James 4:7

Verse 7 Submit yourselves, therefore, unto God.

From the foregoing considerations James would say to the brethren addressed: It is plain to you that the course that you have been pursuing is wrong, and can not result in your good in this life, nor secure your happiness in heaven. I, therefore, urge you to turn to God, submit yourselves to him and to his guidance. Resist the devil, by whom you were heretofore beguiled, and he will flee from you. Paul, in speaking to the Ephesians in relation to the resistance to the wiles of the devil, advises them to put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:11), and Peter tells those whom he addressed to be sober and vigilant, because the devil, as a roaring lion, was to be resisted only by being steadfast in the faith (1 Peter 5:8-9). Upon this clause Dr. Benson observes: "We may chase away the devil, not by holy water, the sign. of the cross, or any superstitious charm, but by steady virtue and resolute goodness."