Our life is worth the fight! We will all fight battles this year. The most important battle we will ever fight is the one “within!” It is a spiritual one. Ephesians 6:12, “We’re not fighting against human beings. We are fighting against spiritual forces….and powers of darkness in the unseen spiritual world.”
As Christians we often think that our battle is with others but really it is the battle of light versus darkness…the unseen within. Scripture teaches in James 4:1-2a, “Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that make war inside of you…..then when you don’t get what you want, you quarrel and fight…” And in Romans 7:22-23, “I want to do God’s will as far as my NEW NATURE is concerned but there’s something else DEEP WITHIN ME; my OLD NATURE is at WAR with my MIND and wins the fight. IT makes me a slave to sin that’s still within me” [emphasis added].
The Bible uses two analogies, common parallels, when it comes to teaching about our lives. The most used is as an athlete. The second most common is as a soldier. War terms are used like fight, conquer, strive, battle. So how do we have victory over the battle we are in within?
If you study history, the armies that win have the “best weapons”. They are “superior” in their strength. So to battle life, to win, Scripture is clear on the weapons we are to “PICK UP” and USE to “win at life,” to “run our race”.
The first is the “sword of the Spirit,” faith from God’s Word. Funny, if you study record breakers, the one thing they all possessed was “GREAT FAITH”. Nothing lasting in life happens outside of the realm of “faith”. Scripture teaches that “faith comes from hearing the Word of God.” In Ephesians 6:17 it teaches that God’s word is our “sword”. “Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Remember, it doesn’t become a sword unless you READ IT!
Our second weapon is support, our army. God’s army–other Christians. Philippians 1:30a, “We are in this fight together…” Hebrews 10:25, “You should NOT stay away from church meetings, as some are doing, instead you should meet together and encourage each other” [emphasis added]. God did not create us to fight alone! Ecclesiastes 4:12, “One standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer, and a group of three is even better.”
WE are to stand and meet together. It is really frustrating to me when I see Christians who do not love each other, who compete, who are jealous and who don’t stand together. Churches should support one another and NOT COMPETE…Christians too! An army should be united, not divided!
Our third and powerful weapon is God’s Spirit…the HOLY SPIRIT! 1 John 4:4, “You belong to God….[SO] God’s spirit is in you, and He is more POWERFUL than the spirit of the world.” Romans 8:26, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the SPIRIT himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the SPIRIT, because the spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God” [emphasis added on all].
And we find in Acts 6:10, “But they could not stand up against the wisdom the SPIRIT GAVE HIM as he spoke” [emphasis added]. In Acts 4:31, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the HOLY Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” No soldier ever wants to be in captivity and with the “HOLY SPIRIT,” we never will be.
2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is the SPIRIT, and where the SPIRIT of the Lord is, there is freedom.” If you have invited Jesus into your heart, you have this guarantee found in 2 Corinthians 5:5, “Now the one who has fashioned us for the very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
The battle we face is our old nature opposing our “NEW nature”. God has equipped us to WIN. HE HAS PROVIDED THE BEST, MOST POWERFUL WEAPONS. He demonstrated we were worth it when He gave His own Son, JESUS.
A fight is never a bad thing when what you are fighting for has great merit, great up side. YOU are worth it. FIGHT TO WIN TODAY. MAKE SURE YOU PICK UP AND USE THE RIGHT WEAPONS….IT MATTERS…IF YOU LIKE WINNING!