Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7 ESV
Halloween is a time we think of spooky, scary, evil things. But sadly, we live in a world where there are spooky, scary, evil things going on all around us all the time.
There is evil in the workplaces, evil among family members, evil is all around us. As Christians, we must not allow ourselves to get sucked into this, but we must withstand it and even overcome it.
A good place to start is by submitting to God. When we surrender to God, He will strengthen us to resist the devil. We are told in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that no temptation overtakes us that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bare but will provide a way to escape this temptation so we can endure it.
God is willing and able to rescue the godly. 2 Peter 2:9 says that the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.
When we encounter an evil attack, we must stand strong. We also must realize that this is a spiritual battle. We have a hard time with this one because we like to fight against what we can see. But our battles are spiritual. We are told in Ephesians 6:12 that we don’t fight against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers over this present darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Spiritual battles are fought and won by surrendering to Christ. We must put on the armor He provides in Ephesians 6:13-18. We must pray. We must study His word. We must submit to Him and resist the devil. Our flesh tells us to fight back as they are fighting us, but this is not what the Bible tells us to do.
We are told in Matthew 5:44 that we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. I know this is not what we feel like doing, but that’s the point. What we feel like doing is what the flesh tells us to do, fight fire with fire. As Christians we fight the devil with godly submission to Christ.
You don’t have to take my word for it, just try it for yourself. You may also want to remind yourself of the times you were God’s enemy. Remember those times you sinned against Him and He loved you and forgave you in spite of your actions.
We should be able to have that same love and forgiveness for our enemies. God has got this. We simply need to trust in Him and do what He instructs us to do through His Holy Word.
When Jesus died on the cross so that we might have eternal life, the devil was defeated. The devil can only do what God allows him to do. Trust in God. Pray and study His Word and do what He tells you to do through His Word.
When we do these things, we can not only withstand evil, but we can overcome it. We are told in Romans 12:19-21 that vengeance belongs to the Lord and He will repay. God will take care of the vengeance; we just need to follow His instructions for dealing with our enemies.
In Romans 12:20, we are told to feed our enemy if he is hungry and give him something to drink if he is thirsty. He says that doing so will be like heaping hot coals on his head. Now, I’ve done an entire blog on what that means. So, I won’t reiterate all that, but suffice it to say that when we treat our enemies well, God sees that and rewards us (Proverbs 25:21-22).
And last but not least, in Romans 12:21 we are told to not be conquered by evil. This makes it sound as if we have a choice and let me tell you, we do. Because what it says next is we can conquer evil with good.
If you want to withstand the evil that exists in this world today, trust in the Lord. Surrender to Him and submit to Him and resist the devil. Be good to others (even your enemies) and God will reward you.
Have a great day!