Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Do you ever get the feeling like life is just one battle after the next? That you never get a break and everything just seems to be working against you? I remember going through a season like that in high school. I would go to school and battle with all of my teachers. I would go home and argue with my parents and my siblings, and then I'd go hang out with friends and just end up arguing with them more. It just felt like life was a constant stream of battles.
If you've ever felt that way, I hope that today's verse helps encourage you in those feelings. It comes from 1 John chapter 5, verse 5. The Apostle writes, "And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God."
Victory Is Assured
First, I want to encourage you that when you feel like you're battling through life, that your victory is assured and it doesn't come through fighting your way through or pulling out strength from nowhere. It comes from having belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
I want to point out something important. Before we go to face all of the people in our life that frustrate us and fight in the name of Jesus, we have to know what battles we're actually called to face as believers, and we learn about that in the book of Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12.
The Real Enemy
Paul says, For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. What that means is all the conflict that goes on around us, all of the people that rub us the wrong way. They're not the real enemy.
Our battle is against a spiritual enemy, one who wants to do one thing and that's distract you in your worship of God. One of the ways that He loves to distract you in this battle is to make you look at the problems around you and think, that's the battle that you're supposed to be fighting. The reality is, as believers, we're called to see that the enemy is fighting for our souls because the people around us, they're broken, just like you and me.
They're going to fail, and we're going to fail. That failure causes tension. Those tensions aren't the real battle. If we want to find victory in life, it comes from setting our eyes on Jesus, knowing the real war that is being waged in the unseen world, and trusting in His power and strength and might to overcome it.
Finding Peace in the Truth
I'm going to ask you today, as you go about your life, any time you face conflict, anytime you're facing frustration, any time you're running against somebody who's just making your life a little bit harder, remind yourself they're not the enemy. They're just somebody who needs a little bit of love today. They're just somebody who's struggling to find peace in their world.
Our battle is against an unseen enemy. Jesus has assured us victory there. When we look at life that way, it causes us to see everything else in life as simply an opportunity to spread God's love where it's most needed.
