All my life I had to fight (in my color purple Sophia voice) but seriously true. Unfortunately we are born into this world with the enemy ready to rage war. Like it or not, we have all been born into a war zone as result of what happened with Adam and Eve. For some of us, the hardest battles are fought within ourselves. Sure we understand the circumstances and situations that the enemy uses to destroy us. We can accept the truth of how the world lures and tempts us. We can understand to some degree that the battle in the spiritual realm is ongoing and real, even though we cannot see it. But, to get a grasp on what is going on within our own hearts and minds can be the hardest, most exhausting, battle of them all. Many Christians rather not deal with spiritual warfare; it is too scary and frightening so they prefer to ignore it. As a result, the enemy is winning; just look around at all the school shootings, missing kids, drug and alcohol abuse, divorce, and so much more! It makes me want to cry. But crying is not going to change the fact that we are in a war, we know the battle belongs to God, but we are his soldiers. We have to put on the whole armor of God and we must be “vigilant and sober” as scripture says. (1 Peter 5:8)
The enemy will come after any Christian where there is an opening, he will fit in where he can get in. If God the Father allowed His Son Jesus Christ to be tempted by Satan while He was in the desert for 40 days, then you can bet the chances may be very good that you may have to deal with the possibility of having to directly engage with the enemy sometime in your life. When the enemy tries to attack you from an outside position, he will try to hinder you from being able to progress from point A to point B in your walk and call for God. He also will start playing mind-games with you in an effort to try to throw you into some kind of mental torment and separate you from your spiritual connection with the Lord. The enemy will try to tell you that you are not saved, that you have committed the unpardonable sin and try to dissuade you from reading your Bible and continuing to grow in the knowledge and ways of God. Ok now devil , you are a liar, God said you would come to seek, kill, and destroy! (John 10:10). The battle, the struggle, the war, the fight goes on in our thinking. Our emotions and feelings are involved. There is a struggle, a wrestling match being fought inside you. It is between satan’s deceptions and God’s truth (the Bible). It is a battle of victory to those who read and obey the Bible, and of defeat to those who do not. This battle rages in your mind, your flesh, and your feelings. I am telling you, satan is a master at deceiving people. Beware when feelings and thoughts are not in harmony with the Scriptures. It is God’s Word that will tell you if your thoughts and feelings are from Him or satan. You may ask yourselves ,why do I even want to fight? In the spiritual realm, there is a battle going on whether we fight or not. We are either victors or victims. Jesus has come and conquered. The war is already won in the heavens. (Mathew 28:18). We now have the privilege of having an eternal relationship with God. Many of us enter into that covenant of salvation by grace. Salvation is the best and most important gift God has given us, but it is also about our every day victory, which adds up to victorious living in Christ. Every day victory is achieved by knowing, believing and understanding the battles that we are enduring daily, regardless if we are passive or active in the battles. I choose to take my sword up and put on my armor of God. I choose to fight! Although sometimes I feel as Paul describes in the Book of Romans, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.”Ladies and gentleman, that is our dilemma, that is why we must fight.
Yet despite all we will go through, the seemingly endless struggle in our minds, we must strive to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5) Our defense is to know, understand, and obey God’s Word. We have to study God’s Word, so He can discern what is right and wrong. Examine everything by God’s Word! As Christians, we all have the power of God operating on the inside of us through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The enemy is no match for any Christian who knows who they really are in their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and who knows how to use the Word of God as their spiritual weapon! We are in a war here on the earth. We are God’s soldiers. Do not be afraid because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world! (John 4:4). I’m not scared to fight, I have read the ending of ‘The Book” and I know who the winner is! Love and Blessings…
EMMANUEL 