The War Inside

There’s a battle many people fight in silence.

Fear. Doubt. Shame. Temptation. Anxiety. Insecurity. The thoughts no one else sees.

In Episode 2 of Season 2 of Keepers of the Light, Dylan Burcham takes an honest and powerful look at the internal struggles every person faces and how God gives us the strength to overcome them.

Through encouraging teaching, relatable illustrations, and multiple references from the KJV Bible, this episode reminds listeners that struggling does not mean failing—and that God still works through imperfect people.

No matter where you are in your faith journey, this message will challenge you to confront the war within, renew your mind, and keep moving forward in God’s purpose for your life.

🔥 Featured Scriptures include:

- Romans 7:19

- John 8:32

- Galatians 5:16

- 2 Corinthians 12:9

- Psalm 51:10

If you’ve been fighting battles internally, this episode is for you.

🎧 Listen now to “The War Inside” — a powerful new episode of Keepers of the Light, the official podcast of Gospel Lighthouse Pentecostal Church.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Welcome back everybody. My name is Dylan Bircham, and this is Keepers of the Light, the official podcast of Gospel Lighthouse Pentecostal Church here in Tishamingo, Mississippi. And I just want to start out today by saying thank you so much for tuning in today. It means the world to me that you would take time out of your day to tune into today's episode. So last week we talked about being built for battle. But today we're going to take that idea a little bit deeper. Because some of the biggest battles you will ever fight in your lifetime, they aren't battles around you, they are battles inside of you. So if I could title today's episode, it would be The War Inside. I truly believe that this message is going to hit somebody right where you are today. Because you can love God and still struggle. You can worship on Sunday and still fight your thoughts on Monday. You can smile publicly while privately fighting fear, temptation, anger, insecurity, addiction, depression, pride, bitterness, or even shame. And the enemy loves convincing people that because they struggle, they must be failing. But listen carefully today. A struggle does not mean that you are defeated, and a struggle does not mean that you're failing. But sometimes the struggle itself is proof that something in you is still fighting for freedom. And with that thought, many of us have battles that no one sees. Yes, there are battles that people applaud and they see those and they spectate those and they celebrate the victory when it is won. But there are also battles that nobody sees. The silent battles, the mental battles, the emotional battles, the spiritual battles. Paul described it this way for the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Romans 7 19. And yeah, try to say that three times fast. But this is Paul talking, the apostle Paul. And even he admitted that there was a war happening inside of him. That's important because too many people think spiritual maturity means never struggling again. No, no, no. It's it's the opposite, actually. Spiritual maturity means learning how to fight those battles with the right things and learning how to fight the right things. There's an old illustration that I would like to insert here about a grandfather speaking to his grandson, and he says that inside every person are two wolves fighting each other. One wolf is anger, pride, fear, jealousy, bitterness, lust, and selfishness. And the other wolf is peace, faith, love, humility, kindness, and truth. And the grandson asks him which wolf wins. And the grandfather replies, The one you feed. That's powerful. Because I'm here today to tell you what you feed grows. Let me push this a little bit further, uh, maybe even past the comfort zone, but we are gonna push it further today. If you constantly feed negativity or compromise or temptation, spiritual laziness, I don't mean to sound rude, but don't be surprised when the wrong things get stronger in your life. But if you feed your spirit with prayer and worship, scripture, feed it with the presence of God in your life, things begin to change. So whichever one you feed is the one that grows, is the one that wins, and that's powerful. We need to make sure that we are feeding the right things in our life. But along with that, there are some important battles that we need to make sure we're conscious of. There are some important battlefields that we need to be on the lookout for, be paying attention to. And the number one of those that if I could bring up today would be the battlefield of the mind. See, the enemy understands something many people overlook. He understands that if he can control your thoughts, he can influence your direction. That's why the battlefield is often in the mind. In Proverbs 23 and 7, the Bible says, For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Another example of this that I would like to give you today would be out of Numbers chapter 13, where they send spies, where Israel sends spies into Canaan. And the Bible says in Numbers chapter 13 and verse 30, uh, that Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it. Verse thirty-one says, Then the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are. So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, The land though or the land through, excuse me, which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height, so they're giants in the land. And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who came from the Nephilim, and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them. I want to give you that example because some people have the opportunity to be physically free and enter into the goodness and the promises of God, but they are imprisoned not by physical things, but they are mentally imprisoned by their own thoughts and perspective. They are trapped by fear or trapped by anxiety or trapped by shame from things God has already forgave them of. And the enemy keeps replaying failures or the failures that could happen in their minds like a broken record. You'll never change, you'll never overcome, you'll never be this way. You're a grasshopper in a land of giants, you're nothing, you're you're nobody. But I want to tell you today through this episode of this podcast that the devil is a liar and he's the father of it. In John chapter 8 and verse 32, the Bible says, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Freedom starts when the truth becomes louder than the lies that the enemy wants us to believe. The biggest part of that though is that we need to stop fighting ourselves. See, some people aren't losing to the enemy. Some people are losing to themselves. Anyone ever heard of self-sabotage? I know I've heard of it. I've actually participated in it. God opens the door and fear closes it. And God begins healing and pride interrupts it. Or God calls you higher and insecurity keeps us low. I'm here to remind us that we cannot move forward while constantly tearing ourselves down and pulling ourselves backward. Proverbs 18 and 21 say it like this death and life are in the power of the tongue. That includes what you speak over yourself. So if I could do anything today, I would encourage you. Stop labeling yourself and stop speaking things of negativity over yourself. Stop calling yourself hopeless and stop labeling yourself as uh your worst moments. God never called you by your failure, he called you by your purpose. So when we consider the thought of the war inside, there's one individual throughout scripture that just seems to leap off the page with an inner war, and that was David. So let's talk about him for a little bit. David killed giants publicly, but he fought battles privately. One moment he's fearless before Goliath, and in another moment he's crying out, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, in Psalm 42. Even David had to talk to himself sometimes. And honestly, sometimes you've just got to preach to yourself. You have to remind yourself God is still faithful, God is still present, God is still working, even when your emotions say otherwise. Another illustration I'll give you that goes along with this is that there was a man once that spent years blaming everyone else for why his life never changed. He blamed his family, he blamed his past, he blamed his circumstances, and one day he looked in the mirror and he realized the greatest fight of my life has been with the person that's staring back at me right now. And that moment is what changed everything. Because breakthrough often begins the same time honesty begins. You cannot heal what you refuse to confront. It's important that we really grab a hold of this and be honest with ourselves before God. Because before He can ever heal us, before He can ever lift us up, before He can ever turn us into the keeper of the light we're supposed to be, it all begins with us being honest with ourselves and honest with God. The great thing is that we're all human. And by all being human is proof that God still uses broken people. So I want to say this right now for the person that's listening who feels disqualified. You may think your struggle canceled your calling, but throughout scripture, God used imperfect people constantly. Moses had insecurity, Elijah battled depression, Peter failed God publicly, Thomas doubted, Jonah ran from his calling, yet God still used all of them. And that's not even all of them throughout Scripture. That's just a few examples. Why, though? Why did he use them with these with these insecurities and depression and and failing publicly and doubt and all of these things that interfered? And the reason why is because God is not searching for flawless people. God is searching for surrendered people. Second Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 9 says it like this My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. I said that to say this. You have to decide who leads your life. Your flesh cannot lead your life. Feelings make terrible masters. Some days you you may not feel spiritual. Some days you won't feel strong. Some days you won't even feel motivated. But discipline carries you where emotions can't. Galatians 5 and 16 says, Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Walking and the reference to walking there means movement, daily movement. And we've talked about that a lot on this podcast. Not perfection, not being perfect, not being flawless, but daily progress toward the things of God. So no matter what has happened in your life, those things and those circumstances, they are not the end of your story. So hear me clearly right now. You are not too broken, you are not too far gone, you are not too weak. The war inside of you does not have to destroy you. In fact, the battle you're fighting today may become the testimony that helps freeze someone else tomorrow. 2 Corinthians 4 and 8 says it like this we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. You're still standing, you're still believing in God, and that's what matters. And how powerful to think that what I'm facing today could be the good news and the testimony that someone else needs to hear tomorrow that helps them find the breakthrough they need. So again, we all have inner battles. There is a war inside, but that war can be won. But it takes faith, it takes standing firm, and it takes a life that is doing its best to line up with the things of God. We have to let yesterday go. We have to forget about our shortcomings. We have to not think about our uh insecurities and our problems and all the reasons why we shouldn't overcome. But we've got to put our mind on Him. And as long as our mind is on Him, He'll help us to be victorious. If you would today, I would like to take just a few minutes and let's pray together. Uh and we will conclude this episode after prayer, but let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for this day and your many blessings. Thank you for every listener that is hearing this message right now. Lord, you see every hidden battle, every private struggle, every fear, and every wound. Lord, your word says to create in me a clean heart. David said that. And so I ask you today to do that in us today. Renew our minds, strengthen our spirits, help us stop fighting against ourselves and start walking in the purpose that you created us for. Lord, I ask today that you break chains, lift burdens, and silence the lies of the enemy, and remind us that victory is possible through you. Lord, I thank you and I praise you for all that you're going to do in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Keepers of the Light. If this episode encouraged you, I ask you to share it with someone who's fighting a battle they haven't talked about. And you could literally share that with almost anybody. And I ask you to remember this just because there's a war inside you doesn't mean that God's not working inside you too. I'm Dylan Bircham. This has been Keepers of the Light. And until next time, keep the light burning.