Resisting Satan
James 4:7
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from
you."
In this scripture, there are two things brought to view. The first is to
"submit". The second is to "resist". What does these two words mean? There are
several meanings to each word but I will not go into them. The thing I would
like to do is explain what I believe to be the greatest meaning of each of these
words regarding you and I who profess to believe in our Lord Jesus.
The word "submit" really, in the most simple terms, means "to do the will of
another". This to a child of God means to obey Christ. This is the one thing
Satan does not want us to do and he will do everything he can to stop us from
doing "the will of Christ".
Some weeks past I made what seems to be a very strange statement in one of
our church services. I said, "It is not the duty of a child of God to fight
Satan." Let me explain. Look at Matthew 16:24;
"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, ’If any man will come after me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
Notice, here we have three things we are to do. No. 1; deny (refuse)
ourselves; No. 2; take up our cross; No. 3; follow Jesus.
Now, to follow someone implies that they are moving. So, if we stop to fight
with Satan, Jesus is still moving on. What about us? We are stopped.
Let me ask you something. Have you ever felt the sweet presence of the Lord
Jesus, then have Satan come in and distract you? I have many times. What
happens? Most times, by the time I get rid of Satan, that sweet presence is
gone. Ever have a real desire to pray and the phone rings? Never a phone call
all day, but as soon as you get a desire to pray, it rings. By the time you hang
up the phone, the desire to pray is gone. Where did that desire to pray come
from? I believe the desire to pray comes from our Lord Jesus. Then what about
that phone call? Well, it came from a precious brother or sister. But why at
that moment?
Here I am going to say some things which may cut but I don’t mean it that
way. Does this mean this precious brother or sister was used of Satan? MOST
LIKELY!!! Remember, our God works on the heart while Satan works on our desires.
Let me try to explain how this can happen. Let’s take a pastor for an
example. I am sure this has happened many times to them. This pastor has been
home all day and not one phone call, not one visitor. He tells his wife he is
going to study for the next service. All at once the phone begins to ring,
visitors begin to come and all who are precious brothers and sisters from the
Church. What has happened? All day you have been thinking "I need to call my
pastor", "I need to see my pastor". You have a real need to see or talk to him
but every time you think of it, you are busy doing something. You think, "soon
as I finish this, I will call or go see him." But when you finish what you were
doing, the thought is gone and you don’t think of it again till you are doing
something else. This goes on all day, why? Well, Satan is the prince of this
world. (St. John 12:31) And he does not want you to hear the Word of God. He
knows your pastor is going before God to receive something for you, so HE, not
necessarily God, reminds you that you need to see him.
Let me say this; I am sure some are wondering, "Then how can I know when to
call or visit?" Well. Let’s look in the Word of God and see if we can find a
good time. You check out what I am saying.
Did you ever notice that almost every time a message came from the Lord, the
person who was to receive the message was always busy doing something? I can not
recall one time that our God ever sent forth a command to anyone who was doing
nothing. So, no matter how busy you are, let it wait and obey that small voice.
Some may way, "But I just can’t put this off, it means so much to me." Remember,
we must deny ourselves.
Here is something I am sure has happened to many of us. We go to read God’s
Word, or pray, or worship and all at once we being to think of some one and
desire to visit or call. We lay aside our worship, go over and knock on the
door, no one home!!! Oh my! Do you think our God called you away from
worshipping Him to an empty house? I don’t think so. Remember Satan will do
anything he can to get us away from our God. This is not to say that our God
will not send us forth if there is a need.
I want to insert a personal testimony at this point. For several years I
traveled about 100,000 to 150,000 miles per year preaching the Gospel. I never
one time called and asked if I could come nor did I ever have one church to call
me asking me to come. Yet, and this is to the Glory of God, not one time did I
ever go to a church and not be asked to minister. Many times I have desired to
go places and that still small voice not allow me to go.
Many times I have been asked "How do you know what God wants you to do?" This
has always been my answer. NO MATTER HOW MUCH I WANT TO DO SOMETHING, AS LONG AS
THERE IS ONE QUESTION, I WON’T DO IT!
So, let me way this, no matter how much you desire to do something, no matter
how much someone else wants you to do it, no matter how much good you think will
come out of it, no matter how much you would gain by it, NO MATTER WHAT, if
there is one small question, Don’t do it! It is not God!! When God wants you to
do anything, there will not be one question.
One more thing. Any time you have a desire, search your heart and be honest.
Is there one question in your heart. If so, don’t do it. Wait till you have full
assurance that you will be able to do what you are sent forth to do.
As I said before, I have never been to a church and found the pastor gone. I
have never been to a church where the pastor failed to ask me to preach. But I
must say this! I have never gone forth if there was even one doubt or question.
May we all walk this way.
Rev. Whatley
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