Saturday, March 14, 2015

Resist the Devil and Come Near to God


James 4:7&8 (MSG) - So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field.

Sometimes the Message translation of the Bible just grabs me. J I love it. This is a familiar scripture to many of us – resist the devil and he will flee, come near to God and He will come near to you. But in this translation we are encouraged to yell a loud “NO!” to the devil and watch him scamper. This idea of scampering gives us a visual of a fearful creature half slinking and half running away. And rightfully so! God is the sovereign, all-powerful, righteous Being. It makes perfect sense that the enemy should run when the children of God are resisting him because it is by the power of this almighty God that we are strong enough to do so. It is His presence within us that causes the enemy to retreat in fear.

Will he return? Of course. His sole desire is to steal, kill, and destroy. But we can, by the power of our precious and powerful Father, resist him. And again and again and again, he will flee. And at the same time, our precious and powerful Father never leaves nor forsakes us.

Praise God!

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