Praying to Submit to God and Resist the Devil | Prayer on James 4:6-7

This is a prayer I’ve prayed from time to time for many years. It’s originally adapted from a “Warfare Prayer” I found in various books on spiritual warfare. I have found it to be a helpful and practical way to “submit to God and resist the devil,” as James says. Flag this episode as a prayer you can come back to from time to time yourself as you feel it’s needed. 1 Peter 5:6–9 NIV 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith… James 4:6–8 ESV 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. A Prayer to Submit to God and Resist the Devil Heavenly Father, I bow before you in worship. I want to submit and surrender myself completely and unreservedly in every area of my life to you,Almighty God. Your will for me is always my best. Lord Jesus, I worship you and I want to love and cherish you and treasure you above all else. I recognize that you alone are worthy to receive all glory, honor, and praise. I am thankful that you came as my righteous representative, and that through your work of atonement on the cross you have completely forgiven me of all my sin and broken through the other side of death to life on my behalf! You have given me eternal life in your Name. You have given me your perfect righteousness with which I am now able to draw near to the throne of God with confidence. And I will receive an eternal inheritance as a co-heir with you of your glory in your eternal kingdom with a resurrection like your resurrection. I am thankful that the blessings and honor the Lord Jesus Christ won on the cross and by His resurrection have been completely given to me, and that I am seated with the Lord Jesus Christ in the heavenly realm. I do, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, hold fast to my place in Christ and with Christ in the heavenly realm, with all powers of darkness and all spirit forces of wickedness under my feet.  I affirm that the Word of God is true, and I choose to live today in the light of God’s Holy Word. I choose, Heavenly Father, to believe all your promises to me in Jesus Christ. I want to live in obedience to you and in fellowship with you. By faith and in total dependence upon your Holy Spirit, I put off the old self and put on Christ’s crucifixion — where the Lord Jesus Christ completely cleansed me and washed me and sanctified me from all my sin. And I put on the new self in Christ and stand in all the blessings of the resurrection, where the Lord Jesus Christ provided for mecomplete freedom and power to resist all sin and temptation in my life. Therefore, today I put off the old self with its pride, self-will, self-centeredness and idolatry, and I put on the new self with its humility, Christ-centeredness, and surrender to the will of God. I put off the old self with its selfishness, and I put on the new self with its love, servanthood, and selflessness in Christ Jesus. I put off the old self with its fear, insecurity, and unbelief, and I put on the new self with its courage, boldness, security, and trust in all the promises of God for me in Christ Jesus. I put off the old self with all its deceitful and destructive lusts and sexual impurity, and I put on the new self with all its righteousness, holiness, purity, and self-control in Christ Jesus. I put off today the old self in all things, and put on my new self in the Lord Jesus Christ as my power and freedom to reject and resist all the sins of the old self, and I choose to reject and resist them now inthe name of the Lord Jesus Christ.