10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' " 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Thoughts;
Thoughts: Halloween is a great time to think about resisting evil. Jesus taught his disciples the prayer that contained his basic teaching. Part of that basic teaching was to "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. (or the evil one)." The first step to resisting evil is to focus on God. James said it like this- "Come near to God and He will come near to you." Jesus said, "Worship the Lord God and serve Him only- then the devil fled." It is almost like anything. If you want to hit the ball to the flagpole on the golfcourse- look at the flagpole- not at the lake or the sandtrap. If you want to drive down the road, don't look off into the woods or at the shoulder, but keep your eyes on the road. So the author of Hebrews says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfector of our faith." The worst thing we can do is to focus on evil.
Prayer: Lord, come near to me this day. Accept my worship, my prayers, my songs- and draw near to me as I draw near to you.
John Calvin: The submission he talks about is humility for the Spirit of God rests on the humble and meek (Isa. 57:15). Paul says our contest is not with flesh and blood. So we are urged into the spiritual fight. God is never lacking to us except when we alienate ourselves from Him.
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