“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Ja4.7
I have read that the best way to deal with temptation isn’t to resist it but to redirect ones thoughts toward something wholesome. The idea being that when you resist temptation, you are thinking about it and the more you think about it the harder the temptation becomes. Now I believe this is true and the advice good, so how do I understand these words to resist the devil? Well for one thing, there is a difference in resisting a person and resisting a desire.
Brenda and I trek the Smokey Mountains at least once a year. Now we have come across black bears in the Smokies, so we have formulated a plan for dealing with one if we are ever attacked. The advice used to be to lay on the ground, put your head between your knees and ride out the attack as best you can, hoping, the bear will tire of batting and biting you. The consensus now is that if you do this you might as well kiss your butt goodbye, because when a black bear attacks you, he is planning on eating you. The advice now is to turn with a vengeance on the bear, and fight back with everything you have. Most of the time the minute the bear realizes that you are no easy meal, and more trouble than its worth, he will flee, especially if you happen to carry a flare gun and an ice ax and there are two of you.
When the devil shows up, ignore his temptations, but turn on him with a vengeance. Stab him with the sword of Scripture, laugh, mock and ridicule him and He will show himself the coward that he is. By the way, there are always at least two of us in the fight against devils. 2/25/2008 ts
Just me trying to be honest with God.
