When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.    Proverbs 16:7 HCSB

There is an ancient proverb that says, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This suggests that two parties can or should work together against a common enemy.

In the event of an attack or a murder, it’s common for the police to ask if the victim had any enemies. Do you have any enemies? When I asked this question, did a face or name immediately come to mind?

Well, what I am about to say to you may be hard to take, but usually we are our own worst enemies. You see, the problem is we want to do well, but our flesh wants us to do what is not right and there is this spiritual war going on within us. Paul wrote in Romans 7:19, “For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.” Paul offered a remedy to this problem in Galatians 5:16 when he said, “If we walk in the Spirit, we will not satisfy the lusts of the flesh.”

The only way for us to conquer the sin that lives inside of us is to walk with the Lord. We must surrender to Him and allow Him to fill our hearts with His Holy Spirit.

When we fight against ourselves, we can’t possibly win. It’s so frustrating to see someone you love battling with themselves. It’s hard to save someone from their enemy when they are their own worst enemy. If you have ever found yourself in battle against yourself or your fleshly desires, you know it’s hard to break free.

So, what are we to do? First, we must remember this old ancient proverb, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” God’s enemy is the devil. Our enemy is the devil. If God opposes the devil, and we want to oppose the devil, we must not fight alone. We must join forces with God. The only way to do this is to surrender to Him.

When we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, this means we give it all over to Him, the good, the bad and the ugly. We give Him the sin in our lives and ask Him to remove it from us. We ask Him to strengthen us and help us to let go of our intentional sin. We give Him our good by serving Him and loving Him with all we’ve got. We forsake all others and trust in Him. We give Him the ugly by leaving vengeance to Him.

We are told in James 4:7 to surrender to God, resist the devil and he will flee from us. Once we have surrendered to God, we can draw from God’s strength to resist the devil. When the devil comes around trying to entice back into our old sinful habits, we must resist him. When we resist him and stand strong in God’s strength against him, he will flee. He will go and look for a more willing victim.

James 4:8 tells us to draw near to God and He will draw near to us. God never forces Himself on us, we must come to Him. We need to run to Him and live in the shelter He provides for us mentioned in Psalm 91:1-2. He is our fortress and our refuge in times of trouble, but we must choose to reside in His shelter in order to be protected.

We must also surrender vengeance to God. In Romans 12:19 Paul quoted Deuteronomy 32:35 which says, “Vengeance is mind, says the Lord, I will repay.” Revenge is God’s job, and He is going to judge His enemies, which should also be our enemies.  It’s our job to worship and praise Him. It’s our job to set a good example and lead others to Him. It’s His job to avenge us, let Him handle it.

If you are your own enemy, you cannot be your friend. But if you team up with God against the devil and sin, you will be on the winning team. Just focus on pleasing God and He will make even your enemies be at peace with you. If you have been your own enemy, you will have peace. Trust in Him, He’s got this.

Have a great day!