THE BATTLES WITHIN

There is an ongoing battle between two kingdoms – the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. This battle has been on from the time Satan rebelled against God and lost his position in heaven (Ezekiel 28:12-19). You can’t afford to be ignorant about this battle. You need to be fully aware that you are engaged in a battle with Satan and his cohorts. Satan and his kingdom are in direct opposition to everything God wants to do in your life, everything God wants you to be. This is why they won’t for one second relent, but will make sure they fight you every step of the way.

The devil launches two battles against us. The battle that comes from principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness is not our main battle (Ephesians 6:12). No doubt that battle exists, but it is a secondary battle. The main or primary battle is the battle for our soul. Peter sheds more light on this battle in 1 Peter 2:11 when he tells us to abstain from sinful desires that war against our soul. Galatians 5:17 tells us that there is a serious conflict between the sinful nature and the Spirit of God. In Romans 7:23, Paul said there was a war going on between his mind and sin.

The driving force behind spiritual warfare is an anger the devil has for everyone who obeys God and holds to the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17). We are engaged in a battle to keep us from obeying God, a battle to destroy our testimony for Christ. The devil uses sin and temptation to war against believers.

This primary battle is more intense than the secondary battle. We see this from the way Jesus handled demons and evil spirits and the way He prayed about the will of God. In Luke 22:39-44, just before His crucifixion, Jesus faced the battle to submit to the will of God. As the battle grew more intense, as Jesus prayed, His sweat was like drops of blood. Compare this to how Jesus handled evil spirits. Many times with just a word, Jesus would cast out demons and evil spirits (Matthew 8:16). In some instances, He didn’t even say anything to them. Seeing Him alone, the demons would become restless and fearful (Luke 4:41, Matthew 8:31). Jesus’ life shows that if you submit to the will of God for your life (John 4:34, John 6:38), casting out demons can’t be a big struggle for you. With little or no effort, they will flee from you. But when you aren’t yielded to God, when you aren’t in the will of God for your life, you sweat and struggle to cast out demons.

Jesus conquered the primary battle that was why the secondary battle was a walkover for Him. Jesus conquered the temptation to sin that was why with ease He could cast out demons and evil spirits (Matthew 4:1-11).

Many of us are so absorbed in the secondary battle; we pay so much attention to what witches, wizards, evil spirits and powers are doing, and give little attention to what can destroy us faster than an incantation someone is making over our heads. We focus so much on what’s outside that we forget that the real problem may actually be inside.  It’s so easy to spend time talking about enemies out there, when the enemies within are the real culprit. Our greatest enemy is self or our flesh. We must first deal with our flesh. True victory starts from within.

Samson was a man with great potentials, a man God had great plans for (Judges 13:5), but because Samson didn’t first deal with his personal weakness; his lust for women (Judges 14:1-2, Judges 16:1), before trying to conquer the Philistines, he ended up being conquered by the Philistines (Judges 16:16-21).

Our greatest danger isn’t in what is in the world, what is outside, but in what is in us. Any sin, any weakness we fail to deal with; we ignore, excuse, brush aside or justify, can end up ruining us faster than anything that is in the world.

In this year of walking in victory and being an overcomer, may the Lord give us victory over inner struggles and weaknesses, so these weaknesses don’t conquer us or create doorways for the enemy to enter into our lives and families. If there’s any prayer you should pray this year, let it be for God to daily fill you with the power of Christ, so you can overcome and conquer the battles within.

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