Surrender to God and Break the Enemy's Foothold
- meetgodattheedgeof
- Jul 9
- 3 min read
James 4:7-10
[7] Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you. [8] Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you people who can't make up your mind. [9] Be sad and sorry and weep. Stop laughing and start crying. Be gloomy instead of glad. [10] Be humble in the Lord's presence, and he will honor you.
These verses have always been powerful to me, but it wasn't until I connected them to my own life that they truly came alive. Sin is something we will always struggle with because of our human nature and fleshly desires. Sanctification means sin has been pushed off the number one spot in our lives, and God now reigns in our hearts. But the tug-of-war is still there.
Confessing our sins and walking in repentance often comes with instructions that are incredibly uncomfortable. As we have been seeing lately with some men in the church, they have been confessing these sins to one another, just as God commands. It isn't a suggestion or an optional extra step. It is a requirement.
It will be embarrassing. It will be extremely difficult. But once we begin opening up and sharing, God blesses us with support. Sin grows in secrecy, and the enemy gains power through our shame and our desire to isolate because we are afraid of what others might think.
Confession also forces us to lay down our pride and take ownership of our actions. One of the greatest blessings of opening up to a brother or sister about our struggles is that it allows them to intercede on our behalf. When someone knows specifically what to pray for, those prayers become incredibly powerful.
Another blessing I have found is the wisdom that comes from godly counsel. I am blessed to have dear friends who are older than I am, men with wisdom and experience. They offer insight and practical ideas on how to resist temptation and remove the things that are giving the enemy a foothold. Eliminating those footholds is absolutely critical. I cannot stress that enough.
I have recently realized that I cannot be on one particular social media platform without temptation eventually appearing in front of me. I can probably come up with five reasons why I should keep it and simply try to avoid the bad content, but the reality is, I know it is there. The enemy knows where I am weak, and he will use that weakness to attack me and tear down everything God is building in my life. Just one glance can send my mind down a path that leads to more mistakes.
Remove it from your life. Cut it off. Gouge it out. Do not even dabble in these things. The enemy will tear you down time and time again if you continue giving him opportunities.
The only way to truly surrender to God is to embrace His plan for repentance. When we surrender to God, confess our sins, remove the footholds, and humble ourselves before Him, we are finally able to resist the devil as James promises. That is where victory begins.
Thank You, Father, for one more day. Amen.
James 5:16-18
[16] If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot. [17] Elijah was just as human as we are, and for three and a half years his prayers kept the rain from falling. [18] But when he did pray for rain, it fell from the skies and made the crops grow.
