Rhema Resistance

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

Resist! Depending on the context this word can mean one of two things. 1) Resisting as to avoid the issue all together or, 2) Opposing, standing up against. For example in the sentence “I must resist this sin!” that could suggest I need to avoid the issue and get it off of my mind, which in many cases, can be a good thing. Or in another example, the sentence “When on the battlefield, and the enemy is encroaching, fight him!! RESIST him!!” Maybe I am alone in this boat but I used to think for years that the above mentioned verse simply meant to avoid and ignore the devil’s temptations (which is a good thought). This, however, still at times left me defeated to certain sins in my life. No confrontation involved whatsoever, no fight, just avoidance. When you look up the word “resist” in Strong’s concordance it says to “stand against, oppose”. WOW! Literally fight him with the Word of God, our offensive weapon in our spiritual armor. When I feel tempted I am now in the habit of coming against the enemy with authority like Jesus did in the wilderness. I believe that story is what should come to mind when one reads this verse in James. Jesus combated the devil with the Word of God in order to resist him, so why should we be any different? I have seen a noticeable difference in my personal battle with sin when I started rebuking him in that area. Submit therefore to God!! Purpose in your heart to walk in the Spirit, and then your words to the enemy will be tagged with power and he will flee from you. Are you getting whipped around too much by sin? The Bible portrays us as warriors, are you using all of your weaponry?