“Resist the devil and he will flee.”  (Jas. 4:7) 


One of the most common mistakes we make is thinking that we must yield to the temptation to doubt as if it would never go away.  Actually, another mistake often precedes that one:  failing to see that doubting is a temptation.  As we live coram Deo, we will more readily recognize doubts for what they really are: powerfully tempting lies.  The temptation to doubt is so hard pressing that it feels as though it will never go away.  Indeed, if the intensity of doubting attacks lasted forever, we would never be able to resist.  But they won’t last forever if we resist!  Giving into temptation as if we had no choice is like coming across a horrible book.  You decided that the only way to rid society of its message was to buy up all the copies.  However, all this did was empower the publisher to make more copies.  That’s how it is with temptation.  It’s hold gets stronger and stronger (i.e., stronghold) the more we give into it.  The instant we pick up a piece of doubt trash and consider keeping it, James 1:7-8 says we become “a double-minded man, unstable” in all we do, and we “should not think [we] will receive anything from the Lord.”  Therefore we must obediently cling to God’s promises.

First, submitting to God and resisting the devil with a raised shield of faith causes him to flee and all his fiery arrows to be extinguished.( Jas. 4:7-8, Eph 6:16)  Secondly, “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Co. 10:13)  Third, we can be alert and in prayer, “do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Mt. 6:13)  And fourth, a temptation such as doubt only becomes a sin that hinders us from living coram Deo once we conceive it as we read in James:

“…But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death… Jas 1:14-16, 18, 21

Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret
/coram-deo.html

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” Jas. 1:5-8

God wants us to remain in an aggressive stance against our #1 coram Deo enemy: doubt. He wants us to never be satisfied again with the casual kind of faith that ebbs and flows “like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” Doubts are not to be entertained even for a second.  That’s a command straight from God’s Word, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Co. 10:5)

The biggest mistake we make is in trying to out-argue each doubt instead of simply demolishing it.  We do this because we are even double-minded about the fact that the lying doubts originate from the devil! (Jn. 8:44)  Because we fail to discern his tricks, we deflatedly think we are half-hearted hypocrites because we had such thoughts.   It’s a mad cycle.  There is nothing the devil who is craftier and much more powerful than us would like more than to engage us in mind games. 

Two of the times Christ encountered the devil, He did not engage him in clever mind games; after all, how can you persuade a being who has no truth in him?  Christ knew this well and said, “Away from me, Satan!” and “Get behind me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to me.” (Mt. 4:10 & Mt. 16:23)  Instead of reasoning with the father of lies, He simply resisted him.

Think of a person you know who is so far removed from speaking and reasoning truthfully that nearly everything about their conversation is tainted with deceit.  You simply learn to receive nothing as truth from that person until it is tested.  You learn to automatically shield your heart and mind from that person’s probable lies without much ado.  Do you see how we can apply this same principle in our internal battles with temptation?  While we may hear the evil one’s lies, we can choose not to ingest even a dribble of his potion.  God says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God.” (1 Jn. 4:1) Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret

Adapted from the Coram Deo Secret
http://www.marisarickerson.com/coram-deo.html