Today’s Quote: “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” –Winston Churchill
I’m sure you’ve noticed as you’ve been trying to
leave behind some of your bad habits, there are some forces at work against
you.
Perhaps #9 has begun to contact you
again and your mind is starting to get caught up in “the game”. Or maybe you’ve found since you’ve been pursuing a more
godly lifestyle, you have never felt such a strong desire to live just the
opposite. What is up with that?
Today we are going to identify the
three things we are up against whenever we try to do something good for
ourselves. Our Three Great Battles.
We will look briefly at each of them,
along with their distinct behaviors and strategies, and hopefully become better
prepared to be victorious on our road to wholeness and freedom.
1. The Enemy
Scripture speaks of Satan as being a great deceiver. (Revelation 12:9)
He specializes in deception of every sort.
One of his broadest deceptions has shown itself in most people thinking he’s not even real and that evil is just more of a concept than it is a distinct force. Us not putting our finger on him works so well in his favor.
Another way he deceives is through
temptation. Tempting us with something that is very appealing, but is not going to lead us anywhere good.
He did it first with Eve. The very
first woman on Earth, and do you know what he tempted her with? The knowledge
of God. He tempted her to want to know everything for herself without having to
lean on or trust God for it.
Does
this sound like people in our world today?
Instead of trusting in God to give us what we need for each appointed time, and to do with it what HE wants.
Deception. Thinking there are other
ways to goodness and wisdom besides Jesus.
I once heard an awesome youth pastor
say something along these lines:
The
enemy prays on that which is not yet mature. That which is not yet ready. The ones who have no clue of the repercussions that
lie ahead of them and are not prepared to face the consequences. Young ones
experimenting with sex, teenagers compiling debt, college kids drinking every
night just for fun- just to name a few. Getting people hooked on behaviors
before they are mature enough to realize the consequences. 52
He’s doing this everywhere. Tempting
people with a counterfeit version of the real
blessings that God offers.
Young girls want love, the enemy
says find it in this guy. Young men want acceptance, the enemy says find it by
doing this, and so on and so on.
And while those counterfeit versions might
satiate for a time, it is always at the expense of our dignity and our future.
Deception.
Girls, do not be flippant about
your enemy. He wants you to latch onto things that will drain you. You better know it’s true.
Satan wants the very opposite of what
God wants for you. While God is out for your restoration, Satan is out for your
downfall. He will even make you feel scared to get too close to God for fear of
what God will want to do with you. Now if all God is and all God offers is
GOOD, why would we ever be scared to get close to Him?
Deception, girls. Very real deception.
And you will never be so under
attack as when you are trying to change your life around and live for Jesus.
The enemy would whisper in your ear that you’re becoming boring. That you’re
losing your identity and your fire. The truth is that you are becoming stable.
And that you’re losing his identity
and his fire. And this whisper will
usually come at a critical time. Right when you could potentially make a
decision to put your feelings to the side and go with God on this one. Go with God!
And do not fear the idea of the enemy’s
opposition. The devil is not
all-powerful. Only God is. Yes, he is very crafty and will do everything in his
power to try and peal us away from God. But ultimately, the devil has no power
to control us. We are God’s creation. Not his.
You belong to Jesus.
 |
| Thank you, Daddy |
Never stop calling out to Him. He
will always be there to steer you toward your good, and he is ALWAYS capable of
winning your battles when you invite Him into them.
“Greater
is He that is in me than he who is in the world”- 1 John 4:4
Which brings us to our next great
battle….
2. The World
In scripture, Satan is often referred to as “the
prince of this world.” Take a
look around and it’s not hard to see why. His deceptions have made themselves
at home everywhere we look.
Be in the world, not of the world, but
for the world.
That is
why we are not to make ourselves at
home here.
We are to be in the world, not of the world,
but for the world.
- In the world…
God has us here for a reason. And although we will never
fully understand that reason until we meet Him face to face, for now our bodies
are stuck on this earth. But God wants our minds and hearts to be about His
business.
Yes, of course there are many blessings on this earth for His
people to enjoy. But there is a big difference between loving God and enjoying His blessings; and living for the pleasures of this world.
Our real pleasure comes when we are finished with the
world, but for now, this is where we’re meant to be.
- Not of the world…
“Do not love this
world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not
have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for
physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our
achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this
world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave.
But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” 1John 2:15-17
So, outside of Jesus, we see that this world can only offer
us those three things:
1. Craving for physical
pleasure: preoccupation with gratifying physical desires.
2. Craving for everything
we see: coveting and accumulating things, bowing to the god of materialism; and
3. Pride in our
achievements and possessions: obsession with ones status or importance.
There’s no doubt that we ourselves struggle with the things
on that list. Not only is everything available to help us satiate our physical
cravings, it is usually highly promoted and tantalizing. But as Christians God
calls us to be focused on other things.
“By contrast, God values self-control, a spirit of
generosity, and a commitment to humble service.”
We can be so quick to buy into the enemy’s lie that the
ways of the world have greater perks attached. But that is all just…you guessed
it, deception.
The ways of the world will ultimately leave us broken and
empty. That’s why we need to invite Jesus into any situations that we’re unsure
about, and let him reign with goodness and truth.
Be wise. Guard yourself where you are easily tempted. God
will help you if you ask Him to. He doesn’t want us to be hesitant with
surrendering our struggles in the world to Him, because He wants to use us to
fight….
- For the world…
Christians have a power of effectiveness in this world
unlike any other group of people. If we have fully surrendered our lives to Him
and are moving with the power of His Spirit in our designated purpose, there is
nothing like that.
So many people out there are trying to compete and get
ahead, but God calls us to step out of that rat race. To surrender our need to
be better than anyone, be humble, and allow Him to just use us where He wants
to use us.
On this front, true spirituality actually offers us
a totally unjaded view of the world
around us. Not the other way around as people often think. Deception.
If we are able
to remain humble in this way, and open to what God wants to use us for, there
is no doubt that He gives us eyes of discernment. Suddenly we are able to
discern situations from a place of higher understanding, because we are no
longer “in it”.
We are able to
see a much deeper need. A heart that needs saving, just like our heart needed
saving.
Our world is broken and corrupt because the hearts of the
individuals who make it up are broken and corrupt. And while most people are
busy about trying to fix it from the outside in (deception), we need to be helping people find the only true inner
healing that exists. Jesus. All hearts without Jesus are bad. Our own included.
But now we are able, and are commissioned to, share the
blessed hope that we ourselves received through Christ Jesus. (Matthew
28:16-20) The world needs that!
Let yourself be
used.
The Flesh
The third great battle we will face in this world is the battle with our own flesh.
This one is pretty straightforward.
We are going to have physical urges to do things that God doesn’t want us to do. A lot. And walking with Him is going to mean learning to say “no” to some of those urges, in order to hold out for a bigger and better
But this can be tough when we’ve been saying “yes” to our flesh for our whole lives.
Even Paul, the most awesome, God-loving, God-fearing Christian in the whole New Testament, struggled with His flesh. Read what he writes and see if you can’t relate:
“I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?”-Romans 7:15-24
Does this feel at all familiar?
It does to me!
God knows that as much as my heart desires to do right, and walk
with Him and live for Him, a lot of times my biggest battles are against
myself! My stinkin, rotten, sinful flesh, pulling me away from the good things
that God is trying to do in my life.
So why on earth would He make us this way? Doesn’t He want us to be good and disciplined and successful?
Of course He does. But He’s made us with some certain needs that only He can meet. And this is one of those.
The need to be free from the limitations of ourselves!
Remember, He desires a relationship with you, and for a lot of us, it isn’t until we come to the end of our own efforts and capabilities that we will turn to God and cry out, “I can’t do it on my own!”
And what a great cry that is!!
Our struggles with our flesh provide great opportunities to learn self-control, maturity, and humility.
Not one of us can boast in our flesh. Not one.
As I walk through my life and grow
in my faith, I see everyday how much more real and multi-faceted these battles
we face are. It’s enough to make me want to crawl into bed and never come out.
Except that His light shining through the clouds is that much more devastatingly
powerful. Who is this God?
His complexities glimmer more
beautiful and His strength rises stronger and I can’t even take it I am so in
love and in awe over all of this. This great story I am somehow a part of.
Don’t give up. He made us to long with Him for our eternal home.
The place our souls were made for where there will be no more suffering,
heartbreak or pain over loved ones.
But in the meantime you need to let
Him hold you, here. And the victory will be yours. I’m 100% sure of it.
Today’s Dare: How amazing is it that God allows
us to stand “above” so many of the things that we never thought that we could
get above? And to WIN so many of the battles that we never thought we could
win?
He lets us stand with Him and be
victors with Him! I just love the mental picture of that!
I see myself and God standing on
top of the world, with all of the ugliness, the enemy's lies, and all of this
messy confusion swirling about in the world underneath our feet.
But I’m above it. I can see it. I
can see it for what it is and no longer am just being tossed about by it all. Thank
you Jesus.
Today I want you to find a place
that is high up (but safe!). Maybe a mountain top or a roof deck. Somewhere you
can sit with God and look down at life.
Spend some time pouring out to Him.
Ask Him for help with the things that you just feel like you haven’t been able
to get ‘above’, and thank Him for those victories you have had so far with Him. Feel Him tugging at you. Wanting more of
you. And rejoice over the marvelous reality that through Jesus, you have the
power to overcome!
