WholeHeart Conversations
Join WholeHeart Conversations with Mental Health Counselor, Constance Lavonice, as she encourages women through the Word of God. Expect to receive biblical encouragement that penetrates your spirit and soul, fostering resilience through the practical application of God's Word. Take a break from the constant bombardment of negative news and headlines and tune in each week for a word of encouragement.
WholeHeart Conversations
Resisting the Spiritual Adversary
Spiritual battles are real. The enemy's tactics—accusations, lies, and deception—work to undermine your faith and steal your peace. But what if you already possess all you need to make the devil flee?
In this empowering episode, we dive deep into James 4:7 and unpack what it truly means to "submit to God and resist the devil." Rather than offering vague spiritual platitudes, we break down a practical two-step process that transforms how you respond to spiritual attacks. First, there's submission—drawing near to God and allowing His Spirit to fill you afresh. Then comes resistance—standing firm in divine authority against spiritual forces.
Scripture reveals Satan as "the thief," "father of lies," and "accuser of our brothers and sisters." These aren't just theological concepts but realities that manifest in your thought life, relationships, and circumstances. The good news? The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells within you. Ephesians 6 reminds us our struggle isn't against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of darkness—a battle requiring spiritual weapons, not worldly tactics.
Remember Jesus' promise about speaking to mountains with unwavering faith? That mountain-moving authority belongs to you right now. When spiritual attacks come, you can speak directly to them in Jesus' name, believing in faith that what God says will happen. Your words, backed by divine authority, cause the enemy to flee. Ready to stand firm and exercise the spiritual authority that's already yours? Listen now, and discover how submission to God unleashes unstoppable resistance against every spiritual attack.
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James, chapter 4, verse 7, says Submit, therefore, to God, but resist the devil and he will flee from you. What does it mean to resist the devil? You're listening to Whole Heart Conversations, a podcast especially for women, to boost your mental and emotional health and build resilience as you grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ. I am your host, constance Lavonice. Jesus says that the thief, also known as the devil, only comes to steal, kill and destroy, that he's the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. That when he tells a lie he speaks from his own nature. Also in the book of Revelations, it tells us that Satan is the accuser of our brothers and sisters, of our brothers and sisters. So Satan is a spiritual adversary and we have the ability, as Christians, to resist his spiritual attacks, his false accusations, his lies that he speaks to us that are not aligned with biblical truth and what the Word of God says about us. We have the ability to resist those spiritual attacks and temptations through the power of God. What does that look like? The first step is we submit to God. In James, chapter 4, the next verse 8, tells us to draw near to God and he will draw near to you. So we surrender to God, let him fill us with a fresh anointing of his Holy Spirit, and then we resist through the same Holy Spirit, remembering that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead resides in us.
Constance L:The second step can be found in Ephesians, chapter 6. It starts with finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. So it's not against people, flesh and blood, and what we see is spiritual forces of wickedness. And we get a glimpse of this in the book of Daniel, when Daniel is praying and the angel finally comes to Daniel and he tells him that your words were heard as soon as you prayed, but it took him, the angel, 21 days to get to Daniel because he was opposed or being held back by another spiritual force. So the second step is to be strong in the Lord, to recognize that we're not battling flesh and blood, but spiritual forces. And we don't have to back down because it's a spiritual force, because we have God and the Holy Spirit within us, have to war, according to the world, because our weapons of warfare are divinely powerful for pulling down strongholds.
Constance L:When we're in the midst of a spiritual attack, temptation or stronghold, jesus says truly I say to you whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted to him. So we speak to the mountain or the problem in the name of Jesus and by his authority, through the Holy Spirit that lives in us, believing that what God says is true is going to happen. And by speaking in the name of Jesus, the devil will flee. And if you've heard anything helpful today, please subscribe and share and send the show, a text, to let me know what's on your heart.
