Not A Solo Battle

“Not A Solo Battle”

By Zach Wood

Ephesians 6:10-12 NLT

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.

Most of us want to feel confident in doing things by ourselves and on our own.  It’s a great feeling when we can conquer things in life by ourselves.  When we learn to do things on our own and be independent in making decisions without first having to consult someone else before hand, it can make us feel pretty good.  This is where we can gain advances in our jobs and in certain situations where people come to trust us more to make good decisions. 

Now, while it’s great to accomplish things on our own, we bleed this mentality right into our lives in Christ.  We read His Word and build up our faith for a while and then, for some reason, we get the idea that we can do this battle on our own.  We get a little full of ourselves and think, “I got this!”  Only then we usually find ourselves falling flat on our face in various ways because we stopped consulting God before going gung-ho on our plans.

While it is absolutely wonderful that we can accomplish some things on our own, we must also remember that God gives us the abilities to do these things and He brings us into situations where He waits to see if we will still consult Him or take on the challenges all alone.  From personal experience, and I’m sure from yours as well, we come to find out often the hard way that we should have consulted God instead of plugging away all by ourselves. 

It’s like we’re telling God, “I got this, Lord.  I mean, I know You are God and my Savior and all, but really I can do this on my own.”  Why in the world do we think we can handle life’s challenges all alone sometimes?  We are in a spiritual battle every day and we simply cannot fight the battles alone.  We will suffer and we will eventually lose.  We think we can do it on our own, but we simply cannot.  

When we get full of ourselves and think we don’t need God, the enemy has a sly and nasty way of coming at us full force and landing us right on our face or back.  He beats us down and laughs at us. If we would have just put the armor of God on and let Him fight for us and with us, things would have turned out differently.

In what ways in my life am I battling alone?  In what ways in your life are you battling all by yourself?  Consider this during the week and days that follow.  This is a battle you definitely want and need God with you through.