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.
Comments