The self is one of our many enemies. We must fight daily against its weakness, insufficiency and selfishness. The self must be brought under subjection. The self is primarily manifested in the flesh, so when we war against ourselves, we are actually fighting against our flesh. Secondarily, we fight against the weakness of our minds, because any glitch we have in the mind will manifest itself in the body. The body is merely a messenger for our thoughts and a vessel that represents the cumulative results of our mind’s work. Therefore, even though we mainly wrestle against our own flesh and blood, the war must begin in the mind. Once the mind is under control, then the body can be brought under control.
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:11-12
“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways”
Deuteronomy 28:7
“The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.”
Psalm 37: 12-16
We make the mistake of assuming that the enemy is primarily in the outside world, when in fact there is already an enemy living a parasitical existence within us. We must aggressively engage in the war against the self.
Many temptations come from within our minds (James 1:14-15). The primary enemy is within. Therefore, we must first defeat the enemy within before we can defeat the enemy without. We can never defeat an enemy outside the walls of our mind while simultaneously fighting treachery inside our mind. The internal war is won before the external war is won. We must focus on the enemy that is our own self, then we may conquer the world.
You as a man are responsible for declaring total war on any and all weaknesses that you have identified in yourself. You must adopt a vicious attitude towards weakness and sin. Become increasingly disgusted at your own behaviors and declare total war. Burn your weakness then sow salt in the fields and rubble.
Mantra
Crush personal evil into oblivion.
Application
The mind is odd because it can be defeated by itself. Two opposing forces can collide in the recesses of our minds, both originating from our thoughts. This is what is happening while we are thinking or internally debating about something. Two opposing opinions or desires are buried in bloody combat. The victor is whichever desire is fed the most thoughts. The thought that is thought about the most often is the one that will win and take root in the mind. Therefore, we must encourage the correct thoughts and think about them more while discouraging the negative thoughts by replacing them with something else.
Whenever your mind shifts to evil or to something you do not want to do, you must immediately replace that though with something else.
You need to do this before the thought can take root in the mind and grow into a tree. Think of thoughts like tiny seeds that can grow into an entire tree within seconds. Take anxiety for example: How many times have you felt perfectly fine and within a few moments of thinking you are in a nervous frenzy about some uncertainty in the future? That is because negative thoughts in the mind can grow at lightning speed and send you spiraling into defeat. You must not allow this to happen. You must increase your self-awareness so you are better at catching these thoughts before they can even start to grow.
When the battle of the mind is won, war can then be waged in the body.
The body of man is overrun with lusts of all kinds. Sex consumes the vast majority of man’s thoughts and personal lusts. He also lusts for power and money, but primarily because these tend to bring even more sex to the one who holds them. Skills and status are also lusted after, and these again bring sex. The lust for sex is the primary driver of man. All invention, creation and construction are the results of sexual energy. This energy must be redirected into business and power.
Men spill their seed using pornography or prostitutes when they could use that energy to create wealth of power instead. You should avoid confronting this lust head on. Try instead to redirect it to other outlets. If you war against the lust of the flesh and repress it, it will find a way to force an outlet because it is too powerful of an energy source to be contained. Suppress then redirect the strength of the enemy into anything that will gain more power for yourself.
Suppression, not Repression, is key.
Everything can be viewed in terms of sex, because as men, this is our greatest battle, and this battle pervades all other spiritual battles we face. Few make it out alive because they try to war against their own biology. Men use dams to redirect the power of a river, you must use strategically placed dams to redirect your own sexual power into constructive and creative endeavors. This requires leaving the house and building success using the power of the enemy against him. This can be done.
If this war is won, all other wars can be won.
Place armor on your mind.
Gather your thoughts to the task at hand.
Wage total war on yourself and unleash your raging fury upon your imperfections.
Conduct yourselves like men
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