YOUR PROBLEM HAS BEEN ROLLED AWAY (PART 4)
" ... Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. " - James 4:7 (KJV).
In our Christian experience, we must recognize that there are things from God and that there are things from the devil. Not all things are from God! James 4:7, above cited opens my understanding to the fact that it's me, not God who's to stop the devil's escapades in my life. This is contrary to what so many people have been taught to believe in. As a child of God, you have been endowed with the necessary grace and power to either let in the devil or rather, shut him out of your life. The choice is absolutely yours!
One of the things that turns the devil loose in people's lives is the thought that problems can't happen unless it is God's will. With this thinking, you come to believe that you can't really fight to unseat those problems because they are God ordained. It has been erroneously believed in some quarters that nothing can happen without God's approval. Job's case is often cited to buttress this position.
But James 4:7 tells us to "resist the devil." To resist means to actively fight against something. It means that there are things from the devil that you're called on to resist. No where in God's Word have we been told to resist God, but rather, we are admonished to submit to Him (James 4:7). It is the devil we are called upon to resist. You cannot actively and successfully fight or resist something with the notion that God has ordained or permitted it. If you see your problems as God ordained, you can't successfully resist them. You've got to know that God isn't the Originator of man's problems. Rather, it's the devil.
One great benefit of being a child of God is that we have been illuminated (Heb 10:32) and Jesus the Son of God came to give us understanding (1 Jn 5:20). All along, and all through these Easter messages, we've established that Jesus' sacrifice served to roll away our problems. This is explicitly made manifest in the Scriptures for all to see.
Once you have seen your deliverance from the pages of God's Word, then you proceed to enforce it. The process of enforcing your deliverance is essentially similar or akin to the call to resist the devil, the enemy of your soul. Assuming that your problem is sickness, the question is whose report will you believe? (Isa 53:1). Do you choose to believe the devil with his barrage of symptoms or to believe God, Who, by the stripes of His Son has healed you? Secondly, once you've pitched your tent with God's report regarding your case, then you proceed to make it your confession, in spite of satan's attacks, through persistent symptoms.
Thirdly, be quick to act on God's Word or report concerning your case. Once you believe you're healed for instance, get up from bed and act out your healing. God's Word is otherwise called Scriptures. The word "Scriptures" is taken out of the word "script". Actors act out scripts. As children of God, we act on Scriptures. It's not enough that you believe God's Word. You need to act on it. After all, faith, without works, is dead (James 2:18,20,26).
Indeed, you must understand that your problem has been rolled away by God. A look at the Scriptures does unequivocally confirm it. But satan will not allow you to enjoy your liberty in Christ, unless you know what Christ has done for you, believe it, confess it and act on it. This is Christianity at work! Enjoy it, in Jesus name.
PRAYER:
Father, thank you for securing my salvation through Jesus, your Son. I believe what He's done for me, I confess it, and I act on it daily, to enforce my liberty in Him, amen.