What if you’ve been fighting the wrong battle?

In Rules of Engagement: Stop Shadow Boxing, Pastor Monte Dean continues our series on spiritual warfare with a challenging reminder: not every problem in our lives can be blamed on the enemy.

Sometimes spiritual wickedness is working against us. Sometimes circumstances are simply difficult. But sometimes our own choices, unforgiveness, pride, thought patterns, or unwillingness to take responsibility have created the very battle we're trying to escape.

Proverbs 4:23 tells us:

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

Rather than simply modifying our behavior or continually treating symptoms, Pastor Monte challenges us to let God expose and deal with the root. Like cutting the top off a weed while leaving its roots untouched, surface-level solutions allow the same problems to continue growing back.

This message also addresses one of those roots: unforgiveness. We may not be able to control what someone did to us, but we can determine how we respond. Holding onto offense can become a stronghold that continues hurting us long after the original event.

Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit. If the fruit in an area of our lives is unhealthy, we need the humility to ask whether something deeper needs God's attention.