Reflections on Winning the Inner War

2006-08-26

These are some of the things that come to mind after reading the book Winning the Inner War, by Erwin W. Lutzer.

This was a good book that deals with habitual sins with which one may be dealing. A key theme throughout the book is God’s use of temptation to test our loyalty to Him and bring us closer to Him. We know when we sin, His grace found at Calvary covers all that we have done: past, present and future. When we ask for forgiveness, we can be certain that He will do so and restore us to Him. Lutzer quotes 1 John 1:9 on a few occasions.

In chapter 2, Lutzer states that there are three conditions toward positive change. We must believe that God is good; we must know we are responsible for our sins; and we must believe that deliverance is possible. There are many factors that are intertwined toward our change for the good.

One thing that Lutzer stresses is the mind’s connection with the spiritual realm. He states that Satan can influence us through our thoughts. He demonstrates this in Acts 5 with the illustration of Ananias and Sapphira. I always struggled with this, thinking we gave too much credit to Satan for our downfalls. We are responsible for our own sin. Yet Lutzer put a good balance between Satan’s influence and our responsibility. Satan may place thoughts in our minds, but as believers we can choose to say no to him. If we obey him as the landlord who is no longer in charge, we are held responsible.

Because the mind is so essential to our wills, Lutzer spends more time on filling our mind with God’s Word in another chapter. The more we concentrate on the sins we struggle with, the more we are going to fall. But if we redirect our attention to godly things and filling our minds with God’s Word, our actions will also change.

In another chapter, Lutzer discusses ‘a cycle of sin’ based on Dunn’s cycle among alcoholics (Lutzer 121). Once we are led by the Lord away from a sin, we can abstain from it for awhile. After awhile, our confidence shifts from the Lord to our own ability, feeling that we can stand on our own. This is when we fall. Once we establish ourselves in our own strength, we then will think that we have mastered the sin and that returning to it once will not hurt. One sin will bring us full circle, addicted once again. A tragedy for sure, our confidence needs to be in the Lord at all times. In another place, Lutzer stresses that we cannot bare the burdens alone; we need the intercession of the Lord Himself and also fellow believers. People do not only need to pray for us, but also need to pray with us.

The one thing that is brought to my attention is the multiple 3-point formulas that are to guide us in forsaking sin and clinging to God. Lutzer even states that there are no formulas that will guarantee our emancipation from our habits at one point. That is one thing that we must face, that no amount of effort of our own will bring us to say no to sin and yes to God. No formula will save us; we must recognize that it is only the power of God that will change our hearts. Now finding out what that means and how that happens is what we must seek our whole lives through.

One strange thing that hit me (and I say strange because it is rather obvious but I have overlooked it for quite some time) is that repentance should be a part of our lives simply because sin offends God. Often, I look at repentance and ask God to work in my heart not for His sake, but for my sake. I want to “feel better” or have my outward actions changed, but I overlook the intent of my heart as being rebellious toward God. That is something we all could learn... God must be the focus of all that we do, regardless of what it is.

Source

Lutzer, Erwin W. Winning the Inner War. Colorado Springs: Victor, 1979. ISBN: 0-78143-882-9.