The cart before the horse

The 4/7 verse for today is from James 4:7, "So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (NLT)

I can't tell you how many times I've heard this verse misquoted. People are forevermore saying, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Then, they wonder why he never really goes anywhere, or shows up more often than ever in their lives.

The first part of this verse is key. Without it, we have no chance of accomplishing the desired result. We can try to fight the devil and resist him in our own strength, and may even be somewhat successful for a little while. But we don't have the necessary strength, willpower, or weapons to keep him at bay for long. He is relentless and he never gives up. His mission for his entire miserable existence has been to steal, kill and destroy us. His mission hasn't changed. We have no defense against him...apart from God. Yet, we need no other defense, when we have God. Asking God to help us gives us more strength than an entire army. In fact, who needs an army when God is the Commander in Chief?

It's wise to be aware of the devil's schemes, but it is even wiser to let God do battle for us whenever possible. If the devil sees that we are walking alone, he will show up on every corner. In contrast, he will be more apt to flee if he sees God walking beside us. Let's be careful not to put the cart before the horse, like so many people tend to do, with this verse. I don't know about you, but I don't want to get trampled.