The Cost

Galatians 5:¹⁶ “My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness.” (MSG, emphasis added)

There is a cost to not winning the battle raging on our inside. And if we do not know how to navigate this raging storm, we are going to pay the price. We would start by looking at the cost to not winning the battle within. Then we will move on to the cause, the reason for this battle. It is so amazing how rich the Word of God is and it is totally inexhaustible. So, what is the cost of not dealing with the battle that is raging within?

The first cost of not winning the battle within is Confusion. 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, emphasis added). These are the words of a confused man. In this passage alone Paul uses the Word ‘I’ six times. In Romans 7:12-25 (please read), Paul uses the first-person pronouns of ‘I’, ‘me’, and ‘mine’, forty-one times in twelve verses. Like Paul, we all have what we call an “I” problem. We never really want to say it is all about me. But the things that irritate us, the things that make us uncomfortable are all about self. And one huge revelation you can have is, I am my biggest problem. When you understand that the biggest challenge is the man or the woman in the mirror, freedom begins to dawn. If we do not, confusion happens. So, when we do not win the battle within, the first cost is confusion.

The second cost of not winning the battle within is Guilt And Shame. Romans 7:¹⁶ “I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking.”  (LB, emphasis added). Paul’s bad conscience is guilting him, shaming him. When we do not know how to navigate the battles within, we live in shame. If you have shame in your life, if you think about some things and you are ashamed of yourself, it is proof that you do not know how to navigate the battle within. I pray in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that every shame will come to an end in your life in the Mighty Name of Jesus. The grace to overcome the battle within, God will open to you this season in the Mighty Name of Jesus.

The third cost of not winning the battle within is Compulsion And Addiction. So, because we are confused and we feel guilted and ashamed, we sometimes feel helpless and compelled to do the things that we know not to do. 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, emphasis added). That is compulsion – a feeling of helplessness, and a feeling of addiction.

Prayer: Father, equip and empower me to win the battle within, in Jesus Mighty Name. Amen!