THE BATTLE THAT RAGES WITHIN US

BIBLE PASSAGE:
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your
feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
(Romans 16:20)

MEDITATION:
We are born with a natural desire to sin.
When we succumb to temptations and sin, we are rebelling
against God’s guidelines for living within His boundaries.
We might not like to think of it as rebellion, but that’s what it is.
God wants us to live ‘His’ way,
but we have decided to live ‘our’ way (or actually Satan’s way).

Satan is clever enough to convince us that
as long as we don’t have internal turmoil
or battles from two opposing forces within
our lives, then we are where we need to be.

Without Christ in our lives, there is no battle between good and evil,
because we are under the control of one force which has no opposition.
However, when we invite Jesus into our lives, everything changes
and we discover the war between sin and righteousness in our life.

It makes sense, doesn’t it?
Satan hates us and wants to mislead us into believing
the road we are on is okay (but it actually leads to death);
in opposition to this thought, Jesus loves us and wants
to walk in kindness with us down the road that leads to life.

If there isn’t a battle between good and evil in our life
then we must be lacking the presence of any opposition
to our natural desires – and Jesus is the missing opposition.

Some people have convinced themselves that ‘all is good’
because they belong to the Lord (and that’s true), but if we
can’t sense the struggle of two opposing forces in our lives,
then something is probably missing, wouldn’t you agree?
In the midst of the battle, we need to be prepared for, and
expect Satan to encourage us to justify our sinful actions.

Satan has been with us since the time of our birth and he has no
plans of leaving us alone, so the only way to cause a war is to
bring something into our life that opposes his influence on us.
When we invite Jesus into our life, we develop a better
understanding of the things that are good and right, and we
have a greater awareness of what is sinful and wrong for us.

To deny this struggle exists,
is to deny the presence of the Lord in our life.
Paul (one of the great missionaries for the Lord)
was open and honest about this struggle in his own life.
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do
I do not do, but what I hate I do. (Romans 7:15)

For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not
want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not
want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in
me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want
to do good, evil is right there with me. Romans 7:19-21)

If Paul admitted that this struggle existed in his life, should
we expect anything less when we surrender our life to the Lord?
Ask any preacher, missionary, or anyone else actively serving
the Lord if they have this battle in their own life.
More than likely most would say they do ‘feel’ the battle, but
if they say they do not, then wouldn’t you think that something
is missing, and that the ‘missing piece’ is opposition to Satan?

Paul seemed to be desperate for some relief from this struggle.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from
this body that is subject to death? (Romans 7:24)

Then he shares with us how he found relief
(and it is where we can find relief as well).
Thanks be to God, who delivers me
through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:25)

Even though the battle rages on,
we have an advocate in Jesus Christ (and the Holy Spirit)!
Paul realized that he was fighting a losing battle
when relying on his own strength, so he called for
reinforcements from the Lord (and so should we).

It makes sense doesn’t it?
The Lord is more powerful and clever than the evil one,
so we should expect to be victorious when He is with us.

Satan has been around for a long time and has developed his
skills for misleading us, but Jesus has been around even longer
so He is wise to the devil’s schemes.
Without the Lord’s presence, there may be no battle for us on
earth, but when He is present in our life, even though there is
conflict, there is victory (both for now and for eternity).

So this brings up the question,
    “Why would I want to create a struggle in my own life?”
We have probably all heard the phrase,
    “Anything worth having is worth fighting for.”

A follow-up question is,
    “What is the thing worth fighting for?”
And the answer is,
    “Our eternal destiny – the place where we will spend eternity”.

ACTION:
Now that we have looked at the conflict created when we
invite Jesus into our life, what will you do with this knowledge?
One hundred years is a long life on earth,
but it is only a ‘blink of the eye’ when compared to eternity.

But there’s even more reasons for engaging in the battle!
When we win the battle on earth, we won’t have to be
concerned about any opposition to God in our eternal home.
Instead we will experience an eternal life of peace and joy
(be honest, isn’t that ‘worth fighting for’?).

If we could get just a glimpse of the magnificence of heaven
and the magnitude of the suffering and agony of hell,
we would know that fighting for where we will spend
eternity is definitely worth the battle here on earth.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, help me to realize that there will
be conflict between good and evil in my life when I
choose to follow You. Encourage me and remind me
of the importance of continuing to resist the temptations
from the evil one. Give me wisdom and confidence to
know that when I call on You, I will succeed in defeating
Satan’s attempts to control my life. I pray that I will
rejoice in knowing that all things are possible whenever
I depend on You and not myself. Thank You Jesus, for
showing Your unmistakable love for me when You took
the punishment for my sins. I may not fully understand
it all, but I will always be grateful for what You did for me!”