Why Does it Feel Like War?

Because every day is a battle! It doesn't matter if it is depression, anxiety, over-thinking, or just feeling plain stuck; you are in a war....for the core of who you are. If you are new to my blog, you will quickly see that everything I write about will come from a spiritual lens. This is because in my experience, every single thing we deal with in this natural world is preceded by something in the spiritual. Whispers of doubt, fear of change, the endless "what ifs" of life, the personalities we encounter, and the situations that present themselves are all for a purpose. Yes, I am definitely one of those people who believe that there is NO SUCH THING AS COINCIDENCE! Why? It's been proven to me over and over to the point that any other alternative explanation would be ludicrous. If you want to only see the world in a 3D sense, then feel free; but you will be missing out on insight that very well could save your sanity.

Every moment of every day we have an internal dialogue inside of our own minds. I think of it like the angel and devil sitting on each shoulder like we used to see in old cartoons. As funny and entertaining as those programs are, there is some truth to them. We scenario play, come up with alternative outcomes that will best comfort us, and justify out choices based on what party in our internal dialogue wins at any particular time. Sometimes we get it right, most times we don't. In the world today, the "bad" voices don't only seem to be winning, but they are hailed as being "empowering" or "self-love", heck, even "preservation", but don't be fooled; anything that doesn't align with the way God wants you to live, is just plain harmful and foolish.

People are blessed with the gift of free will. God did not create little robots that will do exactly what He says, as He commands it. He actually wants us to WANT to make correct choices in life and to follow Him. He does not hold us hostage to His instructions, He wants you to see the value of being one of His children. Many people want to believe that since God already knows our lives and choices we will make, then it really won't make a difference how we live. Some think God is mean because He offers us a way to be with Him....but only if we follow Him. How on earth does that make any sense?! The way I see it, if we reject God in our life while we make daily decisions, why would He butt in and take us to heaven after we have lost our earthly life? He doesn't choose to send us to hell, we choose to go there. Hell is eternal separation from our Father. In my line of reasoning, just as in our eternal destination, we have choices here in the physical world in which we live. God doesn't choose to give cancer to a life-long smoker, just like He doesn't tell people to sexually abuse their own children! People make decisions to conduct themselves in an evil fashion but then when caught, expect our Creator to save them again. Can He? Of course! But God doesn't co-sign nonsense like people of the world. He doesn't accept excuses. He doesn't sweep things under the rug. He is just and merciful, so when we screw up, He will forgive, but only if we repent.

Repentance is not just saying a quick, "Sorry", and then moving on as nothing happened. True repentance is when we feel convicted, dare I say.....guilty? And we shutter at our thoughts, feelings, or actions that we know we need to change. We go to Him humbly, give Him all the gross details of our failures, and then ask for strength to change. What then? We change. That's it. You cannot claim repentance if you fail to do any of the work to change. Knowing that God forgives, does not give you license to sin and fail in the same areas without a care in the world.

Life feels like a war because we tend to lean on our own understanding instead of God's. We want to follow Jesus' teachings (when they suit us) and still have the control to say "if I fail just a little bit, God won't mind". We give ourselves permission to act in ways contrary to the Word simply because we feel like God would understand and give us a free pass. Thinking like this is why the war is raging. Finding workarounds that fit our fleshy nature is exactly what the enemy of our soul wants. Believing our own excuses is what leads us into the dangerous territory of waging war on our own turf. We need our turf to be secured so we can address our battles armed. Before the war starts getting hairy, we must be prepared with a new heart, repentant spirit, humble soul, and supernatural wisdom and discernment.

We lose our life battles when we give up too soon (being impatient with God's timing), jump the gun (not waiting on God's timing), think we know how to battle (leaning on our own understanding), seeking worldly advice (instead of seeking God's advice), and let pride get in the way (thinking we know best). The foundation of every failed battle in my life was my pride. I wanted to control the outcome of my own life. I leaned on my own knowledge and reasoning. I found a way to do things "my way" and searched for scripture that would back up my skewed vision. I did not fully give myself to Christ. When I finally submitted to Him, the big battles were won purely by Him, with me as a mere spectator. Then the battles intensified. More attacks from the enemy. But the more that came, the more it solidified that I am not able to handle this kind of stuff, I HAD to give it to God. He never let me down before, He won't now! He will do that for you too.

Life feels like a war, because it is. It is a spiritual war. It is going on 24/7, and just because we can't see it immediately doesn't mean it isn't fierce. It eventually will come into our physical world, so before that happens, start acknowledging that you need to address some serious dialogue going on in between your two ears and your heart. Go to God and ask for a clean slate and some spiritual weapons so that you can kill off any evil in your life and prevent future evils from setting up camp.