Day 30
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
—JAMES 4:7
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
—EPHESIANS 6:12
I can’t help tracing backwards to try to understand how I ended up wandering in the “misty lowlands” for so long.
How did I, knowing better, allow the devil to have such a strong foothold in my life? How did I let myself get so weighed down with guilt, pain, and hopelessness that I ended up numb and ineffective for so long?
It started, as perhaps it always does, with forgetting. I forgot that my struggle was not against flesh and blood. I forgot to continually submit every area of my life to God. And because of that forgetting, I opened the door for the devil to come in and wreak havoc in my life.
The hopelessness and feelings of futility were then compounded as I tried to fight back in my own strength. I was fighting a spiritual war with human weapons and I was losing.
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”
—CS Lewis
Perhaps apathy towards the devil and his plans is a third error we can fall into. To know that the devil has a plan to destroy us and yet to live as though He doesn’t, taking no precautions against those plans, is of all the dumb things we do as humans the dumbest of all. Living in ignorance, apathy, or forgetfulness of the battle between God’s plan and the enemy’s leaves us vulnerable and defenseless against the devil’s schemes. We play right into his hands.
Which category do you fall into today? Have you lived in ignorance of the fact that the devil, every day, is attempting to knock you off the path that God has laid out for your life? Or maybe you are aware, but you’ve taken no steps to protect yourself. Or maybe you used to be aware, you used to be vigilant, but lately you’ve sleepwalked your way into apathetic forgetfulness.
No matter how you ended up in this place today, the consequences are likely the same: worry, fear, strife, despair, exhaustion, confusion, and chaos torment your mind, heart, and life.
And, regardless how you got here, the solution is the same: Submit yourself to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7).
Today, I want you to invite God into your struggle.
Today, I want you to stop mentally and emotionally thrashing around and be still, knowing that God is God (Psalm 46:10).
Read again the promises you wrote down on Day 19 and stand on the truth of them, saying to God in the same breath: “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 ESV).
