Well, not everyone is clear on who God is and what He expects of us. So, there are great differences in what people understand "submit yourselves to God" to mean.

Your Vision and Revelation (from His Word and Spirit) of God or lack thereof determines your understanding of Submission and your willingness to Submit.

Ignorance of the Truth undermines our perception of God and Life.

Not Knowing God through the His Son (the Truth) results in a person operating in Darkness. They don't see things correctly and so they make wrong decisions.

According as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue: - 2Pe 1:3

We see from this verse that the Knowledge of Christ Jesus is the key to experiencing God's Divine Power in every aspect of our Lives.

The implication is that not Knowing Christ results in weakness, loss and failure. Knowing something about Christ is infinitely better than Knowing nothing about Him.

However, there are gradations to the Divine Power working in us. Those gradations are a direct result of the depth of our Knowledge of Christ.

The more you Know Christ, the more you experience Power, Life and Godliness.

Back to Submission...

To the extent that we understand that God has only our best interests in mind, we Submit to Him. The greater this Understanding is the more perfect our Submission to Him.

Immersing oneself in the Knowledge of Christ Jesus through meditating on His Word and Praying in the Spirit produces HeartFaith.

Paul, did not just Believe in Christ Jesus, he Knew Him. He had HeartFaith. His Mind had been Transformed to the Mind of Christ.

So, Paul had no problem with Submission to God.

God never asks us to do anything which we can't do. He does not want us to fail.

Note that Paul did not say who strengthens me. He said which strengthens me. Christ is the Annointing which is by the Spirit of God. So, Fellowship with God through the Annointing is imperative since the Annointing is the Power of God.

That is a little aside, but it is important because we don't Submit if we feel vulnerable. We want control.

Again, the Knowledge of God as revealed through Jesus by the HolySpirit (Christ) is critical for us to experience Divine Power and so have HeartFaith that makes us comfortable in Submission to God.

Now, let's look at "resisting the devil".

Resistance is the opposite of Submission.

So, James 4:7 is telling us to never Submit to the Devil.

The way to avoid submitting to the Devil is to resist him.

But, in order for you to resist him, you must recognize him.

In Knowing God we are empowered to recognize the Devil. A deficiency in our Knowledge of God will cause us to not recognize the Devil.

Most people don't willingly Submit to the Devil. When they find that they have in fact done so, they realize they were Deceived and did not recognize him at the time.

Ignorance of God produced ignorance of the Devil.

So, when we don't recognize the Devil, we listen to him just as Eve did. His arguments are rational and powerful, playing upon our ego and fleshly desires.

I am not so concerned about the Sins that most Religious people harp on. I am concerned about the Sin that condemns a person to the lake of fire.

That Sin is not Knowing the One who as Jesus said "is able to destroy both soul and body in hell". Mat 10:28

This ignorance of the Saviour results in a person being Deceived by the Devil. That person not only does not "resist the Devil", they Submit to him.

And so, they come under Bondage to the Devil instead of a state of empowered, liberated Submission to the God who created them and loves them and desired only their best in Him.

Submission is an act of our will. But our will is determined by our understanding or lack thereof of the Truth.

This is why Jesus commanded us to Preach the Gospel to every creature.