Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words | What happens when you know God wants you to do something, and you don’t want to do it? You’ll immediately go ahead and do it, right? Well, to be honest, most of us drag our feet, hoping for a way out.

Let’s say that you have a friend who is sick. She really is your good friend, but every time you call her, she talks and talks and talks. You know God wants you to call her, but if you do, you’ll be on the phone for an hour. So you do one of three or four things.

You begin to make excuses. “I can’t call her today. If I do, I won’t have enough time to read my Bible this morning.” Oh, doesn’t that sound self-righteous!
Or, you begin to rationalize. “She’s probably so sick she doesn’t feel like talking to me anyway.”
Or, you procrastinate. “I’m too tired. I’ll call her first thing tomorrow morning. I really will.”
Or, you may even give yourself a headache so you won’t have to call.

Think about an area where you don’t want to obey God. You know what? The devil doesn’t want you to obey God either. So the two of you team up and convince yourself that this really isn’t the appropriate time.

The writer of the book of James has the answer. He says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). We have the mistaken idea that God and the devil are equal powers. Not so. The devil is defeated, sentenced, and just waiting for execution.   If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, God lives in you and you have the power to resist him, and God’s promise is that he will flee.

When you don’t want to do something you know you should do, resist the devil and then submit to God. When you do, you will find the power to do that difficult thing.