Words of Encouragement
July - 03 - 2005
Most of us would like for spiritual growth to be easy. We want our ability to withstand temptation to require little effort. We want the Holy Spirit to do the work and God to protect us from too much stress and strain. Thankfully, God does empower us through his Holy Spirit. However, he does remind us that for the Spirit to work powerfully in our lives, we must intentionally submit our wills to God and we must resist the devil. If we will put up a fight against him and his temptations, he will flee from us. Let's do our part, trusting that God will more than uphold his promises!
Let us read James 4:7.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Let us go to our Heavenly Father in prayer.
Father, thank you for your presence and power in us through your Holy Spirit. Thank you for the Scriptures which reveal to us your will. Now, dear Father, we gladly submit our will to yours, asking you to do your will in us. Please use your people and your Spirit to motivate and inspire us to resist the devil and recognize his attempts to derail our commitment to you.
We ask this in the powerful name of Jesus.
Amen.