Resist, and he flees
The enemy's retreat
James gives a command with a promise attached: resist the devil, and he will flee from you. There is real authority here for the believer. The enemy is not an unstoppable force before whom we are helpless; he is an adversary who, when actively resisted in the name of Christ, retreats. The picture is not of a soul cowering, but of an enemy fleeing.
But notice the crucial word that comes just before. The full command is: submit yourselves therefore to God; resist the devil, and he will flee. The submission to God comes first, and it is not optional. We do not resist the devil in our own strength or authority, which would be no match for him, but from a posture of surrender to God, under whose authority the enemy must flee. Get the order wrong, and the resistance has no power.
This is the balance the whole stage has been building toward. We take the enemy seriously, but we do not fear him, because the order of these two commands guarantees the outcome. Submitted to God, standing in Christ's authority and not our own, we resist — and the promise holds: he flees. The same enemy who prowls like a lion turns and runs from a soul that is surrendered to God and standing firm. First submit; then resist; and watch him flee.
“Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
— James, to the scattered church — James 4:7 (WEB)
Resist the enemy from the ground of submission to God — first surrendering, then standing firm in Christ's authority — and watch him flee.
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.”
A long study of the enemy can tip us two ways — into cowering, as if helpless before a stronger foe, or into squaring up to fight him in our own strength. The interior work is to hold James's promise together with its order: the devil flees when resisted, but the resistance carries power only from a life first surrendered to God, so we neither tremble before him nor face him alone, but stand in an authority not our own.
This week, when the enemy presses, get the order right: first submit the matter to God in surrender, then actively resist in Christ's authority — refusing the lie, the temptation, the accusation — and trust the promise that he will flee.
The enemy is glad to see you either shrinking back as though defeated or charging at him on your own strength, which is no strength at all against him. Submit to God first and then resist, and the promise holds without fail: from that ground he must flee the soul that stands in Christ's authority.
After a long look at the enemy's strategies, it would be easy to come away intimidated, as though we were helpless before a vastly superior foe. James corrects the impression with a promise: resist the devil, and he will flee from you. The enemy is real and dangerous, but he is not invincible; actively resisted in Christ's authority, he retreats. We are not cowering victims but, in Christ, his masters.
The key is the order James sets. Submission to God comes first; the resistance has power only because it flows from a life surrendered to God, standing in his authority rather than our own. Try to resist the enemy while unsurrendered, in your own strength, and you will find no power in it. But submit to God first, then resist, and the promise holds without fail. Are you trying to fight the enemy on your own — or resisting from the unshakable ground of submission to God, where he must flee?
- Has studying the enemy left me intimidated, as if helpless before him?
- Am I trying to resist him in my own strength rather than God's?
- Have I submitted to God first, from which alone resistance has power?
Lord, I am tempted either to cower before the enemy or to fight him in my own strength. Teach me James's order: I submit myself to you first, and then resist in your authority. Hold me firm on that ground, and let the enemy flee. Amen.