Power Struggles, 1
In life there is an ebb and flow of power struggles. Any relationship suffers from it. Husbands and wives and boss and worker are two very common situations. One person in the relationship may try to dominate the other. One may try to get away with as much as possible.
These struggles come from our inherent sin nature. We want what we shouldn’t. We perceive things poorly. We become wounded or hurt.
There are two ways of reacting to someone in a power struggle. We can either fight back or we can accept. But fighting back is not limited to retaliation. It could be seeing things as they are and defending in advance the coming attack and thereby thwart the attack in the first place.
In a marriage these are some of the areas that can cause friction:
Time, Commitment, Attention, Responsibility, Priorities, Money, Career, Friends, Confidentiality, Alcohol / Drugs, Hobbies.
In a job or work related environment a boss might shift assignments, shift territories, lay blame, take credit, change job duties, steal money or ideas, give credit to someone else, poach. He may imply favors in return for loyalty. He may exclude those who are a threat. He may do these things for personal gain or to keep his power. He may do these things because it makes him feel good.
In all cases someone wounded does the wounding because in doing so they think it makes them less open to attack. They expect others to attack and cannot understand that some people may be good. Goodness is not expected and so they attack. Better to be the attacker than the attacked.
These sort of struggles are really nothing to worry about. The real power struggle is in your mind.
As one goes deeper into the walk with Christ a different sort of power struggle arises, it is the struggle between the person and his own mind. There is no avoiding this as this struggle presents itself as distracting thoughts, disturbing thoughts, envious thoughts, ambitious thoughts and other type of thoughts one might encounter that lead us astray or embroiled in some sort of event that destroys. You see, the first power struggle is with sin. Once that struggle is overcome, the mind must be overcome. We must overcome even our own minds. This sort of struggle is nearly impossible to overcome. We are never really out of this sort of struggle unless we are one of the few who move into a more unitive relationship with God and our Spirit unites more closely with Him.
Any thought you have may be a trap. Any thing you think may lead to destruction. Anything you put there by your will is dangerous unless it is from God.
Jesus told how to deal with these things.
If someone asks you to walk a mile, walk two. Why? You cannot trust yourself to make decisions, therefore you do more than asked.
Take up your cross, daily, and follow me. What’s your cross? To do the things you don’t want to do.
“All these things I have done, master.”
“Give away your possessions” is the response.
Is it enough to go to Mass, confession and things of obligation? “You did not feed me, depart from Me, I did not know you.” Are there any more frightening words than those?
Everything will go wrong in your mind because God allows it and the struggle for your soul is a real thing. You are not right. You do not know. Expect nothing. Make no assumptions. Do what you are told. Cling to the cross. Reduce your life to the smallest things. Those who can be responsible for the small things can be trusted with the big things.
Angst, anger, distrust, hatred, guilt, greed, envy, and all those things are fomented inside your mind and the only way to not give into them is with cooperation with God. We both will it and receive it. We will it because we trust in Jesus. We ask for it because we trust in Jesus. We receive it because we trust in Jesus. Pray for those who persecute you. They are the devil’s trolls but they operate on a higher level so you do not see them for what they are. Pray for those who hurt you, exclude you, exile you. All of God’s children. It is not for us to condemn them but only to pray and if appropriate help them, feed them, clothe them.
The lowest cost prison is the one the devil wants you to reside. Drugs, alcohol. Depression. Bad marriage. Bad job. Lust. He makes you your own prison guard. But if you break out and take off the shackles of sin then you have a new prison. You are not now triumphant even if the protestant songs tell you you are. You are in for another battle a battle for your soul which begins in the mind. How often does the enemy say “all too easy”? It’s all too easy because you don’t understand what is happening. There is a constant set up and attack. You see something that interests you. Where did it come from? A very smart creature knows your weakness, knows you, better than you know yourself. They study you. They put it in front of you. Have you ever noticed if you are doing well spiritually but then you start a new hobby or watch a new show or start something new and exciting? And this new something takes you away from your spiritual focus. Start to look for it and you will see it is there.
The enemy has no real power unless we give it to him. But if you resist and go in the way of the Lord, there is a price. The price is pain. If you do not experience deep pain as a Christian you may not be doing it right. Pray for your enemies. See if that causes you discomfort. I’m not talking about people on the other side of the world, the boko haram, I’m talking about your wife, your boss, your husband, your neighbor, the guy who talks about you behind your back; the people who are your enemies because you perceive them to be your enemy. The others. You see, if we lived in a different world the devil would attack us in other ways, but we live where we live so the subtlety of it all is something altogether. It is inside you. You know nothing, you understand nothing, make no assumptions, take no pride in anything, reduce everything to the little things. Now, you may start to feel a little discomfort. The attacks may start to form. You may want to run. But where will you go? Everywhere you go there you will be, as Jonah was. You cannot escape yourself.
If God created the soul then how can it die? Can we perceive it? If it is real and there is a soul where does it go? What happens to it? If God willed you, then you are and you cannot not be. Therefore, you will face this challenge whether you want to or not. You cannot run from it.
Then, Lord, how can a man be saved? All things are possible with God but impossible with men. Something is possible that we cannot understand. If you’re thinking about the things of the natural plane you are in your own prison and you yourself are the guard. An assertive ascent of the will to top of mount Horeb must be undertaken. Let’s cut to the chase shall we? Either you believe in God or you believe in Baal, said Elijah. Assertive because it takes an act of the will. Now, to be clear for the theology nerds, I am not saying one can overcome without grace. That would be wrong but we can cooperate with grace and in that cooperation we can assert our will. When you don’t feel like praying, you pray anyway. You will feel horrible while doing it, you will feel uncomfortable, you will feel like it’s no big deal if you stop, God will understand. That’s the trick, your feelings. Feelings are a trap and whether you feel good or bad it doesn’t matter. Feel the pain, be the pain, enter into the pain and then don’t stop. The power struggle is one like a whistleblower. You are trying to say the truth and there are powerful forces trying to stop you. If they can keep you imprisoned with little to no effort, all the better. If you escape now they have to use other tactics. They attack your mind, your perceptions of reality. What you are presented with on a daily basis is part of this power struggle. They know you better than you know yourself. Feel this: pain. Then, you know you are in the right place. The good news is there are respites. The enemy has to weigh it out, “do I attack constantly? How do I attack? What if I stop attacking?” We don’t know what causes our pain, is it from the enemy or from God, we just don’t always know. What gives us the pain or what gives us the consolation? We don’t know. Therefore, we keep going forward and yes with God’s grace, forward. Then, whether it’s attack or respite we always counter with our prayer and request for intercession, constant, constant, constant. Think of those who were constantly praying like Padre Pio. The devil had no attack that would work so he physically attacked him. He attacked those around him. He made his life more difficult. This level of attack is needed because if he were to be left alone he would pray all the more. It is a losing proposition for the enemy so he attacks the only way he can. But for the rest of us he can work us in so many different ways. And work us he does. So, we must… we must be just as relentless and this collision of the will and the enemy causes us great distress. It is where the battle is fought. It is right in front of us. Right here, right now. In your mind. Inside of you.
Why is your mind one of the final battlefields? It is because you have taken on sin in the body and now you must take it on in the mind. Didn’t Jesus say that to commit adultery is done in the body and in the mind? It is from our heart or our mind these things spring forth and as such we must dedicate ourselves to fighting against it. But we don’t win the fight but Jesus wins it for us. This comes from a letting go of our own will and a letting in of Jesus’ will. This too is pain. Much pain.