Have you ever wondered practically how to apply James 4:6-8? “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”

Submission is not a word that people like to hear because it comes with a fear of someone harming us, not coming to bless us, promote us or protect us. But this says submit yourself to God. if you know anything about God, you know He is not a punisher, He is a protector; He is not angry, vengeful, He is loving, He is kind; He is not cheap or stingy, He is abundantly generous. So, when it says submit yourself to God, you are submitting yourself to a Father who is perfect and has no darkness in Him at all. And Jesus said, If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. So we are very safe submitting ourselves to God.

Next it says, resist the devil. The devil is invisible, how to do you resist him? Well I had an experience the other day in the grocery store parking lot and the Lord said, that is how you resist the devil and what it looks like when he flees from you. I was backing out of my parking spot and I did not see this black Mercedes coming down the row I was backing into. He honks and I stop, no issue, but then he stays right behind me, won’t let me back out. I thought, I didn’t see you, I wasn’t maliciously trying to hit you, I made a mistake, what is the problem. But that is not what he was thinking, he would not move and was making a statement I was in the wrong. I already knew I was in the wrong, but he was going to rub my nose in it.

The black Mercedes finally moves after literally a one to two minute stand against me, and he parks in the spot across from me, where I was pulling out. So, I pull up behind him, waiting for him to get out. I have my window down, I am a girl, I am in a Hyundai Santa Fe, nothing intimidating about me, but he will not get out of his car. I am shocked, the same guy who minutes ago would not let me out of my spot now won’t get out of his. I stay there for a minute or so and am pointing at myself and mouthing to him, my mistake, I apologize. No movement he will not get out of his car.

I am driving away and the Lord says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Friends, the devil is a coward, he may act tough in his black Mercedes, and try to intimidate you for making a mistake, but when you submit yourself to God, humble yourself before others and let them know you were wrong, then he will reveal he is all smoke and mirrors and won’t even get out of the car to hear you say, I was wrong. I will never forget this experience as it showed me how, not the man in the black Mercedes, but the devil acts tough, but it truly a coward when confronted by anybody, even a girl with humility.