Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 164

June 15;   James 4:7;   221/260(I);   ‘Resist the Devil’

James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Here is some very important teaching.  How do we submit to God?  By hearing and doing His Word.  In Genesis 1:26 the Word of God tells us that we are made in the image of God and that the Lord gave mankind dominion on the earth.  Lucifer, now called satan, had rebelled in heaven, trying to take the throne away from God.  The rebellion was crushed and satan was banished to the earth.  The devil was on the earth when the Lord created Adam and gave him dominion on the earth.  That means that man had dominion over the devil.  That had to be so, because satan had to deceive Eve in order for her to yield to what the devil said.  She could have thrown satan out of the garden.  When Adam sided with Eve and sinned, Adam gave his authority on this earth to satan.  2 Corinthians 4:3-4 tells us that satan is the legal god of this earth.  The result of Adam relinquishing his authority to the devil is the horrific things that transpire here on earth.  God the Father would never do things like we see.  Jesus, when He arose from the dead after redeeming us at the crucifixion, gave the authority Adam surrendered back to those who accept Him as their Lord and Savior.  Now, since we once again have authority over the devil, when temptations come or any other attack he attacks us with, we can command satan to leave and he has to obey.  In reality the devil is a powerful fallen angel, but the Lord Jesus has stripped him of his right to hurt us.  We hurt ourselves when we speak the negative words the devil whispers in our mind.  Ignore his tactics, speak in faith, demanding him to flee and he will do so.  He has to.