James 4:4

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

The solution to the problem is so simple.

Surrender.

A doctor of theology I have heard many times said that man likes to make it complicated.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 English Standard Version

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Rephasing the good doctor, “Your intellect won’t save you.”

The only way to end this enmity is to surrender.

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

That haughty attitude trips us up. We like to be right. Who wants to be wrong?

Here is the only way to be right.

Romans 10:3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Philippians 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Be right with God. Righteousness is a right standing before God and we cannot do that apart from Christ. Surrender to our Savior. It is just that simple.

Daniel 7:13-14 English Standard Version

The Son of Man Is Given Dominion

13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Dominion is defined as sovereignty, which means supreme power and authority. The secondary definition is control. Control is an important human condition where losing it can lead to repentance and seeking the Son of Man to take over lives.

When we entered the everlasting kingdom we left the kingdom of Satan. Throughout the New Testament, Satan is referred to as a “tempter” (Matthew 4:3), “the ruler of the demons” (Matthew 12:24), “the God of this Age” (2 Corinthians 4:4), “the evil one” (1 John 5:18), and “a roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8). Another title is the prince of the power of the air.

Ephesians 2:2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

We become deserters from Satan’s camp and now he hates us and will do his best to weaken our faith and destroy our witness. His only influence in this world is whispering lies. Make no mistake, Satan is the master of lies and knows everything we were when we were following the courses of the world. Now, following Christ, we are on a different path and he will use everything he knows about us to lead us astray.

This feels like a tug of war.

Galatians 5:16-17

Keep in Step with the Spirit

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

If we are going to walk in the Spirit, we need to hear the Spirit.

The only way to know we are hearing the Spirit and not the lies of our enemy is to know Christ and Him crucified. That is a choice we have to make.

1 Corinthians 2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.