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I have realized that being a Christian is not easy. The Bible gives me a map on how I should live. It tells me to love without conditions, to forgive without revenge, and to live as Jesus did, but wasn’t he perfect, and I’m not? I’ve done some things I am ashamed of, so what is happening to me? The Bible says that I am a new creation when I accept Jesus into my life and I have improved quite a lot in how I live my life, but it is a struggle to keep on the “straight and narrow.” I have been searching for the reason why the Christian life is so hard and come to the conclusion that although we were born with the old sinful nature, we have also been “born again”, which means Gods nature lives in us as well. It depends on which nature—our old nature or God’s nature—that we feed, as to which one is in control of us at a particular time. If you are a Christian and honest with yourself, you would have to agree. How many times do you let your emotions take over your life? How many times do you allow your thoughts, actions, and language to take over your life? There are instances when our emotions take over, our anger takes over, and our thoughts take over, and we trip ourselves up. We do need help to be like Jesus as we are taught to do.
I heard a story of a famous Christian called Derek Prince. He preached all over the world. One day a young person came up to him and said, “Mr Prince, you are my hero. You are a man of God, and when I grow up I would like to become just like you.” Derek Prince replied, “Son, be careful what you ask for. What you see on the outside may look good, but you do not know the battles I have in my mind every day. You do not know the thoughts I have and the struggles I have. Maybe it is not a good idea to be like me.”
I have struggled many times and still do. How do I react to people when I feel an injustice? How do I react when my mind is filled with fleshly things? How do I react when my emotions get out of control? I need help, and medication does not always help. Counselors do not always help. ( I am not saying these things are wrong). I see people addicted to many things, struggling and in such a dark hole they cannot get out to the other side. I have seen people restored, delivered and different to what they were. The answer is that instead of controlling themselves, they have allowed God to control them.
I heard a song recently with these words,
“You are my strength in every battle,
You are my shield when I am weak,
When I cannot fight the struggle,
You are all I need.”
This is speaking about God. So the Christian life is a battle between evil and good. Between God and Satan. It is a reality that some can and some cannot understand.
The Bible tells us that we are more than conquerors. If there are no battles, you cannot be a conqueror, so if we are aware that we are going to face trials and temptations, it should help to know that whatever is thrown at us there is hope. To win some battles may take longer than winning others, but if we persevere, we can make it. We are not alone because God has promised to be on our side. This is not an airy fairy thing to say because, in my experience, he has been the only way to get me through. Has it been easy? No way and there has had to be effort on my part but with God I can be a conqueror.
If you have been involved in sports or business, you will know about team talks. Some team talks can be vicious, especially in a sports team, but whether it is sports or business or some other thing, the coach’s ambition is to get you so involved in the task ahead that you believe you can do anything. You start believing that you can do the impossible.
The New Zealand rugby team is called the All Blacks. In New Zealand, we have a native people called the “Maori”, and they used to do a war dance to challenge the enemy before they went into battle. Most New Zealand sports teams do this dance before any game they are involved in. The dance is called the haka. Recently I read that the New Zealand rugby team get so intense in the haka that after they have performed it they need to gather together to “calm down” a bit. But it is very effective in the way they play the game.
As Christians, we need to challenge the enemy in the battle before us. We need to have a team talk with God (talking to him) and get his instructions through the tactics he gives us, written in the Bible. After talking with God and knowing what he can do for us, it will give us the strength to know that we are unstoppable. Even if we get wounded in the battle (and many of us do), he will come and pick us up and strengthen us to keep going.
This morning I was playing outdoor bowls, and this lady kept telling me what to do. My natural reaction was to tell her in a polite way to keep quiet. There was a battle going on. I had to make the decision whether to say something or not. The two natures inside of me were fighting. One said, “you have every right to tell her to mind her own business”, while the other nature said “Just ignore it and say nothing.” I struggled for a short time, then decided to say nothing. I won the battle, but I had to choose which way I was going to go.
God says I am a conqueror, so I need to believe it.
God says he is my strength and shield, so I need to believe it. God says he will help me get through…I need to believe it, and I can tell you that if I listen to him, it will go okay, but if I do not listen, I will be defeated and fall flat on my face. I then have to start all over again.
In the story of David and the giant Goliath, all the odds were against David winning this battle. He was young, had no equipment and no experience, but he had God. This gave him the urge to trust God, and his war cry was, “You come to me with a sword and javelin; I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts.” He won the battle with the confidence that God would help him. In theory, that is how we win our battles and in reality, it is the only way we can be conquerors.
As I said earlier, being a Christian is not easy. It takes courage, persistence, strength and often we do not have these things. If you trust God and believe what he says he will stretch out his hand and take it so that you will not be fighting the battle on your own. That’s how we become conquerors. Jesus said that he will never leave us nor forsake us but we can leave and forsake him on our own free will. You want to be a conqueror? It’s up to you but help is right beside you. The battle could be ferocious, unrelenting and there will be times you just want to give up and walk away. Keep at it because eventually you will look back and say “I am glad I persevered because now I am a conqueror.