You are a Warrior | Rabbi Yehuda Mandel

When Yosef HaTzaddik - וימאן, he refused to do what he wanted to do, and he held himself back, Chazal say he got a crown on his head. He became a monarch, a leader of thousands of people, the most powerful nation of the world, the ancient Egypt. He became a Melech through holding back, not looking at what you shouldn't look at. You can do the same thing today. When there's a war going on, חס וחלילה, and you restrain yourself, and you win the battle over your own personal Yetzer Hara and you don't look at what you shouldn’t look at, this is real. There's a story with R’ Chaim Kanievsky. He was a Sandek in Kiryat Sefer, and he was looking out of the window, and he noticed the fence to protect them from the enemy. He said: What's that doing here? You have thousands of Blat Gemara, this place learned so much Torah, you don't need that fence. Your learning Torah are live warriors. They protect you. Now, when somebody holds back his eyes, he is a real warrior. And every effort, every desire, every pain, you didn't make it, but you wanted to. You tried. You thought about it, and it hurt you that you looked. Every inch are live מלאכים of רחמים, that are protecting soldiers from the worst things and saving people from the worst Gehenoms, in this world and the next world. And turning you into real Malchus. And you should feel it every time you do it. Feel great about yourself. Feel like something real is happening. It's not just a Mitzvah, you're doing something, you're accomplishing. And you have to have so much Simcha for doing it, because the more Simcha you have for every inch, you have to dance all day, because you wanted to, even if you didn't. You have to dance all day long. And that gives more and more power, and it's sent right to the battlefront and it's saving lives constantly. You and your private Avoda are the most powerful person in the world. Be proud of yourself.