Submit And Resist | Daily Devotional 1623

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional Podcast, episode 1623. Today's Devo is called Submit and Resist. Hey there, we're the Alessis, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy, the to-do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why every weekday, we share a five-minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast. Hey everyone, happy Wednesday. I hope you are all enjoying this week's podcast as we are diving into James chapter four. This has been such a blessing, and I want to mention something. We are going to be writing out a newsletter where at the end of this week we're going to have an email that we can send out to everybody a newsletter that breaks down this devotional a little bit more and it gets a little bit more detailed of James chapter four. If that's something you're interested in, let us know, comment, send us an email, or send us a text or a comment. However, you want to get a hold of us, we want to send that newsletter to you. So let us know because this has been good stuff. And today's is going to be even better because we're diving into verse seven. Now, I am trying to go verse by verse because there's so much here that we can dive into. I do believe that these verses are not one takeaway each. They all become, you know, one large takeaway, which we're going to get to at the end. But I am trying to break it apart so that we can see the truth that is almost hidden between these verses, because oftentimes we'll read a chapter and go, wow, that was really good. And we have one takeaway. When there is like five to ten different takeaways in James chapter four, and today we're going to read verses seven through eight. And it says this, I'm reading through the ESV. It says, Submit yourselves, therefore, to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. That's been a verse my mom has quoted to us since we were babies. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Again, he is uh not pulling back the punches on what he is calling us, but he uh he gives this answer. As as we see yesterday, we kind of left off on this verse where he talks about how God opposes the proud, he gives grace to the humble. Um, but then he's and that was about the world and being a friend of the world, but then he's going into this new subject, which is talking about submission. And he says, submit yourselves therefore to God. And I want us to notice the order here. He says, Submit first, then resist, and then draw near. So he says, submit, resist, draw near. And what this shows us is when we surrender and submit to God, then we can resist from what is pulling us away from him. And then this is the best promise ever that when we draw near to God, he will draw near to us. And I love this point because he's saying here that God isn't asking us to clean ourselves up perfectly and then come to him. No, he says, draw near to me, I will draw near to you. And then he goes into I will cleanse your hands or cleanse your hands, which shows us that we don't have to be perfect before the Lord. We don't have to fix our lives or find all the puzzle pieces of our lives and put them together and then submit that to God. We don't have to finish the test and the exam in the back of the classroom and say, exam is done, I'm submitting it to my teacher for grading. No, Jesus says you can be in the middle of that exam, but if you come to me, I'll draw near to you. He says you could be in the middle of the puzzle and be missing a bunch of pieces. But if you draw near to me, I will draw near to you. Now, I I want to say this because I think this is so powerful for us as believers. God likes when we initiate. God waits for us to initiate. I do believe there are moments in our life where God will stop everything to get our attention. But most times people say it that God is a gentleman and he won't step into a room or step into a situation when he's not invited. So we have to initiate. We have to submit, we have to resist. All of those are action words. It's things that put the responsibility on us, which is a good thing. It speaks that God does give us the ability to make decisions and to take action. So that's the first point. That's kind of like a little sub-point that God likes when we initiate. But then also maybe you're listening to this. And maybe recently you felt distant from God. Maybe you haven't heard his voice. Maybe you felt him in a season, but you haven't felt him again. And you're even questioning, does God see me? Does God know me? Am I even in a relationship with him? Do I know how to hear his voice? So all of those questions and those doubts can cause us to do the opposite of what we should. It causes us to just run away from him, distance ourselves more, question him more. And the answer today is if you're feeling that way, run to him, seek him, search for him, look for him, draw near to him. If you're feeling unworthy, if you're feeling distant, if you feel like, man, I haven't been to church in years, and there's no way that God will hear me. Well, today is the day of salvation. Today's the day to draw near to God because there's a promise attached to this. When we draw near to him, he draws near to us. So I encourage you today, draw near to the Father. Call on his name. Open your mouth. If you're in the car right after this episode, open your mouth and say, Lord, I'm calling on you. I need you to come. God, I need you. I want to encourage you, take one step toward God today through prayer, through scripture, through this, even this devotional. This devotional is you taking one step closer to him. Take a step closer through repentance or prayer, or simply just getting into a quiet place and sitting in his presence. Draw near to the Father, because I got news for you, he's drawing near to you. God, we just thank you that you're a present God. We thank you, Lord, that you answer. Father, you respond when we call on the name of the Lord, you respond. And so I pray for anybody that's feeling distant, feeling unworthy, feeling like they don't deserve to be near you, Father. We just resist all of that that the enemy is trying to give to us. Father, we submit to you, we resist the devil, and Lord, we draw close to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So there you have it, your five minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you've found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.