You ever felt like with everything - and sometimes with everyone - is a battle? Seems like there’s always a fight, always a fire, always a situation going? Sometimes we can actually begin to believe that everyone and everything is out to get us. That’s when the skepticism and paranoia set in lol.

I know this can make us feel so tired of battling, of fighting, and we often see this battle happen with other people, seeming to give that paranoia and skepticism some legs, but are you aware that you actually do have an enemy that is constantly trying to defeat you? There really is someone out to get you. If you know them, say their name out loud real quick lol jk

1 Peter 5:8-9
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Alert - to stay awake, be vigilant
Sober - free from the illusion and intoxicating influence of sin

Why do you need to be alert and sober? There is an enemy prowling looking to devour you.

How does the enemy devour us?
If you look at your life, there are three main categories.
Spiritual, relational, and purposeful. Spiritual relating to your life with God. Relational relating to your life with others. Purposeful relating to the reason you are on earth.

Now, Satan is an expert at attacking us in our weakest areas. The same way a medieval army targeted the weaker portion of a castle wall, the enemy targets your weakest point as well.

What is the weakest spot in your life?
Where are you weakest spiritually? Relationally? In terms of purpose?

Satan will attack these areas in four main ways:

He will make you doubt God.
We see this in scripture from the very beginning.

Genesis 3:1
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Satan will do everything he can to make you doubt God. He will use people, circumstances, the physical environment, even your very own thoughts and fears to create doubt in you.

John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy

Satan doesn’t have to kill you physically. He just has to kill the trust between you and God.

Is there any doubt in your heart right now when it comes to God? If there is, satan will lay siege to that very part of your heart. This is a weak spot he will attack.

He will ensnare you in accusation.
I read a verse from Genesis, now one from Revelation:

Revelation 12:10
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of the brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

Satan accuses us. He did this with many Bible characters, and you can even travel back across the Bible to Genesis to see how it started.

Genesis 3:12-13
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Why does he do this?
Accusation implies you sinned, and with sin come shame and guilt and separation. Consider what you feel when you are accused of something. Satan wants you to live in this space, and then accuse others.

If he can keep you in this defensive accusation mindset, he can immobilize you in your purpose because all your energy is diverted to this battle to either prove the accusation wrong or justify your actions.

He will speak lies.
John 8:44
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

I think we are all aware of this facet of the enemy and how he attacks, so much so that I don’t think I need to talk a lot about it. BUT…quick question…What lies of the enemy are you believing right now?

He will tempt you into sin.
Matthew 4:1-11
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

In this passage we see how the enemy works. Thankfully, Jesus was able to battle through these dirty temptations, but the very same way that he tempted Jesus, he tempts you.

BUT WHY!?!?!? What does he have to gain by getting us to sin?

Isaiah 14:13-14
13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’

This is the reason satan fell, and the reason he tempts you to begin with.

Romans 8:7
the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.

Some translations say “is at enmity with God.” This is where satan wants you. At enmity with God. And the best way he can get you to that place is through your flesh. THIS is why you face battles.

The battle is designed by satan, using the tools I just listed and more, to create and feed enmity between you and God. He hates God so much that he wants too destroy the thing that God loves more than anything. YOU.

Now you know his why and the tools of his how, and that he uses these tools to battle us until we embrace that enmity with God, but what are the nuts and bolts of battling, and how can we win?

Here are two main areas where we battle and the nuts and bolts of how we can win:

1. The Battle With Sin
Come on, we know this is a huge battle here. How are you at battling against sin?

Satan lives to tempt you. Jesus died to save you. Satan tempted Jesus. Satan will tempt you. Satan wanted Jesus to sin to disqualify him from his purpose. He wants the same with you, too.

I often wondered how it was that Jesus could be sinless.
Whatever it was, I wanted it. It couldn’t be his godhood. With the Holy Spirit we have what he had, too. Was it his willpower? His resolve? Was he just better at battling than me? If that is the case, how can I get better, etc.

But then one day the Lord showed me what it was, why Jesus could be sinless. He knew firsthand the love of the Father.

John 14:15
If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

I have said many times before that loving God is not the prerequisite, nor is it something that you prove or gain by how good you are. But the Bible is clear that our love for God is the motivator.

Jesus knew the unfiltered, unabridged love of the Father. Our problem is that we only see in part.

1 Corinthians 13:12
All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

This means not only his plan, his purpose, his will, but his love. Whatever level of love you’ve felt from God is only the tip of the iceberg.

So what am I saying here?
If you want to be victorious over sin, the battle doesn’t start with not doing the sin. It starts with loving God. And the more you love him, the less you sin. In fact, the more you love him, the more you hate sin.

Sin has one goal: death. And as a result, behavioral change won’t work. Behavioral change is the byproduct of heart change. It doesn’t matter if you change your behavior if your heart is still dead. You can even change you behavior without changing the heart for a season. You might win the battle for a period of time, but you’ve lost the battle within.

No matter how hard you fight your behavior, the fight that matters is in your heart. Why? The battle in your heart is what determines the outcome of the battle in your behavior.

Let me give you some nuts and bolts here:
If you want to win the battle, stop trying to sin against God less and start trying to love God more.

I know you want some tactile things you can do to battle sin, so here are a few quickly:

Put on the Armor of God
Ephesians 6:11, 13-18
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
This is simply the process of being completely clothed in Christ
(He is our salvation, righteousness, peace, truth, etc.).

Pray
Matthew 6:13:
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Psalm 51:10:
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

These are prayers.
Often sin will make you want to not pray because of the guilt and shame you feel and the separation from God sin causes, but it is precisely when you don’t feel like praying that you should pray. It is hard to sin when you are praying. It is impossible to win the battle if you aren’t. How would the youth say it? If you ain’t praying, you ain’t slaying.

Respond with the Word
In Matthew 4 that I read earlier we see Jesus not respond with random words and phrases but with the Word of God. He hit the enemy’s attack with a scripture that specifically refuted the attack. If you want to be successful in your battle against sin, find a Bible verse that negates the enemy’s attack, just like Jesus.

Worship
Psalm 144:1-2, 9-10
Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; 2 he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, 9 I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you, 10 who gives victory

Sometimes the best way to fight is with worship. Worship reminds you of his goodness and faithfulness, but also puts God in his rightful place in your life.

While these are tools, and great tools at that, they are all inconsequential without the love of God inside of you. You have to love God more than you love sin. And sin in our lives is evidence that there is something in us that loves something more than we love God.

Increase your love of God and you will naturally decrease your engagement with sin.

2. The Battle With Relationships
If you are going to have a battle today, it will most likely come about in your interactions with other people, especially your family. Some of yall were fighting on the way to church this morning lol

Nobody wants relationships that always seem like a fight, and while we could literally do an entire series on how to win the battles in relationships, I want to give you two things that you simply have to understand if you are going to win here.

Stop fighting each other.
When you fight each other, you are fighting the wrong enemy. Earlier I read from Ephesians 6 talking about the Armor of God. I read verse 11 that tells you to put on the armor, but then I skipped to verse 13 that starts in on describing the armor. I did that on purpose because now we are ready to read Ephesians 6:12
12 For we do not wrestle against 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.

I know your spouse made you mad yesterday. I know you kids pushed every button. I know your boss made you wanna quit last Thursday. But they are not the enemy.

People do terrible things to other people. They fight and undermine and hate and a laundry list of unconscionable things. But they are not the enemy.

Even church people can be real jerks sometimes. They say things that hurt and can be quick to offend. They can even be hypocrites sometimes. But they are not the enemy.

We wrestle, we battle, against evil spiritual forces that are hell-bent - literally - on destroying anything that connects you to your father in Heaven.

That family you grew up in that did more hurting than helping…not the enemy. That coach that took advantage of you…not the enemy. Your own thoughts and mean actions you do against yourself…you are not the enemy either.

Satan is the enemy. His demons are the enemy. His authority is the enemy. The forces of evil and cosmic powers over darkness are the enemy.

Beyond the actions of people around us who do things that are evil and horrendous, even the very thoughts that drive those actions are tools the enemy uses to influence humanity.

Ephesians 6:12 uses a word, kosmokratoras, meaning “the world ruler who influences people to live lives independent of God.” The reason there is evil in this world today is because there is an evil ruler of this world who is manically influencing humanity to live independent of God. The result is abject lawlessness!

But we are not at war with people. And we don’t fight in the flesh.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

If you are in a battle that involves another person, I highly recommend that you take the battle to the rulers and authorities over this present darkness, not the person!

I know this might be hard for us to fathom, but the person who hurt you the worst is a human soul created by God, planned for by God, loved by God, and the Father wants them to be a son or daughter as bad as he wants that for you.

When we realize that we are not fighting flesh and blood, but rulers of evil and darkness, our hearts can be opened to embrace them as people just like us. People who are hurting and lonely, broken and sinful, just like us. People who are desperately in need of a savior, just like us. Just because you found Jesus quicker than they did doesn’t mean God doesn’t want them anymore.

What would change in your heart if you stopped seeing that person as the enemy and started seeing them the way God does? What if you both got together and instead of fighting each other, you teamed up against the one who has been trying to destroy your relationship all along?

Know who the real enemy is.

Start fighting together.
I know this might sound odd, but one of the main reasons we fight in our relationships is not because we’re right, but because we’ve made an idol. We worship our rights, our selfishness, our sin, our hurt. We decide our needs or wants are more important that the other person’s. We choose to grab a sword to fight rather than their hand to reconcile.

Fighting each other is just as much an idolatry issue as it is a knowing your enemy issue.

Imagine if you fought for your relationship as hard as you fought for your pride or being right. Imagine if you fought back to back rather than face to face. Imagine if you swallowed that pride and began speaking life over that relationship. It doesn’t mean a conversation doesn’t need to be had. But it does mean you can put down the sword against them.

But Jason, I was right!
Matthew 18:15
If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

I gotta get them back.
Romans 12:17
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

But they hate on me and just take take take!
Matthew 5:39-42
39 …if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

BUT…
Philippians 2:3
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Romans 12:10
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Ephesians 4:32
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 5:21
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Luke 6:31
As you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

Lots of verses just then, but a simple truth: stop fighting each other and start fighting together against the real enemy.

One more question: You ever get tired of fighting?
It is exhausting. The enemy never stops. Sometimes it is more than we can bear.

I want to give you this last encouragement as we close. The last thing you need to know today about battle is really the best part. Everything so far has been designed to help you as you fight, but this last bit is here when there’s no fight left in you.

Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged at what you’re facing. The battle belongs to the Lord.

We hear verses like “come to me all who are weary and heavy laden…”
We want the rest from the struggle of life, but know that the same rest God gives the weary and heavy laden is the same rest that God gives those who are fought out.

I want to speak to you in here who are tired of fighting, who have little to no fight left in them.
It is time to let God step in.

I am asking any who are here who are tired of fighting and want God to step in to lift your hands all over this room as a response to the Lord.

I declare over you today Isaiah 54:17
17 no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.

Let’s pray.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?