Do you feel like you are in a constant battle? What is the first thing you think of when asked this? I bet it wasn’t hard to come up with something. We live in a world full of troubles that can come from every direction on a daily basis. I think we begin to believe these battles are from a physical standpoint. We think attacks come from people and things of this world, but they don’t.

“Be sober-minded;be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

We have a true adversary that wants to destroy our faith, cause division among God’s people, and do anything he can to stop our influence for God. He is the great deceiver. 

Because of the fall of Adam and Eve, we have inherited a sin nature which can make it easy for us to fall into his traps. He wants us to believe our battles are with each other by using people to hurt each other. 

When we attack fellow believers we are completely out of the will of God!  He wants us to doubt God’s grace in our lives. He wants our focus to be on our sufferings and the persecutions we may face. He wants us to be weak and feel alone, cut off from other believers and to doubt our faith.

“Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” 1 Peter 5:9

We need to remember during our times of sufferings we need our fellow believers in the faith. We have to learn to let offenses go. God does not want us battling each other but to stand with each other in faith. He wants us to defend and strengthen each other. We need to walk in joy and confidence that we know God has won any battle we face. Yes, God is our Defender, not against each other as fellow believers, but against the darkness of the world. We are to stand together to be strong when others are weak. Let’s do our best to be the army of God that He has called us to be.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12