Facing Satan
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
James 4:7 (ESV)
You do not need to believe in the medieval images of the devil to encounter the evil that sometimes seems organized against us. A thought that keeps coming back to soil, a temptation that always appears at the worst moment, a whisper that says "you will not make it" — something is going on that exceeds us.
James proposes a two-step choreography: submit yourselves to God first, resist the devil after. The order matters. You do not fight alone, you fight leaning on Another. And the promise is clear: he will flee. Not just you will flee the temptation — he flees from you. He is the weak one when you stand with the One who is strong.
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.
1 Peter 5:8-9 (ESV)
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Ephesians 6:11 (ESV)
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
1 John 4:4 (ESV)