The Good Fight

Welcome to Daylight Savings Time! I rather like the longer evenings after getting past waking up an hour earlier. We had a nice crowd at church, so everyone must have been successful in setting the clocks ahead.

Pastor Nathan’s message was certainly one that kept us wide awake entitled “The Good Fight.” It was taken from I Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of the faith…” As Paul was writing instructions to Timothy, we learned that God expects all of His children to live by faith as pointed out in Habakkuk 2:4, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38, and Romans 1:17. Pastor Nathan shared that faith is meant to be our steering wheel not a spare tire, “for if we wait until we need faith to obtain it, it may be too late” (Smith Wigglesworth). Faith must be our lifestyle. When we give our whole life to God, He can give us a new vision for our lives. Faith is dying to self or laying our lives down spiritually. Faith is the vehicle that carries us.

However, when we start living by faith, don’t get caught off guard by a challenge. Living by faith will inadvertently get you into to a fight with the devil. The devil becomes angry when we choose to obey God. He will endeavor to cause struggles, to make us feel uncomfortable or distressed, and it may even be painful. Our natural inclination is to stop the pain or run away from God. After all, we didn’t provoke the fight. We might wonder if we did something wrong, but God wants us to fight His way, the good way, the good fight of faith! God has not called us to struggle or live in defeat.

I Peter 5:8-9 instructs us to be aware, “because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith…” We are warned that we have an adversary, an enemy, or an opponent. We can count on the fact that he doesn’t fight fair. The Bible calls him a liar, a thief, and a destroyer. As Christians, we often attract his attention in three areas.

1. What you are believing God for right now.

2. What God has spoken over your life.

3. What God is about to do in your life.

The devil can sense when things are changing, when we become serious about serving God and obeying His Word. He begins to speak lies and shows us different scenarios. When this battle between the realms of light and darkness begins, how we respond will often determine if we will win.

In I Corinthians 9:24-27, Paul likens the battle to a race. “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So, I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others, I myself might be disqualified. (NLT) Paul encourages us to be disciplined and well trained, for we are running for an eternal prize. The devil will always try to get us to react in the flesh rather than being led by the Spirit so that we will be disqualified. The size of the fight is relative to the size of the prize. God expects us to commit ourselves and do what is necessary to live by faith, walk in victory, and finish the goal that is set before you.

The good fight conveys the idea of one who is giving his complete concentration to the conflict and is totally focused on engaging the conflict at hand and achieving victory, regardless how long it takes or how much agonizing effort is required. It is the picture of total commitment to victory. Rev. Rick Renner

Pastor Nathan then looked at three examples.

1. Jesus’ obedience was tempt by the devil after 40 days in the wilderness. You might say He was provoked into 3 rounds of fights! (Matthew 4:1-11) Jesus fought the good fight of faith and defeated the enemy with the Word of God!

2. Goliath challenged the children of Israel for 40 days until David stepped up and challenged him. Pastor Nathan reminded us that sometimes the devil will not go away until we do something about it. (I Samuel 17)

3. Although he was preaching the gospel and obeying God, Paul became exasperated by a fortune-telling slave girl until he finally “turned and said to the demon within her, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And instantly it left her.” (Acts 16:16-18 NLT) Paul wisely did not react until he knew the mind of the Holy Spirit.

In summary, in this good fight of faith we must not run but face our enemy. If we don’t deal with the challenges of the devil, they will become our identity. There is a time to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might! In the Spirit, we must put on God’s armor and take our stand, for greater is He that is in us (Ephesians 6:10-14, 1 John 4:4)! Conquering the challenges in the Name of Jesus Christ is necessary to see your faith in completion and receive what God has promised you. We might hear the bell sounding, ROUND 1, ROUND 2, ROUND 3, but remember, you’re not fighting FOR victory, you’re fighting FROM victory!