Fight the Good Fight

This week I found myself upset about an issue affecting my kids. I thought about it all week; while I did dishes, while I made dinner, as I took my shower. I wrote imaginary emails as I laid in bed and thought of all the talking points I would share with people who could affect change. And every time I thought of it, my heart would start racing, my blood pressure would spike, and my frustration levels would increase. By the end of the week, I was exhausted and drained from the emotional and mental energy that this was taking from me.

The sad thing is that none of this was tied to the gospel or God or anything of eternal importance. This issue does matter, and it is one that I am praying that God will fix but it isn’t something that I needed to spend all week stressing about. And while I do trust God to resolve the situation, I found myself trying to help him fix it. It will get resolved faster if I send an email or talk to my best friends about it, right??

What are things that get you riled up?

What fights do you think are worth fighting for?

We have lots of things that we are willing to fight for but not many of them are of eternal significance. And when we see something that is concerning, we can and should do something about it, but usually it is a lot less than what we choose to do. If something happens at my child’s school, I can email the person that it involves and trust God to help resolve it OR I can text all my friends for validation, post it on FB so everyone knows how unjust this situation and I can spend endless hours stewing and stressing over it.

We are fighting a bigger fight than we often realize and we can’t be so worn down from our other stresses that we lack the energy to fight the real enemies that keep us from having peace.

First, we must understand What We are Fighting. Let’s see what Paul says to the church of Ephesus about what we are fighting.

Ephesians 6:10-20 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

1. We are fighting Satan. Paul says that we are not fighting flesh and blood but against the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers and spiritual forces of evil. This is Satan, the father of lies who wants to distract you with other fights so you miss the most important one. Here is how Peter describes Satan and what to do about it. 1 Peter 5:8-10 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

2. We are fighting our SELF: the desire to rely on our strength and abilities instead of God. When Satan appeared to Eve in the Garden of Eden, he convinced her of two lies: That by not allowing her to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life, God was holding something back from her and that if she at the fruit, she had the power to be like God. It was an easy sell to be honest, since we tend to believe that our way is better than God’s. Paul explains how a Christian walk involves humility and that Christ – even though he was God – humbled himself to the point of dying on the cross for us, all of which was part of God’s plan for salvation for us. Philippians 2:3-8 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

3. We are fighting sin Ever since sin entered this world, man has struggled to keep sin from controlling their life. And the greatest sin is to put other things before God: our desires, our plans and the things we love. We love creation over the creator. Even good things like our family, our good deeds and our church can become more important than God to us. This doesn’t mean though that we lock ourselves in our house with just our Bible and religious things. It means that we make sure that God is always first above all the other things of our lives. It also means that we are protecting our minds and our hearts from things that pull us away a passionate pursuit of God. Susana Wesley described how what sin is: “Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself.” ― Susanna Wesley 1 John 2:15-17 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life[c]—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Romans 8:5-8 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

The problem: We underestimate Satan, we overestimate ourselves and we ignore sin.

We spend so much time fighting things that don’t matter and forgetting to put our time and energy into things that do! How do we fight the good fight?

• We fight Satan with prayer and the Word of God Every time we choose to seek God through prayer and through the Bible, we are choosing God’s Way over this world’s way. We have the ability to fight the cosmic forces of this world that want us to fail but using the spiritual armor that the Bible tells us we can put on. Ephesians 6: 13-20 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
  

• We fight our SELF by focusing on who God is and what he has done for us. Jen Wilkin says, “We cannot love what we do not know,” which means that in order for us to love God more than ourselves, we must spend time reading God’s Word to know him. Colossians 3: 1-3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
  

• We fight Sin with a commitment to righteousness. Righteousness means a pursuit of Godly living and choices. This doesn’t mean we are perfect but that we are committed to trying. Every time we take a step closer to God, then we take a step further from the World. And the more we live like Christ, the easier it is to maintain. We make Godly habits that fill our lives with the fruit of these choices: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. 1 Timothy 6:12 11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Colossians 3: 5-11 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Ultimately, we are never alone in this fight. We have the Holy Spirit to give us power, God's Word to give us wisdom and Prayer to keep us connected to God. I love David's words to Goliath, a renowned and fierce warrior that was at least twice his size.

1 Samuel 17: 45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied."

He fought Goliath with just a sling and a stone and won because he knew he had the power of God on his side. We have the same power inside us to guide us, direct us and strength us to make Godly choices. But we have to make sure we are ready for the real fight - not the ones that Satan desires to distract us with.