Fighting

You know, there's something about spiritual warfare that makes us want to fight. We get so worked up to be confronted with the enemy again that all we want to do is fight. We fight the urge to sin. We fight the impulse to relax. We fight the thought the enemy could, once again, be staring us in the face, threatening to attack us. If we're not fighting the enemy, then we're often fighting the spirit vs. flesh battle. Yet, with each battle we fight, we grow more worn out, more frustrated, and often guiltier.

Why do we spend so much time fighting when there is more strength in surrender? I'm not talking about surrendering to the enemy or the "flesh," to use a good holiness Christian-ese word. I'm talking about giving up the fight to the Lord. If the enemy cannot convince us to go to his side, he'll convince us at least to fight. Fighting will weaken us. Surrender seems even weaker, doesn't it? But it's not.

When we surrender to the Lord, it means truly emptying ourselves of our - selves. No more me. No more you. We surrender, an act of weakness and humility, to watch the Lord's strength overpower both the enemy and our "flesh" without breaking a sweat.

How do we surrender to the Lord? Simple - we stop dwelling on thoughts like, "I'm not where I should be spiritually," and, "I'm just not good enough," for starters. We all know that. None of us has arrived, nor will we. None of us is good enough. Deal with it and move on to real surrender that doesn't come by focusing on what we're not. That focus still keeps US at the center.

We surrender to the Lord when we continually pray to Him, without self-focus, asking Him to reveal Himself. I dare you to pray in earnest for a month, "Father, in the name of Jesus, loose your Holy Spirit to teach me about who You really are." You'll be closer to surrender then because God will be at the center and the thoughts you have of yourself won't be repetitve Christian-ese phrases that try to prove humility. Rather, statements of earnest confession, truth, and spiritual celebration will pour forth as we worship God for all that He truly is! Battles will not seem insurmountable either because He'll be fighting; we won't.