Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you – James 4:7.
Whether you know it or not, when you became a Christian, you joined a war, a war you can’t see with your physical eyes. You must discern who you’re fighting and how to fight to win.
We all need to know how to do spiritual warfare, and we need to know how to do it right. We need to be aware of Satan’s tactics and schemes so that we will not influenced by him.
In addition to putting on the full armor of God, maintaining an attitude of gratitude, and offering up praise and worship, we need to do a couple of more things to make sure Satan flees and not us! If you resist the devil, but he’s not fleeing, ask yourself, “Am I walking in obedience”?
The basis for all successful spiritual warfare is being submitted to God. What does it mean to be submitted to God? It means we surrender or yield ourselves to His will and to His ways. Another word for submit is to obey. So when we say we are submitted to God, it means, to the best of our ability, we’re obeying what He’s asking us to do.
There’s no point in thinking we can ever resist the devil if we’re not walking according to what we know is right. Why? Because it’s only through obedience that God’s power is released. There are two types of obedience; the first type is obeying the logos or written Word of God. This includes tithing and honoring your father and mother. Offering forgiveness to those who’ve hurt or wronged us. When we obey what the Bible says, we become doers of the Word, and we put ourselves in positions to receive God’s blessings.
The second one is listening and following God’s rhema word. A rhema word is something God speaks to us directly to give us specific help in a situation.
Are you using the name of Jesus properly? The Bible says that every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth in the name of Jesus. That name only comes effective to those who have married themselves to Jesus.
Take, for example, everything your husband has is yours; why because you have been married into that name. Before you were married, whatever he had was he’s, and he’s alone. But when you became married, you were no longer two but one.
Many Christian women want to date Jesus; they don’t want to be fully committed to Him. They will accept Him as Savior, but they won’t make Him Lord of their life. Instead, they want to live their own way, independent of His instructions. Jesus wants us to be married to Him; He wants us to be His bride.
When you become His bride, you are entitled to what He has. If you’re playing part-time lover with Him, it’s not legitimate, and you will not receive His power. If we’re married to Jesus, we should desire to be in His presence. Every day, we will prioritize it; we will not allow anything or anyone to take the time we have scheduled with Him.
Don’t be passive with the devil; be aggressive. Stop receiving and suffering without resistance, sitting around hoping and wishing. Take authority with the Word of God (Behold, I have given unto you power, to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you – Luke 10:19). Serpent is Satan, and scorpions are his co-host. Use the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus. Bind what needs to be bound and lose what needs to be loosed in Jesus’ name.
Daily self-examine yourself to see if you’ve sinned in any area. If you did, repent and continue to seek God wholeheartedly; when you do so, you’re not so easily influenced by Satan; you can resist him, and he will flee.