“Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:7-10).
Spiritual victory is never accidental. To successfully fight the good fight of faith, strategic battle plans must be made and carefully followed.
After describing the horrors of worldliness (see the last two blogs), James writes ten action-packed commands. These terse imperatives are essential to defeating worldliness and need immediate—if not sooner—action.
God’s ten step plan for escaping worldliness and remaining free from it is:
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Submit to God. Place yourself under God’s authority/command. Insubordination is at the core of Satan’s battle plan. Any soldier who thinks himself at liberty to pick and choose which commands he will obey faces certain defeat when the battle rages on every hand.
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Resist the devil. Embrace the mindset of opposing everything Satan promotes. Moral courage is essential to spiritual victory. Worldliness can never be defeated while sitting on the fence.
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Draw near to God. Pursue a close and intimate relationship with God. The greatest fortress any spiritual warrior can have is in the refuge called Jehovah. David had many victories in his life because, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Psalm 18:2).
