts through worshipping Him in spirit and in truth? Can we be filled with the Holy Spirit if we don’t ask to be filled? How can we know the truth that sets us free if we are not abiding in the Word and the Word abides in us?

Who’s Your Daddy?

You can submit to God or whatever god you choose. God Almighty wants you to have control of your life in full submission to His ways and His thoughts leading to the abundant life that He has already provided for you to choose for yourself and then share with the world. God will not force Himself on you!

The god of this world is doing everything he can to confuse and deceive as many as possible to give you death and destruction and cause you to bring down as many others as possible. This “god” would force himself on you if he had the power to do so. Jesus came to destroy the works of the enemy to set the captives free! If the enemy had any real power anymore, he wouldn’t have to deceive!

This is the war between good and evil! God has fully equipped us to fight! We have to choose to armor up and go to war or stay ignorant and wonder why God is allowing all of this to happen! God has set this whole thing up for us to not only win but to be more than conquerors. What does that mean?

The Snake is in the Garden

Jesus has already come to us and limited Himself of all of His “omni’s” to become a perfect sinless man to take back the power that we gave the enemy through our rebellion. God has given us an unlimited garden of Eden, but the snake is still in the garden! God has already given us everything we need to resist the devil and choose life. So what’s the problem?

What did that snake say?

We are still listening to the stupid talking snake! Why are people still listening to the lies of the enemy when we have an unlimited supply of overwhelming and awesome abundance in Jesus? Because, the devil is still lying and telling us the same old lies that got Adam and Eve, and we would rather wonder how they could have been so stupid! Doesn’t it feel so much better to say, “Well God knows my heart,” and then blame God to comfort ourselves for our own disobedience? “Well, you know…God is in control.” Really? “Well, God works in mysterious ways.” Wrong!

God did not separate Himself from us ever!

God was still fellowshipping and trying to teach Cain that he could choose life but instead, Cain chose to murder Abel.

Who really walked away from who?

And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

Genesis 4:6

God is using His words to communicate with Cain and had already been teaching him and Abel. God was fellowshipping with them, and they were not afraid of God or surprised at all! Please go back and read Genesis 4 after asking God to open your understanding to see and hear the Truth. Who is really saying what? Where did the curse come from? God or the earth? Who left whose presence?

What about Job?

God did not tell Satan to go steal, kill, and destroy Job or his livelihood and family. God was bragging on Job because Job is His child and God is proud of His children. The devil had already been stalking Job wanting to steal from him, to kill him and his family, and to destroy him and everyone around him.

And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it…

Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

Job 1:7,10

God had put a protective hedge around Job, and the devil was “reminding” God that because of our rebellion and sin, we had given Satan, the god of this world, the power to sift us like wheat. Job didn’t have the Bible and the knowledge of God that we have today. He didn’t know the back story that we have access to but take for granted. There isn’t an indication that Job was even aware that Satan exists! But we know!

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

1 Peter 5:8

Job didn’t know any better.

We have the full REVELATION of Jesus Christ at our fingertips, but we choose to watch and listen to the world as entertainment instead of picking up the guidebook of an adventurous abundant life and living to the fullest with the One who wants to be our EVERYTHING! Is it hard? YES! But the rewards are better than life!

Blessed Are They That Mourn

The hardest part of being a Christian is seeing and hearing other Christians barely getting by because of their own sin and rebellion of not seeking God! Hearing people throwing out their self-comforting, God-condemning, religious clichés while hiding behind their fake smiles knowing that they are absolutely dying inside and don’t know why is sad!

That WAS me!

I was this Christian that I just described! I was the worst maybe even because I knew the Word of God and was filled with the Holy Spirit, but I was allowing weeds and thorns to choke me to death.

It is not easy to be a believer and put that belief into action! But resist the temptation to be the sad majority stuck in “barely getting by” mode. Step up and fight. Submit to God who says that you are “more than a conqueror” and the “greater works” status that Jesus has already provided to us for the taking. It’s just like reaching up and taking fruit from the tree of life and then sharing it with a lost and dying world.

Sin (NOT GOD) Leads to Death.

God still wants us to have life eternal just like He originally provided in the garden in the beginning. He did block our access to the tree of life so that we couldn’t live forever stuck in these physical bodies once we ushered in sickness, disease, decay, and rot. That is reserved in hell only for those who reject God’s plan of redemption or reconciliation through His Son, Jesus. That is the one sin! How can we reject such a salvation as this!

And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

Isaiah 66:24

KJV Search Results for “gnashing of teeth”–25 times in 7 verses quoting Jesus.

Don’t be deceived.

No wonder the enemy is so fast and hard after keeping Christians bound up in legalism. Jesus nailed the curse of the law and righteousness by works to the cross. It is finished! Paid in full! Our enemy wants to keep us so focused on ourselves through whatever end of the ugly pride stick he can get us with that we cannot just let go and rest in knowing God and His goodness.

Choose Life

Don’t allow your physical circumstances to be an indicator of your spiritual standing or your level of faith! Let God’s Word be true and tell your physical circumstances to line up or shut up. Paul said that he could have an abundance or he could thrive in lack. Jesus faced lack and blessed what He did have so that God could multiply His lack miraculously multiplying it to more than enough more than once. Choose life by believing what God says over what circumstances say. YouWillWantTo be the just who walk by faith and not by sight. Choose discipleship!