Flee and Come Close

    "7 So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you."  [James 4: 7-8a] 
Resist doesn't automatically mean you come close. But duly note that both require YOU to 'do it'. 

Back in the previous century a comedian (Flip Wilson) use to have a scenario in which the punch line was, '... the devil made me do it.' Wrong. The devil does NOT have the power to 'make' you do anything. He'd like to, but the only thing he can do is tempt and seduce. But those 2 are powerful. Ultimately it is ALWAYS our decision to do or not do something. This holds for the Lord as well as the devil. God gave His creation - free will.

[[As a 'quick' aside - let me share a bit on what I mean when I use those words. 

    I think the primary need on our part is to ACCEPT the responsibility for the consequences/ramifications from one’s own actions and words or the lack thereof. You can’t expect to have free will and not realize what responsibilities comes

with that gift! I suspect we rush to accept the gift The Father gives us and try and have a blind eye when it comes to our responsibilities. 

The answer to accepting our responsibility is quite simple. Part of it rests in a prayer in Psalms that we all need to face our day:

   "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a right and steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit." [Psalms 51:10-12]

With those characteristics IN us, we can provide a strong defense.]]

The devil is not about to flee based on our own 'authority'. He does however quake when we use the same defense Jesus used when the devil tried to tempt Him - 'It Is Written'. You do remember that part of our armor is our sword... and the sword represents the Word of God. That is a very powerful weapon and the devil knows this. I wonder why we tend to not remember? Point being is that, not in our own authority but in Him who saved us, never leaves us, and is ready to equip us to be (more than) conquerors [Romans 8:37], we really can do all things [Philippians 4:13]. 

But resisting isn't the end... we need to do what James instructed: come close to God and He will come close to us.