“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:6-7
Heavenly Father, at times I make things so much more complicated than they need to be. (Enormous understatement) This is certainly the case when it comes to spiritual warfare. When I look back over the years at all the different teachings I’ve had about “fighting the devil”, much of it promoted more fear than faith… more phobia than freedom… more preoccupation with darkness than fascination with the Light of the World. Somewhere along the line, I missed the image of a fleeing devil. Alas, another arena for gospel-sanity.
Certainly Father, I know that I cannot afford to be naïve about the deceitful and destructive schemes of the enemy. Because of Jesus’ cross, he knows his time is short and he is filled with fury. En route to his secured demise, he ramps up his seducing, tempting, distorting, persecuting, lying, accusing and condemning ways, every opportunity he gets.
But, even more so, I can no longer afford to be ignorant of how to resist the devil with the gospel. So today, Father, because the gospel is true, I humble myself before you. Only the gospel frees me to see and own my weakness and susceptibility to the devil’s schemes. I’ll not be sucker-punched by my arrogance and pride. I need the gospel today as much as the first day you justified me by the faith and grace you freely gave me. I trust you, in this moment, for all the grace I’ll need to live for your glory in this one day.
Accordingly, Jesus, I submit to you as my Prophet, Priest and King, right now. You’re my wisdom and my righteousness, my holiness and my redemption. I’ll not boast in anything about me, I’ll simply boast in you. I’ll resist the devil’s deceitful and damning ways by looking unto you, and pondering your beauty and bounty. With the eye of faith, I set my gaze on you, the author and perfecter of my faith. I’m not even going to glance at the devil as he flees. I just want to keep my eyes on you, Jesus. So very Amen, I pray, in your powerful and present name.