January 18: James 4 7-10

Key Verse: James 4 7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Devotion:
Do you know, there is always someone more evil than your enemies trying to get you to go over the edge and make a difference. You may not think about it too much, but he uses everything and everyone he can to try and get you to break your promises to God. He will turn your friends into chancers and daredevils so he can get you interested in doing things which do not please God. He will use your friends to take you into places where you will let your guard down... He is always trying to break down the protection we try to keep intact. He is the devil!

If we are able to resist the devil, he will not come back to bother you... But that is not something we can do ourselves! We are born into a sin nature, we are tempted by his temptations, we are weakened by his wily ways. He does not stop at anything. What we have to do is to lift up our protection against him; that protection is God's Word. The bible is our defence, the bible is our strength, with it we are able to resist temptation, resist evil, and push him back to the pit where he belongs.

If we continue to draw closer to God by keeping in His Word, by allowing His Word to guide us and to protect us, then we no longer have to live in fear of the evil one getting his way with us. All we have to do is to make sure we are doers of God's Word, not just idle listeners. Too often we say we are going to do something positive and end up putting it off until it is too late and we get caught out! Too often we build up a false sense of protection and we fall into the trap which has been put down for us.

When all we had to do was to humble ourselves before God!

Points to Ponder:
Can you think of something which has side-tracked you from your bible today?

God wants us to walk close to Him all the time!