Have you ever done something that you knew you shouldn’t do, or felt the way you knew it’s not how you should feel, and in theory you know how to fix it, but you can make it happen in action? Sister, you are not alone!
I repeat over and over in my head “be anxious about nothing”, but still feel like anxiety has control of me at times, specially when I’m trying to finish something important for work and my kids are not on their best behavior. Even Paul shared his struggles with this in Romans 7:15 “ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” But if Paul shared this struggle, I know that God would make sure to give us a solution. So I went on a search with the Bible and the Holy Spirit, to find a solution for the battles I was fighting that no-one sees.
The first and most important thing to understand is that God’s plan to save us is through Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus died and rose again so we could have life and have it to the full. That means eternal life, of course, but eternal life starts the day you are save, that means Jesus is giving us a full life here on earth as well. This full life can look different to each one of us according to God’s plans for each individual, but one thing is sure for all as said in Colossians 2:15: Jesus conquered death “having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross”.
The question is How do we use the power of Christ to disarm the power and authorities against us? I’m glad you asked, and I’m even more glad God gave us the winning strategy.
In 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 Paul writes “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”, let’s break this verse apart:
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does”. We live in the world but we are not of the world. This is only true if you accepted Jesus as your Lord & Savior and received the Holy Spirit. If you did, you are bought by God with a price, you are no longer of the world, you are God’s possession and your identity is defined by Him. The first step to fight a spiritual battle with the strategy God gave us in His word is to understand who you are and whose you are, and truly believe what God says about you: You are loved, you are chosen, you have a purpose, He has a plan for you, He works all things good for you, and He can do exceeding abundantly more than you can ever imagine (these are just few of the many scriptures of God giving us our identity in Him). Once we believe with all our heart, mind, soul and strength on what God says about us, our actions change and we start fighting battles with His strategy.
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world”. Most times, the strategy God gives us to our specific battle will be completely different than the strategies the world has to offer. This happened over and over in the Bible, with Noah and the arc, walls of Jericho, Gideon small army, among many others. God’s plans are unconventional, and that’s why it’s so important to understand who we are and how much He loves us, before we can both hear and understand the strategy He gives us to fight our individual spiritual battle.
“On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds”. Once we understand who we are, whose we are, and that God’s plans for battle are unconventional, we can hear the individual plan He gives us and act on it with the divine power of the Holy Spirit. Couple things that are important to know in this step are:
- – There is power in the name of Jesus, say His name and demons will tremble with fear;
- – We try to fight battles as soldiers against soldiers, but we cannot win the war unless we completely destroy the stronghold.
Going back to my example in the beginning of this post, I struggle with anxiety. Anxiety is the soldier, but not the stronghold. The stronghold is the lies I believe from the enemy, that cause the anxiety. For me, the enemy makes sure to remind me I’m not good enough and I have to prove myself with my achievements, so when I don’t achieve my goals, my home is a mess or my kids are not behaving well, the enemy makes sure to whisper in my ears how much of a failure I’m, and that is a major trigger for an anxiety attack.
The same concept of “soldier and stronghold” is valid to all of our Spiritual Battles, we must recognize the lies we believe (strongholds) instead of trying to use our own power to destroy the soldier. Destroying the soldier will just be a temporary fix, and soon Satan will add another soldier into the fight. Destroying the stronghold is the only way to win the war. And the only way to destroy the stronghold is with the divine power of God.
We all fight different battles and that’s why the strategies He gives each one of us are different. Having a personal relationship with Christ, and being open to hear Him through the Holy Spirit is the most important thing we can ever do in our lives, and the only way we can be victorious fighting any spiritual battle.
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