“And this is what you shall say, ‘Have a long life! Peace be to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have.” (1 Samuel 25:6)  

Scripture gives proof that God’s children have rights to His shalom. The Lord has brought shalom to everything in our lives; to the whole of our being. The blood of Yeshua was shed for us. It purifies us from everything that is unclean; it has already overcome sin nature and is now circulating in our spirit. This blood is valid for us not to turn back either in our thoughts or in deeds, or in our relationships and emotions. We have a freedom without which we cannot have shalom and there is no true love.

What types of enemies of God's shalom exist?  What threat do they pose?  How do we overcome? The enemies of God's shalom can be explicit and implicit. The explicit enemy of shalom is fear (1 John 4:18-21). Fear prevents us from accepting, revealing and developing God’s shalom. We need to open our hearts to God's love in the exact places we have fear. To cast out any fear, God’s perfect love has to become ours. This perfect love is love in shalom, a whole love which occupies every corner of our soul.  It does not allow fear to take root in any corner.  The enemies of shalom are also enemies of God's love. They prevent us from immersing ourselves in this love and they prevent this love from becoming truly “shalomic”. Conversely, implicit enemies of shalom do not look like enemies on the surface, but they are actually much more dangerous than the explicit ones because they create the illusion that they do not have to be battled; one can even befriend them.  When we tolerate implicit enemies, the enemy starts to act from within us.

Implicit Enemies of Shalom

Enemy No.1:

While doing something, somewhere, by the will of God, we may find ourselves regretting that we are not doing something else in another place. We spear ourselves when we begin making a claim to God and, as a result, our integrity starts to crack and break up into pieces. These pieces can only be put together by the Holy Spirit. In order to defeat this enemy, start by investigating when, where and under what circumstances you began to lose shalom. Surrender your self-pity to God because it closes us off to His shalom. Give thanks to God for everything – that you are in the place where you should be and doing what He wants you to do. And then God will quickly restore His shalom in your life.

Enemy No.2:

When we think about our past more often than about the present and the magnificent future from the Lord. There are two traps involved with this enemy. The first one is when we prefer pleasures of the world to the joy of God. Sample situation: sometimes thinking about pleasant things from our past when we were yet unbelievers, we may find ourselves yearning for pleasures that were brought by sin instead of enjoying the presence of God or the joy and anticipation of the great glory that is prepared for God's children. The second trap is when, as believers, we focus on negative things in our lives. Sample situation: as believers recalling our past, we can sometimes focus on our failures, defeats or on times we may think we received less from God than we were due instead of focusing on the things God has already done in our lives. We complain that there are so many hypocrites among believers (as though there are few of them in the world) and we start to judge people, unwittingly becoming judges of God.  We find ourselves thinking in the old way despite being new creatures in Yeshua Messiah.

Enemy No.3:  

Pity and regret about missed chances. For example, you may think, "If I had done something just a little differently, I would have accomplished sooo much! How much more I would serve God then!” Do not give way to this self-pity! Bury the regret about the missed chances once and for all.

If we live by past failures, we are closed to God's shalom. Backslide often begins with such situations. How do we get out of these traps? Learn positive lessons from our past failures instead. As a believer, forget defeats in your life and about secular pleasures.  Hate everything that separates you from the King of Shalom; deal with it without any delay, radically repent, throw away those memories as if they were someone else's and stop doing things that are not of God. Rejoice and thank God that He has led you through your trials (1 Samuel 25:6; 2 Corinthians 2:14). The Lord has conquered shalom for us but He cannot make shalom ours without us. We have to believe in it and be conscientious of it as God's children. We walk in the procession of the Great Conqueror; shalom is already in us but whether or not this shalom will remain in everything or only in some measure is dependent upon us. Submit yourselves to God's victorious shalom so that no area of your life will remain outside of it!

P.S. If we cannot overcome these enemies ourselves, it may be necessary to ask our spiritual mentors for help.