Does that title seem strange? That’s because so often we really don’t know who our real enemy is. Let’s discover that first.

Not Other People

We often confuse people who hurt us with the enemy. But they are not our real enemy, even if they think they are. When people hurt us, they are acting out of their own wounding. Hurt people hurt people.

In fact, out of his great love for us, God often uses other people’s sin to refine us. That’s why Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

Have you ever said, “That guy, he just pushes my buttons!” Those buttons are actually sin in us that God is using the other person to highlight. God wants us to give him our buttons.

“But you don’t know what they did!” God will deal with them; that’s not your problem. Let God deal with you.

Not the Devil or Demons

Now, don’t get me wrong here. Satan and demons are very real. They want to, at minimum, derail the calling on our lives, and at most, kill us outright. That qualifies as an enemy. They certainly are. In Christian literature, when we speak of “the enemy,” that’s who we’re talking about. I’ve done it lots on this blog, and there’s nothing wrong with that language. It’s accurate. But they aren’t our worst enemy.

We don’t want to take them lightly or ignore them, but as Christians we don’t have to be afraid of them either. I love Graham Cooke’s attitude toward the devil and his minions: “If you don’t fight me, you’re going to lose. If you do fight me, you are so going to lose. Sucks to be you.”

Our Worst Enemy

Demons have no power over us that we don’t give them by our agreement. We empower what we believe.

We’re not our own worst enemy, but the negativity we believe is. When we speak negatively over our own lives or agree with the negativity others have spoken over us, we empower that reality. But the reverse is also true.

We are made in the image of the Creator God. As such, we have the power to create our own reality around ourselves and others within our sphere of influence. God created us with this power so we could bless ourselves and each other. But as is common with most tools, our beliefs can either give us unstoppable momentum forward or be an incredibly destructive weapon.

Our Best Ally

Yes, our belief is a tool. What we believe is either our worst enemy or our best ally. No force on the planet, for good or ill, can overcome the power of your beliefs about yourself, either positive or negative.

Although he is totally sovereign, not even God will override our beliefs. Instead, he engineers situations in our lives that overload our elaborate structure of lies. He wants to bring those negative, limiting, prison walls we’ve built around ourselves, to keep us safe by our own power, crashing down. And he is, in each situation, constantly giving us the choice of what we will believe: His uncharted goodness, or our comfortable lies?

Our lies keep us safe, as safe as a ship chained to the dock. Always yearning for, but never actually, riding the waves it was designed for. How sad. How tragic. What a wasted life.

On the other hand, God’s goodness wants us to sail out into the uncharted waters of our destiny. God has something unique that he’s created you to do in this world. And if you don’t do it, no one will.

Yes, it’s bigger than you. In fact, it’s impossible. God’s calling, the destiny on your life, is always impossible without him. He’s built divine partnership into the fabric of the universe. You follow your heart’s cry, and he’ll handle the impossibilities.

What makes your heart sing? Are you afraid to listen to that song? Are you afraid to go there? The only thing stopping you is what you believe. Once you believe what God believes about you and your calling and your destiny, there will be no stopping you.

So how about it?

What does God say about you that makes your heart sing? Tell us in the comments. What’s your calling? Are you pursuing it? Please share this post if it would inspire others.