Everyday Christian Living: Resist and Run
I Peter 5:8-9
“…Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. So resist him, firm in your faith…”
"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. So resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brothers and sisters who are in the world" (I Peter 5:8-9).
“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (I Corinthians 10:14).
If you have been reading this blog over the last few weeks, then you know that not only are we talking about how to live the Everyday Christian Life, you will also know that I have been providing you some principles to live by in the hope that these principles might spur you on in your daily Christian life.
A Quick Review
We have been talking about the importance of…
Reflecting daily on God’s goodness
Rejoicing daily in God’s coming
Receiving daily God’s blessings
Resting daily in God’s sovereignty
Repenting of our sin
Relying on His Spirit
Before I give you two more words today, I want you to know something. In order to help me remember things like this, I will often use a memory device to help me. I tell you this so that you will not get caught up in the “R” words themselves but challenge you to remember the principles that these “R” words provide us. These “R” words are not a magic formula, they are just a memory device and I hope they will help you as they do me.
Let’s add two more words to help us live out the Everyday Christian life.
Resist
Living every day for Christ means that we not only play offense but we also play defense. And we play defense aggressively. The Bible teaches us in I Peter 5:8 - 9 that the enemy, the devil himself, is on the prowl, looking to see if he can devour us. Let’s be sure we understand; the devil hates God and because we belong to God as His children, the devil hates us as well. The devil hated Jesus, the devil hates churches, the devil hates goodness and godliness, and the devil hates us. It is important for us to realize that he, indeed, is our enemy.
Acknowledging that the devil is our enemy and on the prowl to devour us, we are to stay alert and on “defense” so that we do not give him an opening in our lives to work. How do we do that? The answer is found in the word “resist.”
“Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
The word “resist” is a very strong word. It means we are to be hostile toward, to stand against, to withstand, to oppose, and to make a stand. The language here is so strong that it reminds me of Ephesians 6:10 - 20. Let me say it this way, we are in a spiritual war and the devil is our enemy. Making every day count for Jesus means being aware of the spiritual war we are in and being aware of the enemy himself.
The idea of resistance is not a casual word to be read lightly. It is a warfare word. How do we resist him? The answer is by resisting his temptations, resisting his attacks, resisting his schemes, and resisting his motives. I encourage you to begin each day by simply praying something like this, “Jesus, I know the enemy is going to attack, but I submit my every thought, action, and attitude to You; help me, Jesus, to be on guard.”
When we pray this way, the Holy Spirit in us will remind us, prompt us, and guide us to know how to stand against temptation. The way to aggressively defend against the devil is to aggressively pursue Jesus.
That leads us to another word that will help us live ever yday for Jesus. It is the word “run.” Just like we are to resist the devil, we are to run away from his temptation of fleshly lust. When we are tempted to sin, that temptation comes from one of three directions.
The Devil
We have already talked about the way to overcome that temptation; we are to resist the devil, we are to oppose him and take our stand against him. The Holy Spirit is our help for recognizing and resisting.
The World
The culture around us, the world, is a system of beliefs and ideas that directly oppose the Word of God. All we need to do is to look at the news and you and I can see the vain philosophies of the world. One example today is the ideology from the world that gender is a choice. The Bible clearly teaches us that God created male and female. And yet the world completely opposes that view and we see the result today. Any view that opposes God’s Word and God’s plan for man is dangerous and eventually deadly.
The Flesh
The third temptation is from our own fallen desires; we call this the flesh. And let’s be clear, the flesh is strong. The flesh is our old way of living before we met Jesus. The flesh is the old nature of man that is dying. And the flesh is another one of our enemies. The life of the flesh is summed up in Galatians 5:16 - 24 and I encourage you to read those verses carefully.
Think with me about how we are to handle the flesh. Just as the Bible is equally strong in telling us to resist the devil, it is equally strong in telling us how to fight the flesh. We are to run away from it. We cannot negotiate with the flesh, we cannot appease the flesh, and we cannot compromise with the flesh. The Bible actually says we are to flee from, that is to run away from the flesh.
I Corinthians 10:14 tells us to “flee from idolatry.” II Timothy 2:22 tells us to "flee from youthful lusts” and I Corinthians 6:18 says we are to “flee sexual immorality.” How can I live out the Christ-life every day? I am to flee, to run from the flesh.
“Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live”(Romans 8:12-13 NLT).
A Great Combination
Resist and Run! These are two great words right out of Scripture and I hope today you will add these to the words we have been considering. Resist the devil and run from the flesh!