Pick Your Battles

Evil will sometimes seem to work for you. Crappy attitudes, offense, revenge….when you flow with it, sometimes it feels good for the moment. You prove your point feel satisfied and justified. Giving in to evil or ego (some may feel more comfortable with a less spiritual term like ego, same thing.)..can even feel like a release…a release of pent-up frustration, confusion or depression. Like I said evil seems to sometimes work for you….but it will always eventually turn on you. It may make you feel like a friend for years, like it’s on your side, but don’t be fooled. Evil always has its own agenda and it doesn’t care about you. Well I take that back…..it cares….. to take you out. Ego cares only about ego and it has an incredible survival instinct. You may think you are calling the shots but if your actions or attitudes are taking you further toward darkness you are being duped and doomed for failure.

Your ego will even take credit for saving and protecting you in certain situations, or alerting and warning you in others but it’s just a ploy to gain your confidence and make you believe in its power. Your ego is playing you. All the while setting you up for inevitable destruction. Usually undercover evil or in other words your ego or someone else’s, will only reveal itself for what it really is when everything starts hitting the fan and seems out of your control. We are all susceptible to this manipulation because it speaks to the lower part of ourselves…the part we were born with…the dark side….the side that has not been enlightened or chooses not to be. The part that can only be overcome by The Light that we choose to shine on it. Whew…sometimes it is a struggle…a huge struggle but fortunately one we don’t have to fight alone. There was a battle plan drawn up before you were even born…GRACE….a winning plan if you choose to follow it.

Don’t spar with the devil. He doesn’t fight fair. He will take what he knows about you and cleverly use it against you. Stay out of his arena. This battle is not yours. Trust in the Lord….Give Him the reigns…the power of evil or the ego is no match for Jesus….He’s got your back, in a big way…count on it.

1 Peter 5:5-11 NIV

In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 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. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

And Amen.