The fight, the war, the battle...

Ephesians 6:12 says "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."  Life can be hard.  It can be rough and tough.  It can be brutal.  Sometimes our breath can be knocked out of us like an unnatural force.  Everyone has ups and downs.  Everyone walks through the valley at some point during their life.  No matter how things look on the outside no one has a perfect life.  The important factor is that we must know that the enemy is a busy force of pure wickedness.  He's roaming the earth searching, plotting, planning ways to take us down, to pull our families apart, to replace hope with depression, to replace our faith with doubt.  We ARE in a war.  A daily war, His word tells us so.  The problem is sometimes WE forget.  We have busy lives and when things don't go our way we began to question why, how, what went wrong.  You see the enemy is on top of his game more than ever these days.  Oh he's fearful.  He's fearful because in the end he's really on the bottom.  We are under a huge attack and without God's armour we are fighting in the flesh.  When things began to happen in our lives whether it be financial, bills, layoffs or our health that hits too close to home as we stand before doctors shaking their heads or maybe someone in our family who's losing the daily battle against the enemy himself and begins to fall away from God.  It could be our jobs or even bitterness that takes up home in our hearts because of what someone once done or said to us or it could be our children being attacked or our marriage slipping away.  Maybe we're just unhappy and looking in all of the wrong places for that special gift called joy that can only be found in the Almighty alone.  We are under attack everyday!  The question is why are we trying to fight this fight, this war, this battle with our flesh??!!!  Why are we looking at our situations through our fleshly glasses that we thought we traded in for spiritual glasses??  We must fight in the SPIRIT.  No wonder things look so bleak and dark because we have the wrong glasses on.  The battle is hard because we are going at it alone without the one that matters most.  We have to speak into our atmosphere.  Proverbs 18:21 tells us clearly that death and life are in the power of the tongue.  In bible study we've been studying the book of Nehemiah and one of the most important things I've learned is to not only confess the sin in our heart but to confess His promises aloud.  We have been set free to do so!  We must confess the spirit of depression, the spirit of doubt, the spirit of lack and claim the spirit of love, the spirit of freedom, the spirit of hope and faith, the spirit of provision.  We have got to put on our armour and take it off for no reason because the enemy is patiently waiting to sneak into any holes or cracks in our life that he can find.  But see through Jesus we are already on top. We are on top and we're covered by His blood and no spiritual wickedness can take that away.  We must check our minds in with the Spirit of God.  Romans 12:2 says "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."  We have to learn how to fight this fight, this war, this battle and fight it the right way, through the SPIRIT.  He's waiting on us.  Waiting on us to choose the SPIRIT over our flesh.  This is a daily battle.  We must look at our situations differently.  God is all powerful and Praise His name He is the God we serve!!  Beauty for Ashes!  God is Good!