Oh, it’s common to hear pride comes before the fall, but what comes before pride?  Could it be perhaps submission?  Submission to the flesh or submission to God?  As I was reading James 4 today my attention was brought to one little phrase in verse 7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God”. This implies that we also have a choice to submit to something else.   I often hear this verse quoted  “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”. It grieves me that God is completely left out and we submit to our own flesh to carry us to victory.  We cannot resist the devil without first submitting our entire selves to God.  I guess this can be expected in a performance-based world, but we as Christians should know the power of God’s word, His work at the cross, and our need of Him.  Have we so quickly forgotten that apart from Christ we can do nothing?  If we think back to the last time we sinned (probably not that long ago), we see the process unfold that James talks about in Chapter 1.  ” But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire”.  We can choose to submit to the flesh and its desires or submit ourselves to God.  If we are followers of Christ, our flesh is warring against the spirit yet we can choose.  In His letter to the Galatians(5:16-24), Paul also talks about this process and the fruit of each act of submission.  Again we are left with the question, is Jesus really enough for us?  So much so that we will submit our entire lives to Him?  I prayed that today would be filled with submission to the one who gave you the choice of where to submit…blessings to you.