Struggles

What do you struggle with? Eating too much? Drinking too much? Alcohol in general? Drugs? Gossip?  Laziness? Frustration? Anger? What is it that causes you to struggle in your daily life? We all face some sort of struggle. We all have those things in our lives that make us just want to throw our hands up in frustration or disgust or whatever other emotion that we come up with.

I face struggles all the time. There are struggles on the personal level as well as struggles on the professional level. (I just ran into one of those struggles. I wanted biscuits and gravy for breakfast but we had no sausage. Why? Because of my health issues we eat turkey sausage/fat free sausage and it is harder to find. Argh! Why? I just wanted sausage gravy.) It is going to be. There is no way around it. And at times, those might just make you wonder about what is going on in your life.

At those times, it is important to remember this: "For we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12 ESV) Our daily struggles have spiritual roots. Yes, you might be frustrated with that person at work, but your struggle really isn't against them. It is against those spiritual forces of evil that are seeking to cause dissent and frustration in your place of work. You might be struggling in your relationship but your real struggle is not against your spouse or your family. They are not your enemy. They are the ones that God has given you in your life. The real enemy is the devil, that old snake. He prowls about seeking someone to devour. How can he do that? By causing you to have those struggles with the ones you love and care for. He wants you to feel like they are your enemy and you have to do what you can to destroy them.

Remember that Christ has destroyed your enemy! He has been defeated when Christ suffered and died upon the cross and then rose victorious from the dead! He beat Satan. He crushed the power of the devil and the devilish hordes that seek to come into your life and cause you to have those struggles (which they want you to assign to others and not to them). In your struggles, put on the whole armor of God. Take your stand, not in yourself but in the power of God. Where you are at fault, repent of that, ask for forgiveness from God and from the person that you sinned against, and know that you are forgiven. Where you have been wronged, be gracious and forgiving, just as in Christ, God has forgiven you.

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. It might seem like it at times, but when you keep the spiritual perspective, you begin to realize that there is a much deeper struggle going on. Will the worldly struggles cease when you come to know this and begin to grow spiritually? No they won't. But it helps to know that the One who is in you is stronger than the one who opposes you.

And remember that we are to be "praying at all times in the Spirit, with all perseverance, making supplications for the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel." (Ephesians 6:18-19 ESV)