“More strength to o’ercome,” (“More Holiness Give Me”, Phillip Paul Bliss). It is all too easy for us to fixate on our weaknesses and limitations and perhaps even to exaggerate them or blow them out of proportion. We may have struggled against a particular flaw for so long that we have drifted into this chronic hopelessness where we just try to cope with the pain as best we can and have abandoned any ambition to ever conquer it. It is like we have become locked into this war of attrition and we no longer think of advancing against the enemy but only calculate how to minimize our losses. All of us to a greater or lesser degree are facing evil from within and without every single day. But do we let the evil win? “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21). Having the strength to overcome evil doesn't always look like walking up to the devil himself and punching him in the face. It takes strength to love our enemies and to turn the other cheek and do good things to those who have only ever mistreated us. Every temptation carries with it the lurking doubt that we are not strong enough, not worthy of God's grace or to be called His child and thus powerless to stand firm against the weakness of the flesh. But these are lies and ploys of a weaker foe who knows he can only defeat us through trickery and subterfuge. We can pray for the wisdom to see through the lies and the strength to overcome evil with good.
