You've likely encountered the classic portrayal of the battle between good and evil, where a character faces a decision and "angel" and "devil" figures appear on each side, offering counsel.

I find this portrayal incredibly true to life. Within each of us rages a perpetual conflict—a tug-of-war between one part of ourselves pulling one way and another part pulling in a different direction.

There is that part inside us that wants to live independently, selfishly seeking pleasure and comfort, to stand pridefully at the end of our lives and say, "I did it my way."

But within us, there is also a part of us that feels like a child, longing for love, truth, meaning, and someone to embrace us through the path of life.

These two parts that war within us are evidence of God. Not only are they evidence of God but evidence of Satan.

There is our flesh, our nature, that seeks independence and satisfaction. But this part of us can never seem to find contentedness. It can never be satisfied, always searching, seeking, and craving more and more. Even if it gets what it wants, it is only happy for a moment until it thirsts again. If you haven't noticed, this part of us resembles Satan. And if you don't know, it's because it listens to Satan.

Why can't we be happy in this flesh? Why can't "it" get enough and never be content? Why the struggle, debates, and questions? Why the battle within us?

Because within us resides a longing for authenticity, something sustaining, for the eternal, which truly makes us feel alive. It is our dead spirit longing to come back to life, the inner child seeking its Father, the branch reaching for its vine, the bride yearning for the groom, and creation seeking its creator.

Our flesh longs to be like Satan, self-dependant, but there is a war, a struggle because God is trying to shock our spirit back to life. God has left us reminders in all of creation to Him. Every time we long for love, truth, and meaning, it is longing to come back to life with God.

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.~ 1 John 5:12