It’s impossible to live without coming into contact with people during our daily routines. Some individuals are easy to deal with. Others have emotional issues that threaten to reach out and trap us in strife, making us miserable. However, being in strife with anyone isn’t God’s will for us.  

Strife is defined as discord, antagonism, or vigorous and bitter conflict that leaves behind lingering anger and bad feelings. It’s a demonic spirit that’s determined to destroy us and block the flow of God’s grace into our lives. It divides people, and comes straight from the enemy, a thief who intends to kill, steal, and destroy the abundant life God wants us to enjoy.

Strife breeds other emotions like jealousy and envy. These feelings cause intense emotional pain; allowing them to influence us moves us away from God’s plan for our lives. Wherever jealousy and envy are, there’s confusion and every evil work. We need to guard against this, because God isn’t the author of confusion, but of peace.

Succumbing to strife puts us in an adversarial position with others. We fight this mindset by remembering that our real enemies aren’t other people, but the devil. We’re engaged in spiritual warfare. We’re not fighting against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of the world, against spiritual wickedness.

To win this battle, we must focus our aggression on the spiritual, not the physical, level. The weapons of our warfare aren’t carnal, but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds. We effectively shut down strife and render Satan defenseless when we begin walking in love, which doesn’t envy, isn’t provoked, thinks no evil, and never fails. 

Operating in the grace and love of Jesus Christ gives us the advantage over the devil’s sneaky emotional attacks. Jesus has already won the battle against the enemy; we share in this victory through faith in Him. Strife can’t touch us when we let Christ, not the world, guide our emotions.

Prayer:

Lord, You gave us specific strategies to win over strife and protect our peace of mind from the enemy. Your Word tells us the danger signs to look for, gives us details on how to wage spiritual warfare, and provides insight on what we’re up against. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

John 10:10

James 3:16

1 Corinthians 14:33

Ephesians 6:12

2 Corinthians 10:4

1 Corinthians 13:4, 5, 7, 8, NKJV

For more on how to win against strife, click on the link for the four-message series, Success Against Strife.