James told the believers, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he
will flee from you” (James 4:7).
The word “submit”, as used here means that by an act of your will, you must yield to
God. Do not yield to the attacks of the enemy on your mind. Submit your mind to God
and yield to Him.
The Greek word for “resist” in this verse means “to set against and to withstand.” You
must rise up in the power of God against Satan and the evil principalities and powers that
are coming against you mentally. You must actively and aggressively oppose Satan by
rejecting and ejecting all evil and negative thoughts from your mind. Withstand the
enemy, and you will be able to stand!
The type of resisting that forces Satan to flee is not mind over matter or positive thinking.
It is not done by repeating some sort of positive mantra. You cannot use such carnal
weapons in this war against Satan because…
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary,
they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and
every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take
captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10: 4-5, NIV)
If someone was attacking a child, a friend, or a pet that you love, would you sit passively
by and let them beat the life out of them? No you would not! You would take aggressive
action to stop the attack.
The same is true in the spirit world. Satan is out to destroy your mind. Do not sit by and
let him do it. Do not try to use carnal weapons of your own wisdom, but activate the
power of the Holy Spirit within you to demolish every errant thought. Aggressively take
captive every thought that comes into your mind.
If you submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee. He will actually take off running!
That is the promise. Satan is not afraid of you. He is not going to retreat from you. But
he will run from the One Who is in you, as you resist his attacks in the power and
anointing of the Holy Spirit.