Victory isn’t an accident!

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
James 4:7 (KJV)

It’s easy to complain when you have a problem – but if the devil is attacking you, complaining won’t help you. If you want to see the devil back off and run in terror, then you need to submit to God and resist the devil.  Submitting and resisting need to be done together; you cannot truly submit yourself to God without resisting the devil, and you’ll never effectively resist the devil unless you’re submitted to God. The word “resist” means to actively fight against. We will not deal with the enemy’s attacks if we are passive. If we are only complaining in prayer about our situations and circumstances then we are being passive, and passivity is an invitation for the enemy to go for it.

If we’re actively fighting against the enemy, we’re filling ourselves with God’s Word, praying in the Spirit, resisting temptation and exercising our God-given authority by speaking out our faith over the situation. God cannot resist the devil for you: He has delegated that responsibility to you and He has given you authority over the devil to enforce your victory (Luke 10:19).

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
Luke 10:19 (NKJV)

God has set you up to reign over all the attacks of the devil. He hasn’t destined you to win some battles, and lose others – His will for you is victory (2 Corinthians 2:14). God didn’t create you to fail – fruit, not failure, brings glory to God (John 15:8). If you’re not actively defending the victory you were born-again into (1 John 5:4), you’re passively accepting defeat. Don’t passively wish the attacks away – rise up and tell the devil where to go!

We will never experience victory and reign in life if we passively wait for it to happen. Victory never happens by accident, and it’s not something that happens automatically. You have a part to play in overcoming and experiencing victory; you need to resist the devil and his attacks. But don’t fall into the trap of focusing on the attack and on the enemy. Victory is yours – you’re fighting from victory and not for victory! As you keep focused on Jesus, faith will rise in your heart to run (and fight) with patience and persevere.

Actively and purposefully fill yourself with God’s Word, pray in the Spirit, resist temptation and exercise your God-given authority by speaking out your faith over your challenging situations.