James 4:7 (NIV) Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. As you can see, there are two aspects to this verse. The first part is submitting to God; the second part is resisting the devil. In the previous series, Jesus helped you submit to God by growing in your love for Him. In this series, He has been helping you grow in your HATRED for the things of the body, the world, and the devil; hatred toward things that are trying to get into your life to hurt you, will help you resist.

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 main requirement of God after you have been born again is to WANT to do the right things and HATE doing the wrong things. The right things are you doing right, good, and righteous things to yourself, other people, and God’s plan. The wrong things are you doing wrong, bad, or evil things to yourself, other people, and God’s plan. Jesus put the WANT and HATE attitudes in your heart when you accepted Him as your Lord, Savior, and King.

Rom 7:16 (NIV) And if I do what I do not WANT to do, I agree that the law is good. Your responsibility is to maintain the WANT attitude for right, good, and righteous things. And, your responsibility is to maintain the HATE attitude for wrong, bad, and evil things. The way to maintain these two attitudes is to apply The Three Keys To All Of Christianity to them. You will be ASKING, SEEKING, and KNOCKING so that Jesus will install and empower you to do the right, good, and righteous things; that is why the next page is prayer. And He will remove and empower you to resist the wrong, bad, and evil things, also through prayer.

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. You resisting bad things trying to get into your life requires you knowing what to resist. So, how did these people get in this condition? Obviously, they weren’t born that way. And surely, they didn’t suddenly become that kind of person. They not only didn’t allow Jesus to teach them how to WANT to do the right things, they wouldn’t allow Him to train and empower them to DO the right things. Jesus wants to take everyone beyond HATING the wrong things to actually resisting the wrong things.

Eph 4:22-24 (NIV) You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

You haven’t just been listening to God all your life. You have been exposing your brain and your mind to all kinds of schools of thought. Your brain is filled with a mixture of many different types of information and principles. Some of them are neutral; they don’t have any spiritual connotation to them. Others have a lot of spiritual implications. Like everyone else, you have listened to your body’s demands, the world’s reasoning, and Satan’s temptations. At those moments when you did, you were being trained by the opposite educational system.

1 Pet 3:12 (NIV) For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Because of the training you received in your previous life, some of your thinking is in direct opposition to the truth of God. As long as you stay in that condition, it has made you unusable by God in that area of life and ministering to others. While in that condition, when God talks to you Spirit-to-spirit, you will disagree with various concepts you are receiving from Him. Some people are unaware it is God dealing with them. Others go into direct disobedience against Him. That is what they believe and no one is going to change their mind.

1 John 1:7 (NIV) But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.

If you want to head in the opposite direction of those wicked people, you will have to let Jesus deal with those areas where you have built a close and intimate relationship with the body, the world, or the devil. You will have to spend extra time getting help from God. These are going to be places where closing the door will be extremely difficult. But, if you don’t, you will always find yourself failing in life and being unable to share with others in those spots.

1 John 1:8 (NIV) If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. In a particular area of your life where you are convinced you are right, it becomes shut off from all information to the contrary. If it is false information, you are locked in it and don’t want out. The door to your heart will be left open to that false information. You will be unwilling to close the door because the information makes sense to you. And, it keeps you from being willing to hear any opposing views.

1 John 1:9 (NIV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Walled areas of your heart and mind are caused by you being so convinced that it is best for you that you don’t even want views from God and His Word. When you hear an opposing view from God’s Word, you will often assume that all the facts just aren’t in yet. You will especially be tempted to ignore Scriptures that seem to be saying the complete opposite to your view. You will typically decide that the Bible doesn’t really mean that. This arena of your life and ministry becomes a fortress against God’s Word and God’s Truth. Whether you know it or not you are heading into wickedness.