[SUB12] RESISTINDO AO DIABO - Luciano Subirá

Guys, I’m here at Vila Velha, in Espírito Santo, passing by to bring another word to your heart. In the book of James, chapter 4, verse 7, bible says that: “subject yourself, therefore, to God but resist the Devil and he will flee from you. " Many times in a mistaken way we think that James is talking about two things.

That subjecting to God is one thing and resisting the Devil would be another. But actually I want to tell you that these two come together. For us to resist the Devil we need to subject to God.

Because only who is under authority can express authority . It is what that roman centurion said to Jesus: “I'm a man under authority and I also have men under my authority. " In the military chain of command, for example, the sergeant has voice upon the corporal and the soldier when under the command of a tenant or a major because if he breaks the chain of command he loses his capacity of expressing authority.

Resisting the Devil is an order that was given to each one of us, christians, but it is conditioned to an attitude of submission to God. Stay with me, in the next few minutes, I want to share a little bit more about the combination of these two truths. In Romans 15:4 the Bible says that all that was written was written for our teaching.

In 1 Corinthians 10:11 Paul when he speaks of the stories of the nation of Israel in the old testament, says: "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. " I want to take one of this stories in 2 Chronicles 32, the word of God speaks of the Sennacherib’s threat against the king Hezekiah threatening not only to take Jerusalem, but all of Judah, every kingdom of Judah. And we have an interesting figure.

Because Sennacherib comes mocking God, bringing a message of mistrust, and we have a parallel behind the attack of of de Sennacherib, that decides to siege Jerusalem. We have a picture of how, many times, Satan positions against us speaking against God and His principles, mining our faith, although, like Hezekiah acts or reacts those attacks of Sennacherib, we have some important lessons about the responsibility given to us of resisting the Devil. Resisting the Devil is something God entrusted as a responsibility to me and you.

I know many believers that sometimes upset with the enemy that stood against them and they’re upset with God: "hey, God, aren’t you going to do anything about it? ” I play that sometimes God is looking to us in the same way, like who says: "hey, you, aren’t you going to do anything about it? " Because offering resistance to the enemy is our responsibility.

But this happens in combination to our submission to God. Subjecting to God is what gives us authority to resist the Devil. In 2 Chronicles 32, the word of God shows that Hezekiah decided to do some things.

First of them, we read in the initial verses of the passage, that he decided to close all fountains, all fountains. Together with is princes, fighters because they said: “why would the enemy come to find so many fountains? " They did not only shut the fountains but also a broke that streamed through the land.

And the argument is: when the enemy comes to siege us, we don't want to strengthen them, we don't want to feed them, we don’t want to give them anything that will help or strengthen their attack. This principle needs to be understood. Because when it comes to Satan this same picture fits the way we have to deal with it.

In Genesis 3:14 one of the words God bring as a sentence upon the serpent in back at Éden and Revelations 2 refers to the Devil and Satan actually being this ancient serpent. God says: "You will crawl every day of your life and will eat dust. " When God speaks of eating dust, He is not talking about the natural serpent and not about the way it literally feeds, because they don’t live of dust, they need some other food.

But, this expression is understood when we see that God formed men from the dust. and says “you are dust, from dust you came, and shall return" and the principle I understand is that Satan, the ancient serpent, strengthens on our carnality. When we give room for sin, when we give room like what Paul in Galatians 5 chama calls the works of the flesh, this will strengthen the enemy that is surrounding us.

Therefore, when we speak of resisting the devil it is connected to subjecting to God, It’s because we don't have authority to offer resistance when we leave the coverage and protection of God, that is the obedience to His word and to His principles. One of the first necessary things to offer resistance to the Devil it’s to begin subjecting to God, to His Word, to His principles. And what you need to do making the decision of not giving room to the flesh.

Of not allowing its inclination for sin to have place in our lives. One second thing the Word of God says there in 2 Chronicles 32 that Hezekiah did, was that he restored the walls. You and I need to understand that God has also been providing a wall but many times we break this wall.

In Job, in chapter 1, verse 10, the word of God says that Satan himself said regarding Job, speaking before the Lord: “you surrounded him with a hedge, with a wall, and blessed him inside. " In other words, the devil was saying: “Job is blessed and happy and I can’t touch him because there is a procreative wall. " God provided a wall of protection to me and you and this wall from the outside is insurmountable, it is unbreakable, the devil cannot overcome it.

Although, the word of God says in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 10, verse 8: “whoever breaks the wall, a snake shall bite him. " This wall that God placed as protection may be inviolable from the outside, but from the inside it is very fragile. And when we break spiritual principles we are in our christian slang, that I nicknamed "christianish" we usually refer to this as “giving a breach".

When we break the wall and leave a breach a snake will enter, it will be able to touch us because the devil works on this legality. Restoring the walls means interrupting this legality, it is an act that follows closing the fountains. Although, the Bible also says that Hezekiah re-raised towers.

Towers upon the walls, and towers had one purpose, to surveil. The watchmen stayed in there and they had the responsibility of watching the horizon because they had a privileged position to see if the enemy was approaching or not. They had to anticipate the attacks of the enemy.

And we need to understand that spiritually so do we. Jesus speaks of surveillance as something very important. And we need to understand that God himself connects this picture of the watchmen with prayer.

In Isaiah 62:6 God says: “upon your walls, oh Jerusalem, I’ve placed my watchmen that won’t be silent at day or at night until they see Jerusalem stabilized as a place of worship in earth. " Jesus says: “watch and pray for you not to walk into temptation. " We don't have to wait for temptation to come in order to fight it.

When in the so called “our Father prayer", Jesus says that we must pray “do not let us fall to temptation, deliver us from evil", the word "evil" there is the malign. Now, Jesus didn't tell us to pray when we can't handle it anymore. He says surveillance can prevent us from walking into temptation.

Those areas of vulnerability in our lives must be policed, we must be in surveillance, we need to pray even before any trouble comes or even shows up. The fourth thing Hezekiah does, the Bible says the he provided weapons and shields in abundance. He prepared the people with the weapons.

Ephesians 6:12 declares that our fight is not against flesh or blood, like the war they had to fight, but against pricipalities, powers in the heavenly regions. And the Bible says we need to firm ourselves on the Lord and that we need to take all of the amour of God. The armor of God is a set of weapons and it actually speaks of a lifestyle.

The Bible speaks of gird the truth, speaks of the courace of Justice, the helm of salvation, to shoe our feet with the preaching of the gospel of peace, of embracing the shield of faith, with which we can defend the arrows of the enemy, but it also speaks of the sword of the Spirit that is the word of God. Every other weapon is about defense; walking in truth, preserving the justice of God, raising faith, all of this protects us, the helm of salvation, guarding our mind and our thoughts, but the only attack weapon we have is the word of God. Just like Jesus faces Satan in the desert, Matthew 4, Luke 4 show us this, using the word we also must go and face the enemy using the word.

Someone asked me some day: "pastor Luciano, and prayer, what weapon is it? " And I usually answer: prayer is not the weapon, prayer is the war. After counseling us to wear the armor, the Bible says: "Praying always, all the time in the spirit.

" But before finishing with the idea that prayer is the war, the fifth and last thing that Hezekiah did was speaking to the heart of the people saying: "Look, with those men, Sennacherib, is the arm of flesh, with us is the Lord our God, the One with us is bigger than the one with them. " And he strengthens the faith of the people. You and I must strengthen our faith in the Lord because Peter the apostle wrote and said: “the devil, your enemy walks around you, roaring like a lion searching for someone to swallow.

" But in 1 Peter 5:9 he says: "resist firms in faith. " And through faith, faith in God, in his word, in His hare, in his commitment to us, that we will remain firm before all attack. And the Bible said that Hezekiah together with the prophet Isaiah went to pray to the Lord.

God sent an angel that made a "strike" in the enemy’s army, he brought a great victory and great deliverance, because praying is that we fight the true war. I want to encourage you to put yourself under submission to God, policing these areas in your life, offering resistance to the enemy using not only your faith, but all your weapons and resources through prayer, and you, like James said, will see the enemy fleeing from you because God’s plan and purpose is that you may walk in victory. May He strengthen you.

May He sustain you in the name of Jesus.