Resisting the Devil's Tactics
Identifying and Opposing Sinful Temptations
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7.
What needs to be resisted?
The devil and demons of hell want us to sin. They will present sin as pleasurable and beneficial, and as believers, we must resist.
The devil spreads false teachings misleading beliefs that confuse people and lead them away from the truth. He manipulates people with distorted biblical truth and lies. We must resist.
The devil loves to keep you in the past, dwelling on your past sins, leaving you feeling guilty and that you are unworthy. He wants to discourage you and your relationship with God. We must resist.
The devil loves division, discord among individuals, families, churches and communities. The devil loves anything that leads to strife, misunderstandings, and bitterness. We must resist.
The devil loves to make you feel helpless, hopeless, and desperate. Your despair and suffering he will use to undermine your faith. We must resist.
The devil will distract you from your walk with God. Leave off the prayer, the Scriptures, and worship, and he will love watching your spiritual life deteriorate.
How do we resist?
First, we submit to God, stand firm in our faith, and accept God's will as true.
Like Jesus, we use the Word of God to resist the temptations of the devil. We align our minds with the Scriptures, not society. We embrace truth, not the tauntings of the devil. We confront the culture with the cross, knowing that the Word of God is our most powerful weapon.
We humbly submit to God. We keep believing the Bible no matter what is thrown at us.
We put on the armor of God as described in Ephesians 6. We stand in our identity in Christ.
We stand on the unshakable foundation of the Word of God, knowing that it is our guide, our comfort, and our strength.
The key to success is surrendering to God.
Resisting means to oppose and reject the temptations and influence of Satan actively.
First, recognize the temptation. Acknowledge that you are in a battle for your faith. Test every thought by the Word of God. Obey the Word, different from what you might want to do naturally. Quote Scripture to yourself and the devil. Trust God for His help.
The Promise
The devil will flee, trembling at the truth of God's Word. He knows that he is already defeated. You have the victory. You are more than a conqueror. Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. Live in the victory that Christ has already won for you, knowing that you are on the winning side.
Quotes
From the temptation of Jesus, we learn that the devil can attack those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit, but that he is powerless against those who resist him with the Word of God. William MacDonald
Thanking God for whatever he gives us is one sure way of resisting the devil. Spiros Zodhiates
No, resisting the devil means that believers remain firm in their faith, that is, in their trust in God. Thomas Schreiner
Each one of us must “resist the devil” personally. Chuck Swindoll
The devil’s snare does not catch you unless you are first caught by the devil’s bait. Ambrose of Milan
‘Resisting the devil’ does not mean ‘rebuking’ him by shouting at him. It refers to a godly lifestyle of submission to God, a break with the friendship of the world and a spirit of personal humility. Frank Retief
Yet he also puts his sword into our hands, so that we may use it both in resisting temptation (as Jesus did, quoting Scripture to counter the devil in the Judean wilderness) and in evangelism. John Robert Walmsley Stott (English Preacher)
Health Update
The oncologist and the surgeon have now spoken. I have a spot on my lung and a cyst in the duct outside my pancreas and gallbladder. These two spots do not worry the doctors.
I have a cancerous lymph node. This is the one I have mentioned before. I found out about two more masses on my lymph nodes that are growing and some sort of tumor. As of now, they do not seem to be cancerous.
The surgeon said I had what they called smoldering tumors. They might go dormant, and they might grow exponentially. I have three options. I can start immunotherapy again, consider surgery, or wait.
Both doctors prefer I wait and see what is happening. I am not a textbook case at all. My cancer has broken all the rules. They will scan me regularly, and we will decide later what to do because all masses are growing slowly.
I am not getting too confident with all this, but I will wait and see. I am still in palliative care. The oncologist said it might be better not to poke the sleeping bear. So, I feel good cancer-wise for now, and all seems to go well.
The only thing I deal with is the lack of adrenal glands. I am often exhausted if I do not have enough hydrocortisone in my system. So I have a new endocrinologist who i think is helping me with my dosage.
Thank you for praying. I think all is good for now, and God continues to work miracles in my life.
