Battle Within

Romans 7:¹⁷ But I can’t help myself because I’m no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things.” (LB)

Over the next couple of weeks, God is taking us on a journey of winning the invisible war and our kick-off point is Winning The Battle Within. We have written a book on Winning; gaining and sustaining victory in the battles of life. I recommend that you get it and read it in this season. The truth is that the significant part of the battles of life for us as Christians is invisible. There are forces that we cannot see, terrains that are not visible to the physical eyes, but they influence our daily lives. Every Christian has three main enemies – the world, satan, and the flesh.

The world is the value system around us. The flesh is the old nature within us. And satan is the enemy outside against us. We are sometimes bombarded on every side, and we are wondering where to even begin. But the good news is through Christ Jesus we have victory already. One of the first things you and I must realize is that you are your own biggest enemy. I am my own biggest enemy. We do not like to think of ourselves like that. But the moment you realize this, the easier it becomes for you to overcome the challenges of life. The biggest enemy you will overcome is the man or woman in the mirror.

Someone said, ‘Pastor, I am tired of my boss, my spouse, and the children are driving me nuts. I just need to go on a vacation to Tahiti’. So, he or she goes on a vacation to Tahiti, comes back, and he or she is wondering why they still feel so frustrated. You still feel frustrated because you went with you. You took yourself along. The things we are kicking against in the people and the systems around us are largely the battles that are within us. Walt Kelly puts it this way, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” When we look into the scriptures, Paul talks about this battle that he fought within himself. In fact, there’s something about Paul that I really, really appreciate. And that is the fact that Paul was truthful, completely honest, in fact, brutally honest.

He was a Christian, a man of God, filled with the Holy Spirit. But he had real struggles and he put them down in writing. Romans 7:¹⁵ “I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t. I do what I don’t want to—what I hate.” (LB). Think about it; this is the apostle of apostles, the man who wrote most of the New Testament, and the strongest documented Christian if you will. Yet he is not speaking in past tense or concerning his past life. He is speaking concerning his present life as a Christian, and the struggles he went through.

Prayer: Father, in the Name of Jesus, let every battle within be silenced, in Jesus Name. Amen!