Information Related to "How Can We Resist Satan?"
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In addition to identifying Satan's methods of deceiving people, God gives us specific guidance to counteract the devil and his influence. God's Word assures us: "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). This promise, however, is clearly directed toward those willing to "submit to God" (same verse) and is immediately followed with the instruction, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (verse 8).
How, then, do we draw near to God? His instruction continues: "Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded" (same verse). We must actively seek to eliminate Satan's way of thinking and behaving from our lives.
Satan, however, is so clever and powerful that no human being can successfully resist his influence- without God's help. Therefore the key to resisting the devil is to sincerely and consistently draw near and remain close to God.
Our first step is to allow God to wash Satan's influence from our minds. This takes place through recognizing and acknowledging our sins and repenting of them. The Scriptures compare this transformation from Satan's way of thinking to coming back to life from the dead: "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others" (Ephesians 2:1-3).
Related Information on UCG Sites:
Sidebar to Satan's Work in our World
Table of Contents that includes "How Can We Resist Satan?"
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