What I need to hear and What I need to say.

There is simply a time and a place that must be set aside for conversation with God. There is something so obvious about that truth. Another obvious truth is that one of the main battles that Satan wages is to cut us off from the source of everything powerful and fulfilling in our days.

Today cannot be a day in which he wins. I want to be able to say of the future that I will not have slacker days, where the devil appears to have more of a hold over my heart than my Creator. I cannot say that. What I can say is that Scripture clearly speaks the Truth from God that he is defeated, even when he seems to have won.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” –James 4:7-10

In Scripture, there are many examples of people giving up and finding themselves in their arrogance, in their idolatry, in their laziness, a person of this world—a servant of the evil one. But there are so many more passages where it is clear that there is never a point where the devil triumphs over God.

The words of James tell me that there is an action to take. I have something to do today. I have the opportunity to submit my day to Christ, and humble myself. God gives me double hope in this scripture by telling me that the devil will flee from me, and that there is hope for cleansing—purification for my double-mind.

I will start by submitting to hearing his Word, to spending time in prayer. To being the person who remembers that my God, who sees what is done in secret, is by my side today. That he comes near to me is a comfort, not a cause for guilt. It may lead me to mourn the times that I act out of my other mind, but as we enter the season of Lent, what better plan than to spend some time in humble grief over the suffering Christ endured for my forgiveness.