Facing your internal conflicts

I want to bring this thought to you from a sermon I heard by Bishop T. D. Jakes. While preaching articulately about the boy who was demon possessed, Bishop mentioned about how the father of that boy had brought his son to Jesus for healing and yet he cried out to help his unbelief.

It is intriguing that every one of us has this deep internal conflict. Both, the new believer in Christ and the old, the prophet and the preacher, all of us struggle with our own dry bones in the closet. We have our high tides and our lowest of lows. And then there are those times when faith seems to be shaken with zillions of doubts. We have our own Peter-like moments of walking on the water and sinking in the same in another moment.

Let us face our internal conflicts. We are not perfect. We are still in the process. We cannot run away nor be self righteous. Neither can we let the enemy of our soul steal the joy of the Holy Spirit from us.

Like Paul the Apostle cries out, “I do what I don’t want to and do not what I want to.” There are endless moments I wish I could change. But the truth is that our internal conflicts are nailed on the cross only by surrender to Jesus. One of the most prayed prayers in my life would be, “Lord, let me grow in my spiritual maturity everyday. Create in me a clean heart and renew my spirit everyday.” It has to be an every day process.

We survive and thrive in the presence of Jesus. God uses this weakness to keep us grounded. It is this process of breaking and moulding that keeps us humble. Most of all, this teaches us to be forever dependent on His great mercy and grace.

If there is one person who understands us completely more than our parents, spouse or best friends, He is Jesus. And He understands our frailty, completely. It is in our weakness that His strength is made manifest. It is in our helplessness that Jesus is the closest. Silence your heart from the clamour of this world and you will begin to hear the whispers of His love. The only place where our weakness counts is in His presence where through our continual surrender His strength is magnified in our life.

The enemy would like to bring you to your knees with the internal friction and whisper lies of rejection into your ears. But the Bible says, Resist the devil and he will flee. Remember, that you have been bought by the blood of Jesus and you belong only to Him. Keep getting back up.

Every time your strength fails within you, Jesus stands by the right hand of the Father interceding for you. Open your hearts to Him, let His love flow and break every yoke of the enemy. Take time today to thank Jesus and soak in His love.

His love makes us complete.

Do you have your sinking moments? What keeps you floating?