wrestle pt.2

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I greet you ALL in the Name of Jesus.

The universality of combat.

"Put on the whole armour of God, that 'ye' may be able
to stand against the wiles of the devil." Eph. 6:11

'We wrestle' encompasses everyone. You may have noticed
that the apostle changes the pronoun 'ye' in the former
verse, into 'we' in this, that he may include himself.
He wants you to know the quarrel is with every saint.
Satan neither fears to assault the minister nor disdains
to wrestle with the lowliest saint in the congregation.
Great and small, minister and people, all must wrestle-not
one part of Christ's army in the heat of battle and the other
at ease in their quarters.

The duration of combat
The length of a man's combat with Satan measures the same as the
length of his life. he is as Jeremiah said of himself, born 'a man of
strife' [Jer. 15:10]. And once he becomes a saint, the struggle increases.
>From your spiritual birth to your natural death, from the hour you first
set your face toward heaven until you set your foot inside the gate.
you will have wars with Satan, sin, and self. Israel's march out of Egypt is,
in a figurative way, our open declaration of war against the forces of darkness.

Here is work for both hands-to keep pride and complacency down in the one,
faith and patience up in the other. The Christian has nowhere he can call
privileged ground. Lot wrestled with the wicked inhabitants of Sodom,
his righteous soul vexed with their filthy behaviour. Then what happened
at Zoar? His own daughters brought a spark of Sodom's fire into his bed,
and he was inflamed with incestuous lust [Gen. 19:30-38]. As long as
Satan's comrade, our old nature, is alive within, he will be knocking at
the door without. This diabolical opponent will challenge you at every
opportunity. He delights to sneak up on you from behind, while you are
kneeling, trowel in hand, planting seeds for the kingdom. He knows a
scuffle with him will at least detain you, if he cannot stop you altogether.

We wrestle at a disadvantage, for you must wrestle with a body of flesh.
The flesh is to you as the horse is to the rider-you cannot go on your journey
without it. If the flesh is kept high and lusty and given free rein, then it is
spoiled and unruly. But if the bit is too tight and the spirit pinched,
then it is
weak and soon tires, able to gain little ground.
We also wrestle with a body of sin as well as flesh, and both mutter and
murmur when the soul undertakes any enterprise for Jesus. Sometimes
they keep the Christian from duty, so that they cannot do what they would like.
As Paul said, "I would have come several times, but Satan hindered me."
You can see that we are assailed on every side by our enemies. How can it
be otherwise, when the rumblings of war are deep in the natures of both
Christians and Satan? A pack of wolves may snarl and pick at one another,
but they are soon quiet again because the quarrel is not in their nature - they
are of the same disposition. But the wolf and the lamb can never be made
friends.
Their differences are irreconcilable. The spiritual application is this:
Satan and
your old nature may lie down together, 'but sin and grace never will.' Sin will
lust against grace, and grace draw a sword upon sin whenever they meet.