This and the previous series are dealing with James 4:7: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (NIV). In the previous series, in order to help you submit yourself, then, to God, Jesus helped you grow in your love for God. Now, in order for you to resist the devil, and he will flee from you, He is helping you develop a HATRED for the things of the body, the world, and the devil. This will help you stop wrong things from coming into your life.

You must WANT righteous things that empower you to only do good things to yourself and others. And, you must HATE evil things that do only bad things to you and others. Rom 7:15 (NIV) I do not understand what I do. For what I WANT to do I do not do, but what I HATE I do. The requirement of God after you have been born again is to WANT to do the right things and HATE doing the wrong things. As you can see in Romans 7:15, you won’t yet know how to DO the right things; but, God requires that you WANT them. Jesus put these two attitudes in your heart when you made Him your Lord, Savior, and King.

Your job or responsibility is to maintain these two attitudes. And, the way to maintain them is to apply The Three Keys To All Of Christianity. You must ASK Jesus to empower you to maintain the WANT and HATE that God requires of you. Jesus is ready to provide you with the training and power to maintain these two attitudes. He is going to help you grow in your respect, appreciation, and excitement concerning God’s creation. He will show you how to resist the devil without spending a lot of time doing it.

Heb 11:6 (NIV) And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. One of Satan’s biggest efforts against you and all humanity is to try to convince you that God doesn’t exist. If you are a person who has never had a problem with that issue, you have always known God exists, that still doesn’t keep you from dealing with this issue. Millions of people are struggling with it; and, you need to understand how to help yourself and all these people.

Rom 1:18 (NIV) The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. As you know, Satan uses people to try to keep other people from coming to Jesus. Here is the first place you need to put up your resistances. What are these godlessness and wickedness of men suppressing the truth about? What are they trying to do to you and the people around you? They are trying to keep as many people as possible from getting to know God. Since everyone’s first assignment is to believe that God exists, Satan has come up with as many lies, tricks, and deceptions as possible.

Rom 1:18-19 (NIV) The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. First of all, these godless and wicked men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, know the truth. What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. It isn’t an accident, a misunderstanding, or some unavoidable mistake. There are people who are lying to you with the express purpose of destroying your faith in God; they know what they are doing.

Rom 1:20 (NIV) For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--His eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. God hasn’t left you without all the necessary evidences. He isn’t going to require that you and the people around you believe that He exists and not make it plain to you. It is easy to resist the lies of the devil and close the doors if you will allow God to provide you with His proof.

For since the creation of the world: If you don’t want to be blind to the greatness of God, then you must be willing to start looking with openness of heart at God’s creation. God expects you to allow it to talk to you and impress you. He wants you to learn to appreciate the beauty, the complexity, the unity, and the brilliance of His work. If you just go around taking advantage of it without admiring it, then you are allowing godless and wicked men to suppress the truth by their wickedness in your heart and mind. You need to fight and resist their efforts.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--His eternal power and divine nature: Did you know that you can start looking around at God’s creation and see His eternal power and divine nature? God is trying to speak to you in a powerful way by making the creation beautiful, dynamic, impressive, and revealing. If you look at the creation through the eyes of godlessness and wickedness men, you will be blind to it all. But, if you will ask God to reveal His eternal power and divine nature to you, He will. The more you allow God to show you His greatness, the easier it will be to resist the devil and close the doors to him.

So that men are without excuse: The philosophies, lies, deceptions, and misinformation that are coming your way are designed by people who don’t want to spend time with God. AND, they are committed to not ALLOWING you to have a close and intimate relationship with Him either. As long as you don’t clearly see their motives, it will be hard to resist them. If you don’t know that they will do anything to come up with an excuse for rejecting God, you will trust rather than resist them.