When we make the decision to trust Jesus, we become someone who has faith. We have chosen to believe. That choice is very similar to someone who chooses to enlist into the army. The choice to enlist leads to preparation and then to a battle. It is no different in the spirit realm. When we choose Jesus, we move our loyalties from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of light. We will prepare and then we will fight to establish the Kingdom of light.
This battle and war is not about me being against anything. The battle and the fight is to have more of God’s light, more of His presence in me. My fight is to have less of me and to have more of God. My fight is to see the Kingdom of God fully established in my life. When light is established, darkness flees. When light radiates from me, darkness has no hold on me or those near me. I don’t fight against darkness. I fight to establish Light. I fight for truth.
Paul exhorts Timothy to fight a good fight. “Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. ” (1 Timothy 1:17–19, NIV84) Here we learn that God’s throne is established as we follow prophetic words and words of life. The good fight is the fight where we live by holding on to the truth and, with a clear conscience, we live the truth.
Therefore we learn that if our fight means following words of truth and life, we must be people of the Word. We must read and study and embrace the Word. We must immerse ourselves in the Word. We must believe and obey the Word.
Later, Paul shares more about how to fight. “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:11–16, NIV84) Here we learn that we fight by what we pursue. When we pursue God’s character, His Love and gentleness to be manifest in our lives, we are fighting. When we confess with our mouths that which we believe in our hearts, we are fighting. When we speak before witnesses, so others can hear, and we declare the truth of God’s word, we are fighting. When we choose to love people, when we choose to forgive, Light takes hold of us. When we choose to respond with God’s character to the situations in life, we are fighting the good fight.
Later, Paul speaks of his own journey and we see that his pursuit and endurance was a fight. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. ” (2 Timothy 4:7–8, NIV84) The good fight never stopped believing that what God said was true. The good fight always has a deep longing to see Jesus, to experience Jesus more and to know and love Him more.
Most of the time, our battles are within us. We are conflicted with what we truly want. When we settle our minds and our hopes and our dreams on Jesus, His love and His truth, we will find peace and will be empowered to fight and establish light everywhere we go.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
