The Good Fight

"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called..."
                                                                                                                                     ( 1 Timothy 6:12)


     True Christianity is a fight. When we are born into this world we are unwittingly dropped right smack into the middle of a battlefield. If we could pull back the heavens to peer into the heavenly realms, we would be able to visualize the supernatural forces that fight on our behalf, as well as those who passionately prefer our destruction. There is no neutrality. Each side is established and the battle line is drawn.
     Charles Spurgeon tells us, " The way of spiritual life is no easy one. We shall have to fight every step of the way..."    Our daily battle faces three primary foes: our sinful nature, the worlds' values, and the schemes of the devil. Conflict escalates through temptations, corruption, and powers of darkness. We do not initiate or wage war on our own, as the rules of engagement were established long before our entry to this planet. It is the Light (forces of good) versus the darkness (forces of evil).
     Before we accept Jesus into our lives, we are on the side of darkness because of the fall of humanity that occurred when Adam and Eve sinned. We were called children of wrath (Ephesians
2:3-5) until the time that we become children of God. It is God's intention that each one of us recognize our need for a Savior, repent, and be filled with His Holy Spirit. God takes delight in His beloved children who agree with Him in our state of wretchedness and need of Jesus Christ, who is the Only One who can justify and redeem us in the eyes of a completely Holy God. God takes absolutely no pleasure in the death of those who are not His children (Ezekiel 18:23 and Ezekiel 33:11).
     In a war it is usually easy to delineate which soldiers are on which side. There are differences in appearance (in a cultural war) and differences in uniform. Not so, in the wars we face today. Evil appears to be good and good can have the appearance of evil. More and more people exchange the truth for a lie without even realizing that The Truth is a person, in the form of Jesus Christ. All of our preferences and opinions are meaningless in the presence of The Truth.
     Jesus is the ultimate Commander-In-Chief because what He says will stand forever. He issues royal commandments to each one of us and they are non-negotiable. With the Word of God as our offensive weapon and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to conquer daily warfare and tread down upon the powers of death and hell. When Jesus utters a royal decree, our only option is to either obey it or disobey it because we will never have the authority to alter it in any way.
     We become engaged in the good fight with confidence when we are under the command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus who is our hope (1 Timothy 1:1). We stumble when we meditate on our past defeats-- times we have fallen flat on our faces because of our own sin or from acquiescing to the worlds' values or satan's schemes. We have to remember that every fall is predicated by the reality that we either did not look to the Word of God or rely on the power of the Holy Spirit.
     Jesus equips us with grace, mercy, and peace for our confidence and assurance ( 1 Timothy 1:2). He also provides full armor for our protection. Daily, we suit up with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. We walk in shoes that carry the Gospel of Peace. We are admonished to be prayed up, alert, bold, and of the mindset to persevere (Ephesians 6:13-20).
     Grace from God is unmerited favor. It is when God pours out His goodness in our lives that we absolutely do not deserve. The apex of grace occurred when Jesus substituted His perfection for all of our imperfections. John Piper describes it like this, " Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon."
     Enemies of grace would be the lies that claim we are not good enough, or that somehow it would ever be possible to work hard enough to earn God's favor. These lies thrust us onto the proverbial hamster wheel that screams for us to "Do more!" God's Word assures us to rest my in the reality that we already have all of God's favor. This does not motivate us to be stagnant; it motivates us to fight.
     Grace is the realization that God smiles upon our lives merely because we are His sons and His daughters. He is not disappointed in us. God recognizes the difficulty of the times in which we live and condemnation never originates from Him (Romans 8:1). "Whenever our hearts condemn us," we must remember that "God is greater than our hearts." ( 1 John 3:20). Contrary to condemnation, Tullian Tchividjian tells us that "Grace is love that seeks you out..."
     Mercy is another gift that God places in our arsenal. Mercy is God's compassionate disposition towards us because He always desires to forgive us. In other words, mercy is withholding the punishment from us that we do deserve. Charles Spurgeon tells us, " His mercy is so great that it forgives great sins to great sinners after great lengths of time and then gives great favors and great privileges and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great heaven of the great God!"
     Enemies of God's mercies are the lies that tell us our sins are too great and that we are just too far gone. We cannot outrun mercy. There are not any sins that extend beyond the reach of our loving Heavenly Father who desires nothing more than for us to dwell with Him eternally. He desires this so much that He actually gave His very life for it.
     Jesus is also compassionate toward our struggles. He walked this earth and had great compassion and love for the people in His life. We need to run to God with our struggles because He is the One who can set us free from them. "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest  who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need."  (Hebrews 4:14-16).
     Peace is another provision that God gives to His children. Peace is a condition of wholeness and harmony between us and God. Peace exists because of what Jesus did in His death, burial, and resurrection. Peace provides a foundation of stability that allows us to stand before God in full assurance of our salvation. The "firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, 'The Lord knows those who are His,' and ' Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.'"(2 Timothy 2:19).
     The enemy of peace is the lie that claims my circumstances define the reality of my life. It is not circumstances, things, goals, or agendas that should define our lives. Paralysis occurs when we define ourselves by anything oter than our identity with Christ.
     We have a heavenly Father who loves us more than anything. He tells us, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7).
     The conflicts around us are escalating. Darkness will continue to increase. God's Word prophesies these events. It will ultimately crescendo when His wrath is poured out upon the earth. The wrath of God will be "revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." (Romans 1:17). Now is the time to fight for the winning team! Now is the time to embrace the Gospel, grace, mercy and peace. It is true we will not fit in with the people on the wide path to destruction, but we are promised  that "Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead many to righteousness , like the stars forever and ever." (Daniel 12:3).
     Life is hard; it is a fight. But, it is a good fight and we shall be victorious. We are called to get in the battle because God has no bench players. Every Christ follower must be engaged because it is not an option to sit on the sidelines.We cannot settle for nominalism. The Commander has sounded the clarion to fight the flesh, fight the worlds' values, and fight the devil. We do not wage war with carnal weapons, but with spiritual ones. Faith is the hinge on which victory turns.
     The reason our fight is good is because we have the best generals, the best help, the best promises, the results, and the best rewards! Remember, many have fought before us and were more than conquerors. that guarantee is also ours to claim.
     Jesus is not going to return as a helpless babe. He is returning as a victorious conqueror breathing fire against His enemies. The battle is His and we are assured that it is also His to win. After all, He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! Who would have the nerve to stand against Him?


"Grace, mercy, and peace are all freely given to undeserving people. If they had to be earned, they could not be, for no price would ever be sufficient."
                                                                                                                          William Mounce