The Battle Within

 The Battle Within

“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 NLT

In this 3^rd week of Lent, I am reminded of the battle that is within all of us - of the weeds of anger and gluttony that are choking the wheat of forgiveness and self control in us. This is the metaphor of the thorny ground in the parable of the Sower. There is a battle for our mind and the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness reveals how Satan can even use God’s Word to tempt us to seek personal glory instead of glorifying God:

“Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ” Matthew 4:5‭-‬6 NLT

But Jesus used God’s Word from Deuteronomy 6:16 as the Sword of the Spirit to counter the temptation:

“The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’ ” Matthew 4:7 NLT

It is so important not just to read and understand the bible with our human thinking but to meditate on the scriptural truths in the bible so that our lives will be changed and transformed when God’s written Word become the Living Word in us.  The stories in the bible are to draw our attention to the reality of spiritual warfare:

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 NLT

The bad news is that we cannot win the battle against evil but the good news is that the battle belongs to God and that Jesus has already won the war. Jesus died and rose from the dead to give us the Holy Spirit to purify our hearts and to fertilize our hearts with the 8 “Be-attitudes” of the Kingdom of Heaven - the be-attitude of poverty, the be-attitude of mourning, the be-attitude of meekness, the be-attitude of spiritual hunger and thirst, the be-attitude of a merciful spirit, the be-attitude of purity of heart, the be-attitude of a peacemaker and the be-attitude of the persecuted.

Jesus guides us as our Shepherd of Love to live out the Lord’s prayer so that we can bear the 9 fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control.

The season of Lent draws our attention to the reality of the 7 deadly sins. However, we have the promise of the 8 Beatitudes of the Kingdom of Heaven. So let us walk by the Spirit so that we can bear the 9 fruits of the Spirit to overcome the 7 deadly sins and our guilts and fears.