The Inner Battle

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."   Romans 8:14. 

There is a battle within us and it's a never-ending one. Daily, we have to be on guard and checkout our behaviour, our reactions and our thoughts. Our aim is to be Spirit led but at times, that is easier said than done.

Let's look at a couple of examples. In Matthew 5:21-22 Jesus says:-

"(21) You have heard that was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder and whoever murders, will be in danger of the judgement. (22) But, I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgement."

Let me ask you, have you ever struck anyone? Possibly you may have or possibly not. Yet you may well have felt so angry towards someone that you've wanted to. Basically, Jesus is saying that is the same thing. The same judgement may be handed out to you.

Matthew 5:27-28 says:-

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

Now, you may never have committed adultery but, ask yourself, 'have I ever looked at someone other than my partner with lust in my heart?' Whether it's murder or adultery, you may never have committed those in the flesh, but you may well have done in your thoughts. And, this is serious stuff! Thoughts can be dangerous when they lead to desires. The inner battle within us, shows us that we can be attracted to good and evil. Temptations come and if we are not careful, we can fall for them in our thought life.

It's easy to say, 'Yes, but I didn't actually do this. I was just tempted to.' That may be true, but if we allow the temptation to lead us to desire and then action, then we have stepped over the line. We need to nip it in the bud before it gets that far. This is why the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5:-

"(4) For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, (5) casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."

Strong stuff isn't it? But to be led by the Spirit means to capture these thoughts before they develop into something we may regret. We'll always have this inner battle until we go home to Glory, so now is the time to wise up and take control. If you have been tempted to have such thoughts, come to God right now and confess this.

Father
I confess that I have had thoughts of deep anger towards another person and I've wanted to strike them, (or have done). Forgive me please in Jesus' name.
I have had thoughts of inappropriate lust towards another person, thus committing adultery in my mind or in my body. Please Lord, forgive me for this. In Jesus' name. Amen

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com