Giving to God is an act of worship and submission. James 4:6-8 gives strong advice: don’t be proud; submit to God; draw near to Him; purify your hearts; submit to Him; then resist the devil, and he will flee. God is good (James 1:16-17), so if there is stealing, killing, and destruction in your life, it’s of the devil. Gen. 1:26 God created man (Adam and Eve) to rule and have dominion (prevail against, tread over, take). We, too, are to rule and reign in life by Christ Jesus. The god of this world is Satan. Why? Adam chose to submit to the devil and to give his authority to Satan. When he tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Luke 4:5-8), he had the authority to do so, because he held the authority. The devil is a master of shortcuts and leads to bondage to whomever will follow him. Temptation is not sin, but if you don’t make the thoughts of it come into obedience of Jesus Christ, the result is sin and death. BUT God raised Jesus from the dead, seated Him above all authority, put all things under His feet, and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church (Eph. 1:20-23). The one sacrifice for sin was offered forever. People get the wrong idea when they hear certain Bible terms, such as deliverance, prosperity, and submission.  Find out who God is and who you are (Gal. 2:20). FIRST Submit to God- YOU DO IT! God doesn’t make us do it. Then resist the devil. Rom. 13:1 Authorities are instituted by God. There’s rank in demons, heaven, earth, the church. Keep rank (1 Chron. 12:3-38). There will be people over and under us. There’s freedom in submission. There is grace for your place. Study: 1 Cor. 15:23-28; Matt. 8:5-13.

(Steve Broich shared a testimony of forgiveness, and there was ministry for salvation and baptism in the Holy Spirit.) God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submission is voluntarily done by the person himself. Humility is submission under God’s authority. Do not talk like the devil, saying things like, “I am proud of …”, but talk like God: “I admire …, or “I honor …”, or “I am pleased with …”. Submit yourself to God in obedience. How do you make your children submit? Prov. 22:6; 13:24; 23:13-14; 22:15; Eph. 6:4 instruct how to train up children in the Lord. Training is not teaching and starts at infancy. When a child is able to crawl, he can learn “no”. The adult must be disciplined in order to discipline a child. The child is to submit to you, not the other way around. The child’s will is to be broken in order for him to be submitted. DON’T ABUSE! Do not tolerate lying and rebellion. Pastor Sydney goes through the order for discipline from making clear rules to restoring everyone involved after an incident. Training helps a child know there is a higher authority and to be led by the Holy Spirit, so they can be used in the Kingdom.

James 4:6-8. When we are humbled and submitted to God, then we can resist the devil, and he will flee. We are double-minded when we are in pride and then try to resist the devil, whose sin was pride. Submit means to arrange under. When we are under God, then the devil is under us. 1 Cor. 15:20-28 tells us that Jesus submitted to God. Respect God’s order. There is rank in God’s kingdom. When we keep rank, it brings unity. When someone is out of place, the rest have to work twice as hard, such as if a person is blind, then the other senses have to work much harder. DON’T TRY TO MAKE OTHERS SUBMIT. Children must be trained to submit (Prov. 22:6), so that they will be trained to be led by their conscience and the Spirit. When the wife submits to her husband, she is submitting to God. Pastor Sydney explained about submitting to government authority (Rom. 13:1-17; 1 Thess. 5:12-13). We must respect the place and the work of the leaders over us. Their position is their qualification. Aaron and Miriam learned this the hard way in Numbers 12. Paul corrected himself in Acts 23:1-5 for not submitting to the high priest. YOU HAVE TO SUBMIT TO YOUR LEADERS, but the enemy will tell you otherwise. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram came against Moses and bred rebellion in the whole Israelite community and experienced God’s judgment (Numbers 16). When the glory of God shows up, there is immediate judgment. Remember: God places priority on His choices. The centurion and his servant understood authority in Matt. 8:5-10. If you are submitted to your leaders, they have a right to stand with you for what you’re believing.

Main texts: James 4:6-10 and 1 Peter 5. God resists the proud but gives His ability (grace) to the humble. If we submit ourselves to God, we can resist the devil, and he must flee. Submission is not easy. It includes suffering. Submission is not agreement. You submit when you don’t agree. Submission is not weakness. It is strength of character. Submission is not forced. No one can make you as an adult submit. Submission comes before authority. Submit means to rank or arrange under. Jesus suffered because He chose to pay the price for our sin and to submit to the Father’s will (Heb. 2:8-10, 14-18; Heb. 5:5-10, Matt. 26:36-44). We are to humble ourselves, which includes the suffering of not getting our own way. 1 Peter 2:18 tells us to submit to those over us (employers, etc.), regardless of how they treat us. First Peter 5:9-10 tells you that God will restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered.  Keep rank in God’s kingdom. This is especially important in spiritual warfare.

Text: James 4:6-10. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. We submit to Him, and the devil must flee. Rebellion is opposition to [the one in] authority and is as the sin of witchcraft. Get the rebellion out of you, repent, and submit. In Esther 1:1-22 we learn that Queen Vashti did not submit to the king and lost her place as queen. Esther submitted to the king and to her uncle and turned around the situation for the Jews. God has placed each one of the parts in one body as He wanted (1 Cor. 12:18), and when people leave the place where they are to be, the body doesn’t function properly. Stay in the place where God wants you, and don’t move because of offense or “choice”. You lose grace when you’re not in the place God wants you to be. There was an imperative for people to be their prescribed place (2 Chron. 30:16 and 35:10; Rom. 11:13; Eccl. 10:4). The angels who didn’t keep their own positions God has kept with eternal chains in darkness (Jude 6). (See also  Rev. 12:7-9). Submission is shown in the Biblical relationship of marriage, even though our culture doesn’t present the wife as needing to be submitted to her husband. Lucifer has no repentance because he got into pride and got out of his place. Don’t exalt yourself, but submit to the authority over you, even if you think the person isn’t fit (Ps. 75:4-7). Don’t leave your place, and don’t be moved by your flesh, but submit to God. You can fall to such a place that you can’t come back, because it is gone. Choosing your place in the body should be because it is where God tells you to be.