Young People's Group

LEARNING TO RESIST THE DEVIL

by Pastor Mitch
August 29, 2004

Satan And The Sin Of Pride

The sin of pride is one of those sins that God hates copiously. It is a sin that seeks to promote self worth. It is a sin that perpetuates itself when we foolishly focus on our own personal glory rather than God’s. The evil one in all his shrewdness will use this sin as a deadly weapon against us. It was Satan who moved the conceited David to number Israel.

“Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.” 
1 Chronicles 21:1

King David had a problem of personal pride. He felt proud of the actual and potential size of the army that he had. The Lord was angry with David when he chose to do this and brought a great plague upon the people. In the text of James 4:6, James wrote of how “God resists the proud”. The Lord will stand against all those who allow their pride to get the better of them. The evil one will seek to tempt us to be proud of ourselves. We need to learn how to resist the devil.

Having A Humble Faith To Resist The Evil One

1. Humbling Ourselves Before God

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” 
James 4:10

We are to be conscious of how great God is and how we are but “dust” before Him. The way to resist the evil one is to have the kind of faith that will set aside our pride and humble ourselves in the sight of God. The Lord will lift us up in His own time.

2. Submitting Ourselves To God

“Therefore submit to God.” 
James 4:7

We are to yield ourselves to the Lord. When we realise that we are nothing before the Lord, we will surrender ourselves to the Lord and let Him take over our lives. We cannot but submit to the Lord’s grace.

3. Drawing Near To God

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” 
James 4:8

We must seek to draw near to God. It is crucial that we ask the Lord for forgiveness and cleansing. As we repent from the sin of pride, God will draw near to us. He will be there for us.

4. Resisting The Evil One

“Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” 
James 4:7

When the Lord is with us, we do not need to fear the onslaughts of the evil one. We will be able to stand our ground against the evil one. With the shield of faith, we will still be standing after all the arrows of temptations have been hurled at us. When the evil one sees that we are strong, he will go from us and wait for another opportune time to attack. Young people, let’s watch out for the sin of pride. Let’s always learn to have a humble faith before God.

Back to Article Listing