"Momma praying for me, grandma praying for me; Satan preying on me, Jesus waiting on me; Cause I been straddling the fence it's time to make decisions." Andy Mineo - Tug of War

Every day is a new battle. You wake up with a rope attached to you. Each decision you make that day (every day) depends on what side you want to let win. At the two ends of the ropes are God and the devil.

• Sometimes we have to have certain battles throughout the day and our life. We are constantly fighting with our self and the desires that the devil throws at us. If we let it win, we will enter a battle we will not win.

Today we will take the positive approach on it, with the tug of war with yourself/the devil.

• The battle we can win.

We live in the world. We live in the lion's den, we live among the dark and the shadows. This is the devil's domain. Everyday we have to fight the temptations and the desires he throws at us. While in the world we have to be encompassed by the Light.

• Our light has to shine bright or we will not be able to see anything or where we are walking.

• 1 John 1:5-7 says, "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

  • God is the standard and he is perfect in all he is. While walking in the light is does not mean to be perfect, but it means to be perfectly honest and open through love and confession.

We wake up and sometimes we are straddling a fence. This is the fence that God is trying to pull us across and the devil is trying to push us off. While on the fence we are susceptible to the devil's schemes and lies.

This is where and how we constantly lead our self into the life of sin. We do this because we are naturally stubborn and prideful. We think we are able to do this all on our own.

• We cannot do this life on our own. We walk away from God meanwhile he is the only reason we had the fighting chance to begin with.

The devil wants to catch us tripping and cannot wait to see us fall. Nothing makes him happier than watching us fail. He is constantly tugging at our heart, but we have to pull back.

• We have to follow Jesus's example (I probably use this example more than anything but it works basically all the time, Matthew 4).

Jesus had a tug of war with the devil, but he did not let up. He won the same way we will win, with God's help. He was tempted with the unimaginable and Jesus was quick on the defense.

• He was on the defense with Scripture and he was ready with it. We have to be ready in the same way.

  • Every time you feel a tug at you heart pull back with Scripture. Pull back with love. Pull back with wisdom. Pull back with grace. Pull back with strength. Pull back with all the things that God gives us.

We will encounter situations that the devil will use for his benefit. He will send that one friend over by themselves in order to trip you. You will have to fight these desires.

• The devil will feed the lie that he is no longer there for us. He will feed us lies that he has forsaken us. All these lies, meanwhile he is standing right there, next to us.

The world is a dark twisted place full of hate and temptations. The devil is constantly pulling on our heart trying to drag us over to his side.

• How are you fighting back? Are you letting him drag you?

In the end whether you are in a tug of war with the devil or the desires of the flesh if you are letting them win you are entering an impossible tug of war with God.

"And I been fighting for control and fighting for my soul and

This is war, it’s a tug of war"

Tug of War ft Krizz Kaliko by Andy Mineo [LYRICS]

Lord, thank you for waking us up this morning. I pray that as we move throughout the day that you are giving us the strength not to let the world win. Allow us to overcome the world and everything in it. This is not our life but yours. This is a tug of war we can win, but only with your help. We do not have to ability to do this on our won. I pray all this in your son's glorious awesome name, Amen.

#LetsBeAMovement