The Daily Battle: Finding Strength in Our Struggles
A reflection on perseverance through personal sin and spiritual warfare
If you’ve been walking with Christ for any length of time, you know the feeling. You wake up with good intentions, pray for strength, maybe even start your day with Scripture. Then by noon, you’ve lost your temper with a co-worker, entertained thoughts you know you shouldn’t, or found yourself slipping into that familiar pattern of worry instead of trust. Sound familiar?
Welcome to the Christian life—a beautiful, messy, ongoing dance between our redeemed hearts and our still-fallen nature.
The Reality Check We All Need
Let’s be honest for a moment. Sometimes I think we do ourselves a disservice by not talking openly about how difficult this journey really is. We smile on Sunday mornings, give the “blessed and highly favored” response when someone asks how we’re doing, and somehow convince ourselves (and others) that following Jesus should make life easier, not harder. The reality is that we will all fail from time to time to do what is right in God’s eyes.
But here’s the truth Paul knew well when he wrote about the “thorn in his flesh” and the ongoing war between his spirit and his flesh. He knew that as a man, he would be doing wrong in God’s eyes. For Paul and for us, the Christian life isn’t a destination—it’s a daily choice to keep fighting, keep repenting, and keep reaching out and finding forgiveness from God with His amazing grace that never runs out.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to persevere, not just through the big trials that everyone can see, but through the quiet, relentless battles that happen in the hidden places of our hearts. The battles that no one applauds us for winning and that we’re often too ashamed to admit we’re fighting.
The Invisible War
Scripture is clear that we’re not just wrestling with our own weaknesses—we’re engaged in genuine spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places“
This isn’t meant to make us paranoid or see demons behind every difficulty. But it should wake us up to the reality that there are forces actively working to undermine our faith, distract us from our purpose, and convince us that we’re fighting alone.
Can you remember a season in your life when you couldn’t understand why certain sins seemed to have such a grip on you? Like many, you’d confess, repent, make promises to God and yourself, and then sometimes find yourself right back in the same place within days or weeks. It can be exhausting and discouraging. Sometimes you can begin to wonder if you were really saved at all.
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It wasn’t until a wise mentor reminded me that the very fact I was bothered by my sin was evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in my life. “Dead people don’t feel pain. The fact that this hurts means you’re alive in Christ.”
The Marathon Mindset
Here’s where I think we need to shift our perspective. We often approach the Christian life like it’s a sprint when Scripture consistently describes it as a marathon—or even better, as a lifelong battle that requires endurance, strategy, and constant dependence on our Commander.
Paul knew this when he wrote to the Corinthians: “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27, NLT). This is a man who had encountered the risen Christ on the Damascus road, who had been caught up into the third heaven, who had planted churches across the known world. And yet he still talked about the daily discipline required to keep his flesh in submission to his spirit, even though he was one who had learned how to accept God’s forgiveness.
If Paul needed to maintain vigilance, how much more do we?
Practical Weapons for Daily Warfare
So, what does this daily battle actually look like in practical terms? Here are a few things I’ve learned through my own stumbling journey:
First, we have to name our specific battles.
Generic prayers about “help me be better” don’t pack much punch against specific temptations. When we can identify our patterns—pride, fear, anger, lust, greed, whatever it is—we can pray with precision and implement targeted strategies.
Second, we need to understand our triggers.
What circumstances, emotions, or relationships tend to leave us most vulnerable? For me, it’s often when I’m tired or stressed that my defenses come down. Knowing this helps me prepare better armor for those moments.
Third, we must learn to fight with Scripture, not just good intentions.
When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he didn’t respond with positive thinking or willpower. He wielded the sword of the Spirit—the Word of God. Having specific verses ready for specific struggles isn’t just a nice idea; it’s essential equipment.
Finally, we need accountability relationships
James tells us to “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed…” (James 5:16). Shame thrives in isolation, but it withers in the light of honest community.
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The Grace That Never Gives Up
But here’s the most important thing I urge you to hear: this battle isn’t one you have to win through your own strength. Trying to overcome sin and spiritual attack through sheer willpower is like trying to perform surgery with a butter knife—you might make some progress, but you’re not using the right tool for the job.
Our strength comes from Jesus. Our victory is found in His finished work on the cross. Our hope lies not in our ability to stop sinning but in His ability to keep forgiving, transforming, and empowering us for the fight. And how important it is for us as believers to learn how to forgive as God forgives!
I love how Peterson translates Romans 7:25 in The Message: “The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.”
Keep Fighting, Keep Growing
So where does this leave us? Right where we started—in need of grace, dependent on God’s strength, and committed to the daily choice of repentance and faith. The difference is that now we can embrace this reality instead of fighting against it.
Perseverance in the Christian life isn’t about achieving sinless perfection; it’s about getting back up every time we fall, running to the cross every time we fail, and trusting that God’s strength really is made perfect in our weakness.
The battle is real, my friend. But so is the victory we have in Jesus. Keep fighting. Keep repenting. Keep believing.
The grace that saved you is the same grace that will sustain you, one day at a time, until that glorious morning when the war is finally over and we see Him face to face.
Remember: “ being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; ” (Philippians 1:6).
The same God who started your story is faithful to finish it.
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