You don't have to fight alone.

Make no mistake, you ARE in a battle, if you are a child of God.  There's a war going on, and Satan is at the helm of the enemy lines.  He is out to destroy.  He wants to 

• ruin lives, 
• ruin marriages, 
• ruin testimonies, 
• ruin families.  

We are not ignorant of his devices.

2 Corinthians 2: 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs. (Satan's designs are to destroy the mutual forgiveness, love, and unity that is to characterize God's people as those who have been reconciled to God through Christ.)

We are not ignorant of his devices.  

• He wants to separate friends.  
• He wants to keep us suspicious of one another.  
• He wants us to be jealous or envious or greedy or selfish.  

The attacks come when we're alone, and vulnerable.  They come when we are out of sorts, feeling abandoned, feeling hurt and forsaken.  Satan and his minions are not idiots.  They don't bother us when we're strong, when we have our "peeps" in our corner.  They lie in wait, biding their time, until they get the chance.  


This is why we MUST NOT be alone.


God didn't plan for His children to be "lone wolves".  He planned for us to be in community, in families, in churches, walking side by side with others in the same battle.  


When you're under attack, tempted to sin, feeling yourself slipping away, ready to fall, what do you do?  Do you retreat into a pity-party, telling yourself that you need that thing, or want that illicit relationship, or can't live without that... whatever.  


When you're under attack, do you retreat?  Do you try to stand on your own two feet?


That's the last thing you should do.


Jay Adams (in his book, The War Within) tells us what to do.


When you're in need of  help, 

"It is not wrong for you to ask for it.  Indeed, you could do nothing more important, if you find yourself in the thick of the battle, losing your fight with the flesh.  Call; call now!  Call for reinforcements.  Don't wait until you have lost the battle.  Don't wait until someone else must call for the stretcher-bearers.  Call for others to stand beside you and help you, so that you may win the battle for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Did you notice those last words: "for the sake of Jesus Christ"?  Yes, that should overcome your reluctance to seek help.  You are not merely fighting a battle of your own; this is the Lord's battle, and it is to be won for His glory.  

How dare you assume that this battle is yours?  Who do you think you are?  How can you say, "It's my business whether I win or lose?"  How can you tell others who want to help you to "mind their own business"?  Fighting the Lord's battles is the business of the whole church." 

We are all in the Lord's army.  There are no private battles.  If you're struggling with sins of the flesh, with the lust of the eyes, with the pride of life, call for help.  If you're struggling with relationships, with your marriage or family, with sinful patterns that are entrenched in your life and affecting your loved ones, call for help.   If you go it alone, your marriage will fail, or you'll fall into sin, or you'll make the wrong choice.  


We're in a battle, but we're not in it alone.  Swallow your pride, and seek reinforcements.  Call for help.  

Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.  

                                                              ~Galatians 6:2