choice battles

There are times, like earlier this week, when I feel the presence of evil behind me with his hand very near my shoulder. Feelings of dread, loneliness, bitterness, and other selfish thoughts hover outside my sphere of “me” threatening to take hold of my mind. And I think, “Can I go through this again? Can I overcome these negative feelings? Can I handle this?” And I remember the last time I was confronted with bitterness or frustration, and I think, “yea, no problem. I’ve got this thing licked.” Not because I can handle it, and not because I know the magical secret, but simply because I am in this situation. Simply by having circumstances, I know I can overcome because that’s the power of Christ in me. He is in control. He is sovereign. He won’t give me anything I can’t handle. It isn’t because he thinks I can handle it, but it’s because he knows that he can handle it. With Christ fighting for me, evil doesn’t stand a chance against me. This time, strangely, all negative feelings simply dissipated. That doesn’t always happen; sometimes I have to fight them off with more than just blessed assurance. Sometimes I actually have to use my sword in a battle, but this time I only needed to touch the hilt of my sword and that was enough to end the battle before it began and send evil running away frightened of the holiness of God.

"Once we agree with God that we exist for His pleasure and His glory, we can accept whatever comes into our lives as part of His sovereign will and purpose. We will not resent, resist or reject the 'hard things,' but embrace them as friends, sovereignly designed by God to make us like Jesus and to bring glory to Himself. "
- Nancy Leigh DeMoss (as quoted on Thinklings.org)