We often think that our greatest battles are with external forces like cancer, death, financial crises, relationships, etc. However, often the most important war we wage is within ourselves. Remember, we have three enemies; and it is the enemy within that we go to bed with at night and wake up with every morning. Our flesh wants what it wants and it fights against God. Paul described this inner conflict against his born again soul:
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me [my soul], but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I [my born again soul and spirit] who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Romans 7:18-20, 24-25a NKJV
My friend, our flesh fights against God. When we allow it to win, we are living in opposition to God. Tragically, when our flesh is in control, we are not only fighting against God, but we must also fight our other enemies—without Him. We are alone. Our battles are all ours.
But we don’t have to fight our battles alone.
When we are constantly surrendering our will to God’s will, HE takes control. He fights our battles for us and—God NEVER loses.
However, “winning” doesn’t always look like WE think it should!
When Jesus was dying in agony—it didn’t look like He was winning. But God had a plan. His death gave us eternal life. By surrendering His life, the gift of eternal life for us was created. When we appropriate it for ourselves, our soul and spirit will never again experience death and separation from God. As we finish our course on this earth, our perpetual surrender to God allows us to experience His powerful presence. Every minute of the day, we have a choice:
Surrender, and live in God’s power; or, resist Him, and live on our own.
The Bible is our guidebook to God’s ways. Paul wrote we should be “filled with the knowledge of His will” if we want to engage His power to win all the battles on this field of our enemy. Oh, my friend, just read these wonderful words of hope:
“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
Colossians 1:9-14 NKJV
Surrendering to God’s way allows us to be filled with God’s power. Like Paul the Apostle explained, our life becomes a demonstration of God’s power:
“My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might NOT rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)
When God rules within us—He wins; and—so do we!
We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.
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