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Spiritual Battle

 



I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

2 Timothy 4:7

Dear Friends, in the above verse, Apostle Paul is speaking about how he lived a faithful Christian life till the end. It was not easy for him as he had to fight to finish the race well. What was this fight about? With whom did he fight? We find the answer quoted in Ephesians 6:12 -

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

We need to understand that there is a war waging in each of us in the spiritual realm, between the spirit of God and the spirit of the devil, commonly referred to in the scriptures as being “of the world”. There are only two choices before us- either follow God’s way or the way of the world.

If we make the decision to follow God’s way, by repenting of our sins and accepting the salvation provided by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, we become children of God filled with His spirit.  This Holy Spirit in us, helps us to fight against the evil nature of the world that threaten to take us away from the presence of God, by pulling us in the opposite direction, to make us a part of the worldly kingdom of which devil is the ruler, as we can see in the above verse in Ephesians 6:12.

To win this battle, first of all, we need to understand our standing in Christ and the nature of the enemy. We need to:

Recognize The Enemy

We tend to consider the people who are hurting us by words or actions, leaving us mentally and emotionally drained, as our enemy. However, we need to realize that their behavior is caused by the evil nature in them and that the devil is actually our enemy and not they themselves. They are controlled by the works of the flesh causing them to behave irrationally. So, instead of hating them, we need to pray for them to be delivered from the clutches of the evil one and to love and accept Christ as their Saviour and thereby become a part of God’s kingdom.

Recognise Who We Are

We need to know our role in this warfare. We are soldiers of Jesus Christ as mentioned in (2 Timothy 2:3). We are not alone. We belong to the army of our Almighty God. We need to stand strong in the Lord and in the power of His might to defeat the wiles of the devil. Our identity is in Christ who will enable us with the help of His Holy Spirit to quench all the fiery darts of the enemy.

Be Responsible

We need to take up our responsibility as God’s warriors in this world seriously. Our greatest weapon is prayer. We need to pray consistently for us and for our families, to seek God’s wisdom and guidance to help us overcome fear, anxiety, depression, negativity and every other evil force that drive us away from God’s peace and protection.(Ephesians 6:18)

Trust in God’s Faithfulness.

We are not alone in this spiritual battle. Our God has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. Once we step out in faith, God will be with us to give us the victory. He will help us to overcome the distractions of this world and the sinful nature in us, and will enable us to live a life pleasing to Him.

Now that we know who we are in Christ and the nature of our adversary, how do we prepare ourselves for this battle? God has equipped us with the weapons of warfare we need in Ephesians 6:14-17.

 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

We can defend ourselves by living our lives truthfully resisting temptations to lie, standing firm in God’s righteousness. We have to be ready to spread the gospel of peace, so that others can also come to know and accept God. We need to stand strong in our faith to protect us from the deceptions of the enemy, be assured about our salvation and use the Word of God as our sword, against which the enemy cannot stand.

As quoted by author Derek Prince in his book Blessing Or Curse,  “We need to awaken to the realization that the mind is a battlefield in which the lies of Satan are at war with the truth of God’s word. In this strange warfare, standards of measurement are different from those in the world. Measured in the spiritual scale, forgiving is stronger than resenting, blessing is stronger than cursing, giving thanks is stronger than complaining, praise is stronger than accusation and loving is stronger than hating.”

This battle in our mind will continue till we reach eternity. Until then, we need to be on our guard, surrendering each day in prayer to God, to give us the victory to lead a Christ centered life.

Today, let us take the decision to be a warrior of God, fighting the good fight of faith, so that at the end of our journey in this world, we too can boldly claim, like Apostle Paul-

I have fought the food fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.


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