Notice here James doesn't say "Ignore the devil and he will flee from you."
When we resist Satan we give an action or word that is going against what he's telling us. We see that with Jesus and the devil in Matthew 4:1-11, every time Satan will tempt Jesus, Jesus will deliver scripture that gives no other alternative to the devil except to flee. But alot of times we don't resist Satan instead we ignore Satan, we just give no attention to what he tells us, the down side with that is he doesn't flee those thoughts and temptations are still occurring.
In Job 22:28 the Bible says, "You will declare a thing, and it will be established for you" You see God has joy when we study His word but He accepts us when we apply His word. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 the Bible says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."
When we brake that verse down we can understand two things.
(1) Understand how our spiritual walk with God is.
(2) Know how we can make it better.
"Given by inspiration of God," literally means God-breathed, so who is the author of the Bible not Paul, not Luke, not James, but God Himself!
Now the study of the bible is profitable in at least four different ways.
(1) Doctrine means teaching, Luke makes a huge emphasize in Acts 2:42 that the church must have a commitment to doctrine first.
(2) Reproof is conviction, that your life is not approved by God.
(3) Correction referring that we must set something straight. (2 Timothy 2:15) (4) Instruction refers to giving advice, as in the process of training a child.
God only instructs those who are seeking His righteousness, when you tell a child "Don't play by the fire!" Your instructing them to not get hurt.
In the same way when God says something or something happens in your life we must know that everything works for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28)
Now notice in 2 Timothy 3:16 in that list there is only one that pertains to knowledge and information that's doctrine, the other three in the list involve a change of life. Knowledge that doesn't change one's life is useless. Now if we go on to 2 Timothy 4:2 Paul charges Timothy to "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching." What I want to point out is, "convince, rebuke, exhort," to convince some one we make them agree and realize the truth, when we rebuke we show disapproval, and when we exhort we encourage.
So that verse shows us three different kinds of people:
1). An unbeliever
2).A believer who is not walking with God
3). The true believer
A). With unbelievers we convince.
B). With believers who aren't walking the Christian walk we rebuke.
C). With the believer who follows God in spirit and truth we exhort.
Now you may be wondering why I'm explaining believers and what scriptures all about. When I was talking about resisting the devil in the begin. I am preparing you even more, because we can not resist the devil unless we know how our walk with God is right now. If we need to be convinced then were already losing the battle we need ask God for forgiveness and walking according to His word. If we need to be rebuked well then we need to study God's word and apply it much more then we have been. Then if we need exhortation then we must continue to wait upon the Lord. (Lamentations 3:25) You see the Bible says "we are not ignorant of his (Satan's) devices." (2 Corinthians 2:11)
God has given us His word to be the foundation of our lives and Jesus as the chief cornerstone. Christ is victorious, but we are robbed of His power when we allow Satan and this world to permeate our thinking and influence our values rather than living in submission to the Living God. You see when we are God's children, Satan has no power over us.
Who is Satan? He's a created being, a fallen angel. Angels have all kinds of jobs but, What is there primary job? What does the name angel mean? It means "messenger" As a messenger, Satan speaks to our minds.
God is sovereign, and Satan is only a messenger, a fallen angel, his only power and authority is speaking to our minds. Trying to deceive us that we might embrace that which is NOT true and contrary to God's word. So Satan doesn't take control of our actions it's us we embrace his lies and sin against the Almighty King. Jack Taylor, in his book "Victory over the Devil", writes and I quote "We need to discover there is a battle, decide that we are on the Lord's side, declare that He has won, and determine that we will walk from victory unto victory."
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