The other day we were talking about the battle that we fight within us and who it is that we are really fighting. We are not fighting a flesh and blood fight, but fighting evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, against evil spirits in the heavenly places. We are not fighting against “the things” that we struggle with, bur what is behind them. We are fighting against the tactics of Satan. For example, if someone goes shopping or does a drug because they want to feel excitement or joy or are trying to avoid feeling pain, loneliness, or whatever, the culprit isn’t the shopping or the drug. The culprit is the feeling, the filled desire that they get from doing it. And the enemy has put the thoughts that lead to the emotion that they are trying to feel.or avoid from feeling. The enemy uses many different “things” to keep us trapped but once we know what’s behind “the thing” then we can break free from them. He uses what’s in our soul (our mind,will, and emotions) to try to weaken or break our spirit (our heart, our true self, where Jesus resides) and keep us from becoming or being all that we were created to be and do.

Sometimes just getting a deeper understanding of how this battle is conducted is enough to light a fire under us to fight against and resist the attacks of the enemy. Knowledge equals power! But let’s look at some other practical ways that this attack is set up and how to fight against it. Let’s say that you want to start getting to work in time to be able to sit in the car for 10 minutes, doing whatever, to get you mentally prepared and in good spirits before you walk in to work because you want to be more Christ like at work. So you know that you are going to have to leave the house earlier to be able to do that. You set your alarm to go off 15 minutes earlier, you pre make the coffee pot, you get your outfit out for the next day, and you make sure everything you need is sitting right by the door so that you can just grab it on your way out. The next morning comes, you get up and put your outfit on. You go to the kitchen and start the coffee pot. You’re getting the kids lunch together and hear a noise. The coffee filter has folded over and you have coffee pouring all over the counter. You stop making the lunches and clean the coffee up but there is just enough in the pot that you can still make you a cup so you do. When you go to take a sip it is too hot which causes you to jump and you spill some on your shirt. So now you have to change clothes and still finish making lunches. Quickly the extra time that you had is gone and you are actually running a couple minutes behind so now it is rush rush rush. Because of what happened you think,” see, something always gets in the way or happens that causes me to not have any time before I get into work. My day is ruined and I’m going to be irritable all day. ” That this is the enemy trying to plant negative thoughts and a bad attitude in you while keeping you from getting to work early so that you can have some “amp up with Jesus ” time. This is where you have a choice. You can either take that thought and keep the sour attitude or you can fight. You can say, “nope devil, you’re wrong. Yes things happened but I still got my coffee, the kids lunch got made, and the outfit I have on now is cuter than the other one was. I will have my ” amp up with Jesus ” time while I am on my way to work and today is going to be a great day.”

Or let’s say that the Lord has put on your heart that you need to stop doing something that you are doing. You have the desire in your heart to stop it because you want to obey and please god. You tell yourself that you will resist the temptation by doing x, y, or z. Next thing you know you have a stronger desire than ever to do the very thing you said you wanted to stop doing. The temptation to do it is raging in you like a wildfire and next thing you know you have the thought, ” I’m going to do it this one last time so that I can get it out of my system and start new tomorrow, ” and you do “the thing ” ( “the thing” can be anything that isn’t going to be good for or serving you positively in any way). Soon as you do it you get feelings of guilt, shame, and/or regret festering in you. And then thoughts like, ” see, I told you that you couldn’t do it. Just look at you, God is so disappointed in you, why did I just do that? I am so stupid and weak. How can God approve of or love someone like me? I am such a mess and there is no hope for me to even try to stop the thing “. I’m a failure and there is no way that God can use me for anything when I can’t even obey him and stop doing “the thing “. It’s important to note how the enemy will increase the desire to do the thing, then he rationalizes why it’s okay to do it one more time, and then when we do it he puts defeating thoughts in our head to bring us down, discourage us, and cause us to shy away from God because we think he is upset or disappointed with us. But we can beat him at his own game by refusing to listen to him, speak the truth of what the word says about God’s unconditional love for us, learning ways to resist the temptation ( because God is faithful to provide a way out ), and acknowledge and accept the fact that we are imperfect human beings that will make mistakes, have times of weakness, struggle, and even fail at times.

Everything that we do is fueled by a desire or emotion. In the first example the person wanted to be peaceful, positive, loving, encouraging by having a few minutes to “amp up with Jesus” before work. In the second example the person wanted to have the feeling of acceptance and Love by being obedient to god. In both cases they were trying to do something to experience a feeling. But the thing is that those feelings are already there, deep within them. They can have those feelings without having to do anything! A lot of people don’t know this fact and that is how the enemy is able to keep so many people from experiencing the life that Jesus died for us to be able to have. Real life comes from within us and that is where this battle takes place. Someone can have everything that they ever wanted in life and still never experienced true joy. Because they look too success, money, houses, things, or others to make them feel happy, worthy, accepted, loved, important, and complete. Nothing they obtain will keep them that way for very long before they need more of it. Whereas when we get it from within ourselves and God we don’t need to look for it or get it from anywhere else.

The enemy knows that true life is in the spirit, which is within us. He also knows that our desires and emotions fuel our actions. Therefore, if he can influence our thoughts, emotions, and desires he can win the Battle of keeping us from Walking In God’s will and ultimately keep us from true life, living in the spirit. If it is a bad habit or an addiction that he is using as “the thing” to defeat you with figure out what emotion or desire “the thing” is fulfilling for you (may have to do some deep soul searching to figure this out). What is something positive and life-giving that you can do to give you that desire or emotion instead of “the thing”? What are some positive phrases that you can tell yourself to encourage, boost up, empower, and remind yourself about yourself throughout the day and when you feel an attack from the enemy? Pay close attention to what is going on within your mind and emotions so that you can recognize when the enemy is attacking you. The Bible talks about how important the mind is. And it is where the enemy attacks us the most because if he can get to our thoughts he can get to our emotions and that will cause our behavior.

We can have victory in the battle and still be standing strong after the attack. But we will have to fight if we want the victory. We have to pay attention to and correct our thoughts and not let emotions fuel us so that we can have the behavior that is best for us. We already have everything that we need within us, we just have to learn how to fight the battle that is keeping us from experiencing it.