Life is War

Late last year I told my wife that I had realized everything in life comes down to war - spiritual war.  Life is really a constant series of battles over who holds reign in our heart, who's name is forever in our soul.

The sooner we realize that everything in life, every day, every trial, every temptation, every hardship, everything is spiritual warfare the sooner we can begin fighting on the winning side.  This all became clear to me one day when I was running.  Over the past few years I have taken up running and I really enjoy it.  I was on a run and like a lot of people that are out of shape I was having trouble finishing my run.  The struggle between wanting to achieve my goal and do something that I knew was good for me, and stopping because it hurt and was hard work had really set it.  Now it is important for you to know that part of why I like to run is I get to think and talk to God a lot on a run.  So my conversation, be it very on sided that day was something like this...

This really hurts.  Maybe I should stop.
No, I can do this.
I want to do this.
God help me do this.
There's no reason You wouldn't want me to do this.
It's good for my body...your body.
Why is it so hard then...
(here is when the light bulb lit over my head)
The devil doesn't want me to do this!
This is WAR.
Get out of my head!
I can do this.

So after I had that epiphany my run ended very smoothly and I have had less trouble with motivation.  I have really tried to approach each minute part of every day and every decision as if it were the spiritual war that it is.  There is good and evil in this world.  We need to acknowledge that fact.  Both parts of it.  It is great to talk about the good, but if we leave out the evil we tend to overlook the battle that we are in the midst of right now.

I know how the war ends, and I know which side I will be on... do you?  Do you actively take part in this battle or are you just trying to ride it out?  That can be a dangerous game.  So today, and every day, put on your armor and be prepared to fight!