Hey Mama Monday: There Are Enemies Without And Within, Mama
Ever been terrified? Afraid of the outcome of some circumstance in your life? Maybe feeling the need of protection? David was terrified when he wrote the verse below. Enemies surrounded him; where could he turn? He turned to the only One who could protect, deliver, and keep him. When our goodness is questioned; when we need a hiding place; when we need a higher perspective; when we need to be delivered from something; when we need a shield, a defense; when we need to be able to trust something or someone—to whom do we turn? When we are terrified or in need of deliverance from enemies within and without, we must turn to the God of David. “To turn” means to face another direction. Face Him, and you will find peace and safety today.
“My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and He in whom I trust” (Psalm 144:2).
Maybe your struggle is not from enemies without but from within—your own flesh. Maybe you lack some of the fruits of the spirit in your life as defined here: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance (self-control)” (Galatians 5:22-23). I need growth in all of those areas, but my own flesh is my enemy!
For example, I’m on a diet. I have been eating well for four whole days now! Don’t laugh—that’s really good for me! Why is self-control so hard? Because it has to do with a self like mine which is fickle and foolish and tends toward the easiest thing. Since self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, then I must walk in the Spirit in order to benefit from its fruit. And not in just food choices, but in every choice as I walk out my homeschool day.
If I am walking in the flesh, I will sow to the flesh and produce rotten fruit, and the children will see it (and sometimes emulate it). If I am walking in the Spirit, then the fruit of the Spirit will be evident, and the children will see it. So, just how do I walk in the Spirit when it comes to self-control or any other fruit? I believe that the answer lies not in controlling myself, rather in placing myself under God’s control. That is the key.
Do you struggle with the flesh? Maybe it is food; maybe it is laziness, envy, or unforgiveness. Whatever the need, Christ has the cure. The next verses in Galatians say, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” In other words, it’s in the walking that we do the living.
One step at a time under the Spirit’s influence will eventually bring us to the place of living there all the time—especially as we teach His children at Home Where They Belong.
~ Deborah
Deborah Wuehler is the Senior Editor and Director of Production here at The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. She would say she is a very ordinary homeschool mom–with one exception: she has an extra-ordinary God Who provides all she needs for life and homeschooling. She has eight children aged 4 to 21. She is a leader of her local homeschool group and prays constantly for the right balance of priorities. Deborah’s mission is this: “To point other homeschoolers to the Lord in all they do, think, and feel and to confirm that they, too, can find everything they need for life, godliness–and homeschooling–in their knowledge of Him. (2 Peter 1:3, 4)”.
