Secret of Spiritual Power

Here's a most excellent article by Chip Brogden, I'll put the last few paragraphs below -- however it's all good. It starts with this passage of scripture:

"God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:6b,7)

RESIST THE DEVIL, AND HE WILL FLEE

So many times we try to resist, but we are defeated. Why?
Simply because we attempt to resist the devil before we have first submitted ourselves to God. There is a proper order that must be observed without fail. First, we must
understand the principle of God resisting the proud but giving grace to the humble. This is the foundation of everything we do. Second, the word "therefore" signifies that those who learn this principle will act upon it accordingly. If they understand the truth just stated, they will submit "therefore" to God. Third, as a result of their submitting to God, they will find the devil flees whenever and wherever they offer him resistance. The word "flee" means "to run away in terror". How wonderful! How delicious to see the devil running from us in terror, instead of the other way around! That should be the normal
experience of all Christians. That is the normal Christian life, a life that overcomes.

The whole object of satan is to bring us down from the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2:6) and entangle us into some kind of earthly, fleshly thing that saps us of our strength and diminishes spiritual authority. Knowing this, the Lord has us to pray daily, "Deliver us from evil" (Matthew 6:13ff). That is to say, "Deliver us from the
earthly, the fleshly, the worldly, the carnal, the selfish, the natural, the human, where satan has influence to work evil against us. Deliver us from all that hinders and
distracts us, and bring us into the Kingdom of Your dear Son, that we may walk in Spirit and Truth, in the heavenly places, demonstrating your preeminence over all things
Below." Brothers and sisters, praying in this way is what it means to resist the devil. He cannot stand before us when we take the high ground and maintain the Lord's
Testimony.

If we grow impatient and fall into the flesh then we become weaker. To react in the flesh diminishes spiritual authority, and this must be avoided at all costs. Allowing the flesh to
have its way for only a moment guarantees defeat against a spiritual adversary. "We worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3). To lose all confidence in the flesh is to take the higher ground of the Spirit. To meet flesh with flesh means the victory will go to the strongest, and there
is always someone stronger than you according to the flesh. Instead, if people come against you in the flesh, let them come against you. If they wish to rail and argue with you according to the flesh, do not respond in kind. If they attack you without cause, let them attack, because the fleshly, the carnal, the natural cannot defeat the spiritual. The one who is submitted to the Lord has authority over those who remain unsubmitted to Him. Flesh is overruled by Spirit. Hate is overruled by Love. Darkness is overruled by Light. Death is overruled by Life. Earth is overruled by Heaven. "He that comes from above is above all" (John 3:31ff).

We offer no resistance, no defense, no argument, no justification to people who mean us harm. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12a). We resist satan, not the person. We stand against the devil, taking no action against the instruments the devil uses. We submit to God, we offer no resistance to man, but we stand firm against the spiritual adversary. Outwardly, before others, we appear weak. But inwardly, before God, we are strong. "Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds" (II Corinthians 10:3,4). If we war after the flesh then we are emptied of spiritual strength. If we war after the Spirit then we are emptied of fleshly strength. Which will you have, spiritual authority, or fleshly power? You can have
either one you want, but you cannot have both.

We face perilous, dangerous times. The secret of spiritual power to see us through these times is humility. The arm of the flesh will fail us. Brothers and sisters, since we cannot avoid weakness, we may as well make the best possible use of it. Let us accept the dealings of the Holy Spirit with us and offer no resistance to Him. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up" (James 4:10). Amen.

You can read the whole article here

And just to tie some EFT into the article, I believe it's much easier to be humble when our emotions aren't running amok. In addition, if your emotions are in control, then He can't be a light unto your path and it's also a lot harder to 'submit yourselves therefore to the Lord.' ..

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