“Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you.  Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Grieve, mourn, and wail.  Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:7-10)

“But Lord,” we cry out, “I resisted the devil and I still fell to his temptation.  I came near to you in prayer and reading your word and it was to no avail.  When you were in the wilderness being tempted, you quoted the word and Satan was vanquished.  Why am I unable to stand against the enemy?” We can resist the devil from dawn to dusk and still fail every time.  We can spend copious amounts of time in prayer and Bible reading and still fail in the face of the enemy.  Why is that?  It is because of that little six letter word that we despise so much. SUBMIT!  We must first submit our will to God’s.  This, after all, is the root of all sin.  We want God’s freedom, but we want it on our terms.  We want his kingdom, but we want to be king.  We must first submit to God.  Then run like the wind from the devil towards our Lord.  Now for the divine irony, as we humble ourselves before the Lord, he will lift us up.  He will exult us and give us the dignity due our position as his children.  The victory we sought on our own terms is now given to us because we have submitted to the Lord.  Submit to God and be victorious over the enemy!