Your Greatest Enemy Is Not Outside There, It Is In You

Posted on:March 14th, 2021

RETREAT DELIVERED AT ST. AUGUSTINE'S CHAPLAINCY 2, MORONFOLU STREET, AKOKA, YABA, LAGOS

BY: REV. FR. AKARAONYE Samuel Ifeanyi.

TOPIC: YOUR  GREATEST ENEMY IS NOT OUTSIDE THERE, IT IS IN YOU

PREAMBLE: There is an African proverb that reads:
“When there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do you no harm.”

When you refuse to allow any doubts in your own mind, then no doubts from others will ever cloud your judgment.

When you create a strong mind, there can be no other that will defeat you with their words, or with their judgments.
When YOU believe in you,
you need no other to believe in you, because others, really have no say in who you will become, only you have that say,
only you can DECIDE if others opinions become reality, or you create your own fate.

Let us have a little synopsis of our real identity

WHO KILLED SAMPSON?--Delilah or the Philistines?--None of these options is correct.

--Permit me to tell you how.

--Even if there were 10,000 Philistine soldiers, they couldn't have defeated Sampson.

--Do you know why? Sampson's strength was not of this world; it was divine.

--As long as no one can defeat GOD, no army could have defeated Sampson no matter how strong or how many.

--Sampson was raised a terror for the Philistines. He killed a lion with his bare hands, lifted the gate of a city on his shoulder and walked over 46miles; he killed 300 Philistines soldiers with a jaw bone.

--What if he got a spear or sword?

--So, who killed Sampson? The answer is Samson.

--Yes! Sampson killed himself!

◇◆A man is his greatest enemy.

◆◇What an enemy cannot do to a man, he would do to himself.

◆◇Sampson killed himself.

◆◇He delivered himself to the lap of Delilah and used his own mouth to tell the secret of his power.

--His life promised so much but delivered so little

--Proverbs, Chapter 19 Verse 3: "The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord."

--Nobody can ruin your life except you do with your own hands.

--Although you can blame it on GOD or parents or government, you're the architect of your life; you are your greatest enemy.

--Even if your grandparents had done any evil, until you press the trigger it won't explode on your face

--No Satan or witch has the power to destroy you no matter how much they hate you, you're the only one who can kill yourself by your actions

--When the enemies try in vain to kill you, they lie in wait and allow you to kill yourself by your actions.

》》Goliath the champion couldn't hurt David but adultery destroyed his family.

》》The Gentile nations couldn't hurt Moses, but anger killed him.

》》When King Jeroboam stretched his hand against the prophet, his hand dried up. He couldn't hurt him, but his own disobedience turned him to a prey for a lion.

--Your greatest enemy isn't outside there, it's in you!

◆◆Millions are killing themselves with their own mouth by what they eat and drink.

◆◆Millions die of sexually transmitted diseases every year.

◇◆Would you blame a witch for that?

◆◆Hundreds of thousands of divorce and breakup happen every year because people destroy their

own marriages and homes with their own hands.

--Proverbs 14:1 says "Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

--If you fail, don't look far away, look inwards because what's killing you is inside of you.

--What you yield yourself to will either kill or save you.

--If you continue yielding yourself to fornication, adultery, anger, jealousy lying, gossiping etc, that's what will kill you both SPIRITUALLY or PHYSICALLY

--Everyone has a seed of sin deposited in him through his Adamic nature.

》》True repentance kills that seed but if you don't kill that anger, pride, jealousy, greed, lust, it won't just kill you in the future, it might have been killing you already.

》》That's why no matter how much people die of cancer and diabetics people won't stop smoking and drinking because a man signs his own death warrant

◆◇Kill that seed before it kills you.

◆◇Quit that habit, now! Because your greatest enemy isn't a man or a spirit or Satan but you.

YES, You. it is only when you discover your true identity that you will be able to know our true self.

 

1. The greatest challenge and the greatest obstacle any human will face is their own doubts, their own fears and their own conditioned thoughts. If you want to live your dream, you will have to fight for it. You will have to battle the external enemy; People who don’t believe in you. People who do you wrong. People who put you down. You will have to battle the intimate enemy. Those close to you who might do you wrong,
or maybe you assume don’t believe in you. Those who want the best for you, but their idea of support is to remind you of what can’t be done, or shouldn’t be attempted. But the worst of all is the INTERNAL ENEMY. 
You will have to battle what seems like an army in your own head. 
An army of doubt, fear of failure, fear of judgment, lack of belief. The voices inside the head
 saying:
   I am not good enough
   I’m not worthy
   I want to do this, but I can’t
   I want to give to those I love, but I can’t
   I’m not worthy of love.
   I’ll never be able to do this.
   I am hopeless
   I’ve tried everything!
   The world is against me.
   No one believes in me.
   My life’s not worth living.

There is no greater pain that can be inflicted on you,
than your own internal enemy.
Your own thoughts will cause you more pain than anyone or anything.

 They can be likened to a terrorist living in your soul, but when you learn to control and direct your mind, you can direct that internal voice to work for you, rather than against you.

FOR SUCCESS TO BE ACHIEVED IN LIFE, YOU MUST HAVE ALL THESE INGRENDIENTS AS A BACKUP:

• Persistency, Resilience, Perseverance Patience, Discernment, Humility, Sacrifice, Commitment, Trust and Faith

8 Reasons Why Your Worst Enemy Is Yourself

1. You Don’t Manage Your Expectations: It’s good to expect a lot of yourself, great to forecast good things coming your way. Make sure that you set realistic goals for yourself, be realistic.

 

2. You Fail to Appreciate the Small Things: One of the fundamental goals in everyone’s life is to have a pleasurable time here. When you begin to appreciate every little thing before your eyes, on a day to day basis, you’ll undoubtedly feel enriched. If we fail to appreciate the small things that we accomplish, we’ll begin to lose a sense of self-respect.

3. You Take Too Much For Granted: When you don’t take things for granted, you simply squeeze more out of life. Whether it’s our health, our abilities, the love from friends and family, our hobbies, our freedom from outright tyranny or war-like conditions – we all have something that we can be truly grateful for.

 

4. You are Your Own Worst Critic: If you tend to judge yourself too much, you effectively hold yourself back; if you sell yourself short, you’ll never experience the full value of your potential. Get to know this voice that criticizes you, try to understand where it comes from and why it is that you listen to it. Don’t beat yourself up over every mistake – after all, experience through mistakes is a perfectly sound method of learning. Constantly over-criticizing yourself will hold you back, hamper your confidence, and make you dwell on things that may not even matter.

 

5. You Over-Analyze: To avoid unnecessary over-thinking, trust in your instincts, break problems down and don’t put too much emphasis on idealizing all the potential implications of every decision when a simple pro/con list may suffice. Ensure that you’re not basing decisions upon misled or faulty assumptions – our mind will mistakenly fill in certain blanks to ascertain a desirable answer.

 

6. You Prefer the Easy Way: Your inner enemy holds you back; if you never go the extra mile, you’ll never experience the extra rewards that may come as a result. You can’t expect full results while using only half the effort. It’s in our nature to avoid inconveniences, but oftentimes they’re called for. Next time you have to go well out of your way to complete a task or help someone, just do it. Ignore the lazy voice in your head and agree to take the hard way once in a while.

7. You Assume: If you assume your spouse is mad at you for something you may have done, it’ll lead you towards developing a defensive stance or counter-attacking when no concern may even be warranted. Don’t assume that someone may be mad because XYZ happened when you’re unaware of ABC. We make this mistake countless times, all because we subconsciously fill in the blanks with answers that are incorrect.

8. You Doubt Yourself: There’s a difference between self-doubt and low expectations. Low expectations may lead to a sense of pragmatism, whereas self-doubt may force you to neglect your potential; the former doesn’t hamper your effort whilst the latter certainly does.

Under no circumstances should you ever doubt yourself. When it comes to your potential, realize that the sky is the limit. Use your sense of realism to evaluate the consequences of your action – don’t just pessimistically assume that your action will have unfavorable consequences. Take this time-tested piece of cliché advice into consideration.

There are situations why everyone needs an enemy include the following:

Sometimes, to succeed in life you need ENEMIES.... Yes!!!

 

You need people who will mock you, so that you can run to God. 

 

You need people who will try to intimidate you, so that you can be courageous.

 

You need people who will say "NO" so that you can learn how to be independent...I mean how to do it yourself.

 

You need people who will disappoint you so that you can put all your trust in God alone.

 

You need people who will work towards you loosing that job, so that you can start your own big business.

 

You need people who will sell your 'Joseph' so that 'you' can get to Egypt and be a Prime Minister in a strange land of captivity.

 

You need a cruel landlord, so that you won't be too comfortable in someone else's house, then you can build your own house on time.

 

But sometimes, when we are disappointed, we feel very bad and we tend to remain on that spot. Not knowing that the end-point of disappointment is the beginning of your accomplishments.

 

Understand this, "that every disappointment you once had came with a blessing!" However, it is not everyone that partakes in this blessing that I'm talking about.

 

You cannot see a new OPEN door while you are still putting all your attention, time and energy in trying to force the closed one to open.

 

And again I say, "No disappointment can ever come without an attached blessing!" 

 

So, when the disappointment come, thank God for it and tell "HIM" to open your eyes to see the new blessing that HE has for you!

 

Disappointment is PHASE 1 while accomplishment is PHASE 2.  I doubt if one can jump the protocols.

 

That is why it is called BREAKTHROUGH Something must BREAK so that you can go THROUGH!