Verse of the Day 6/8

Verse of the Day 6/8

James 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  English Standard Version (ESV)

After reading this passage earlier in the week, I was drawn to several verses and thought we'd camp out here for a few days to go through some of these practical verses in the "Proverbs of the New Testament", James.

We have a few stray cats that are always hanging around by our house.  We make it a point not to feed them, in fact we generally shoo them away by yelling at them when we find them sitting under the car, sneaking into the garage or the crawl space.  Since we've done  that for some time, we no longer have to raise our voice, when they see us they run.

Today's verse tells us that the first thing that we need to do is to submit to God, to humble ourselves before Him.  By His grace we can then resist the devil and the temptations that are hurled at us, or  just lurking around.

I don't know where the following statement came from but I had pasted it in my eBible in connection to this  verse.''Someone has quipped that temptations are like stray cats: if you treat one nice, it'll be back shortly with a whole bunch of its friends. There's a lot of truth in that old joke. The more we yield to sin, the more enticements to sin we seem to encounter. But the opposite is also true. The more firmly and consistently we resist temptation, the stronger our resolve becomes. Sin becomes less attractive. Holiness becomes more desirable."

Sin is just hanging around looking for an open door not just into your garage or crawl space, but into your heart.  If you allow it in, you will find it hard to get rid of.  If you resist, like the cats, he'll go somewhere else to feed his appetite and find someone who will listen to him.  The Message paraphrase for this verse says "Yell a loud no to the devil and watch him scamper".  The best way to keep him from hanging around is to yell at him.  May we be to the point where we don't even have to say it.  When he sees that we're  aware of his presence, may he scamper.

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

James 4:4-10The Message (MSG)

^4-6 You're cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that "he's a fiercely jealous lover." And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find. It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble."

^7-10 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.