Submitted To God I

‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you’ James 4:7[KJV].

To have liberty without responsibility is bondage [self-bondage]. Then the people become what the Bible calls lawful captives – legal captives. Liberty is not enough, God wants you and I to be free. For us to walk in real freedom, five things must be in place. This list is not exhaustive but these five things must be in place for us to really walk in the liberty that God has for us.

The first thing that must be in place is we must be submitted to God. True freedom comes through submission to God. We are only free when we surrender to God. The further you walk away from God, the more bondage you have in your life. The harder you resist God, the more bound you become. The more you submit to God, the more liberated you are. ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you’ James 4:7[KJV]. In other words, submit yourself to God and be free because the agent of bondage in this world is the enemy. God wants us to submit to Him not because He wants to confine us but because He wants to liberate us. In the Bible, you repeatedly see Paul refer to himself as a bond slave of Jesus Christ but he calls himself a free man. How can a bond slave be free? Slaves usually are sold to the master. But in the Jewish culture after the slave has served for 49 years, on the 50^th year the slave is free to go – Jubilee. However, a slave can decide to opt out of the freedom and stay committed to their master. These kinds of slaves are called bond slaves. Until we become bond slaves to God we never experience true freedom. This is the point where you have the opportunity to walk out on God and you refuse, instead you reaffirm your commitment to God. For example, you only know you are not a thief when you have had the opportunity to steal and not get caught but you didn’t steal. If you find yourself in that situation where nobody can catch you and you still don’t do it because of your love for Jesus then you are really free.

Prayer: Lord, help me grow in my commitment to You daily so that I will be completely sold out to You, in Jesus Name.