Fear Not.

Joshua 1:5-9 "No one will be able to oppose you successfully as long as you live. I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will never neglect you or abandon you. Be strong and courageous, because you will help these people take possession of the land I swore to give their ancestors. Only be strong and courageous, faithfully doing everything in the teachings that my servant Moses commanded you. Then you will succeed wherever you go. Never stop reciting these teachings. You must think about them night and day so that you will faithfully do everything written in them. Only then will you prosper and succeed. I have commanded you, 'Be strong and courageous! Don't tremble or be terrified; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.'"

There is a battle that wages every day of our lives. It is not a battle between one country to the next. It is not the battle between you and your parents, you and your friends. It is not the battle to get up in the morning, to go to work, to be productive. This is a battle far greater than you and I will ever be able to understand. This is a battle of epic proportions. This is a battle between good and evil - and it's spiritual. This is a battle between our God and the lies of Satan and the world. And it happens every single day.

Every day you're alive Satan is fighting to take control of your heart -- to believe that what the world has to offer, what he has to offer, what you feel, is far greater than anything God could possibly ever give to you. Satan wants to deceive you. He wants to take every lie you believe, every fear, every doubt, every question and let them run your life. He wants your life. And he uses the your weak areas, the areas you're not willing to give to God, to gain precedence. He plays to our weaknesses. He gives us what we think we want. Turns out, we really don't know what we want at all. At least, not in the way we think we want it.

Every day you're alive, God stands at the front lines and battles the Prince of Darkness. Every day God showers us with blessings and the hope of His promises -- we just have to be willing to see them. He is fighting the battle for us, and all we have to do is trust that He's going to keep us alive. He will never let us down. He is strong when we're weak. He is loving when we're alone. He is faithful when we're not. He wants your life. And, if you let Him have it, He is going to win -- over and over and over again. He exceeds our expectations. He has nothing to prove, but He proves it anyway. He proves that He is love. He proves that He is faithful. He proves that He is strong. He proves that He has His hand in our lives, even if we don't believe it. He is the Author, and if you let Him hold the pen, He's going to make sure Satan is only a footnote in your redemption tale.

God uses Satan to point out the areas we need Him the most. And if we acknowledge that, we are simply set up with opportunities to see how God blesses us when we hand everything over to Him. There is a battle going on, but there is nothing you need to fear. All you have to do is call on God and He will be there. Be strong and courageous -- don't let the lies hinder you from seeing the Truth. Don't let the weight of the world disguise the beauty of our Savior. Don't let your emotions dictate your life, because they will lead you astray. Be strong and courageous -- believe in Him and what He says, for once He gives you a blessing it can never be taken away.

Find comfort in the word of the Lord -- meditate on it, day and night. Let Him be the focal point for every moment, every decision, every question. When He is at the center, you can trust that He will provide you with the wisdom and discernment you need to find the answer, to lean on Him and what He has to say, to follow where He leads. When He is at the center, no one will take your life, or any piece of it. When He is at the center, you will find that He actively intercedes according to His will because the fact of the matter is that He knows best and has a better ending than you could possibly envision for yourself.