By James 4:7 must be the shortest verse in the Bible on fighting the Devil.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7
Although we as human beings rank significantly below the demonic realm in strength and power (although not in the ‘image of God’ sense!), we are promised that the devil will flee from us when we resist him. As the initial two commands in this verse indicate, we resist the Devil when we submit ourselves to God.
Those two commands really do have an obvious relationship. The more you place yourself under God’s lordship and believe and obey all He tells you, the more you will be going against everything the Devil is and stands for. Similarly, the more you don’t give in to the temptations of the Devil and the ways of thinking that he produces in this world, the more you will be submitting to God in all you think and do.
As briefly as James 4:7 puts it, there is more to James’ teaching on spiritual warfare. In James 4:1-3 he calls us to stop being so driven by our own desires. In James 4:4-5 he shows us how worldly ways of thinking and living are not compatible with being a child of God. In James 4:6 he humbles us with the reminder that we cannot do anything by ourselves but are completely dependent on God’s grace which is only given to the humble. Then, after the shortest verse on spiritual warfare, James continues in James 4:8 by sending us back to God in our devotion, and away from sin in our lifestyle. You see, the entire Christian life is part of spiritual warfare, and the simple reality is that when you get right with God, then you won’t be giving in to the Devil and he will leave.