This is how I fight my battles!

“But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:4

We continue and press onward….

Like the apostles, we must know our duty and not veer or waver from it. Distractions will come. There will always be a war for our soul and therefore our attention. The enemy wants to distract us and get us caught up in things that aren’t for us to get caught up in. 

Like these men, be must be fully dedicated to staying constant in prayer and continually living out our call.

The enemy comes to distract, divert your attention and to discourage you! That’s his job. He ultimately wants wants you to quit. That’s his goal. You must not pay attention to his lies but know the truth of God! 

The devil will always try to bring resistance. Yet if God be for you, who can stand against?

He will always try to stop you when you’re going in the right direction. He will try and frustrate you if you have peace and stop what you start. He knows you’re going to do something great. He doesn’t want anything great to come from you. Do it anyway, even when it doesn’t feel so great. If you believe that God is for you, then you have to believe there is an enemy against you. He’s after your peace. As Joyce Meyers put its: ‘your peace is your power’. He’s also after your joy. The Bible says that the joy of the Lord is your strength. He doesn’t want you to use your talents or abilities. He doesn’t want to see you being obedient and faithful, and walking out and that call. He knows that if he drains your strength and power, then you won’t have the will to keep going. See how all these little things combined could start to wear and weigh on us until we’re wore out and weighed down?

Distractions will come. 

Song of Solomon says it best: The little foxes spoil the whole vine. Everyday these things that come against us and irritate us, will eventually distract us from the bigger picture if we’re not careful. 

I heard a preacher preach a message once on “be the train.” The train can’t stop for a little dog barking. It’s a train. We must be so laser focused on the goal and the task in front so in order that we don’t get off track. We don’t get caught up in matters and putting out fires that don’t belong to us. Let the little dogs bark. Little offenses here and there all add up if we don’t destroy them one by one. Paul says to throw off every weight that hinders us (as they come-don’t wait!) Why? Because it slows us down and keeps us from running our race that’s set before us! We must keep our eyes on Jesus - the author and finisher of our faith. He’s the real pioneer Who has gone before us, prepared and shown us the way. 

The enemy of your soul is a liar and the father of all lies, but God is truth. The devil will always contradict truth and dress lies up seemingly pretty and true. If he can distract you, he can derail you. If he can discourage you, he can slow you down. If he frustrates you, he can potentially stop you. Busy yourself with the will of God. 

The fact is: If God’s for it, the enemy is against it. But God is with us and we have nothing to fear. He told us to be strong and courageous. He actually commanded it! Jesus said to expect it! If they persecuted Him, He said they would you too. The enemy only comes to steal, kill, destroy and contradict. Jesus came to give you life and life more abundantly. Who will you believe?

YOU AND I HAVE THE VERY SAME ABIDING POWER OF GOD IN US THAT JESUS HAD IN HIM. YOU must let HIM have control. We tend take it personally and want to give up and quit, but we can be fully controlled by Gods Spirit. God never said it be easy, but the prize will be worth the fight. He equips and tells us how to fight, because He knew it was a fight. He doesn’t want us to be blind sighted but equipped. We must keep fighting the good fight or we get caught up in the wrong fights. 

“But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” Hebrews 10:38-39

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”Hebrews 11:1

“Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” Psalm 31:24

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him.”  2 Chronicles 32:7

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world YOU WILL have tribulation; BUT BE OF GOOD CHEER, (for) I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.”  John 16:33

ANYTHING GREAT COMES WITH GREAT RESISTANCE!

As we look at all the great warriors of faith in the Bible and all those who have gone before us, we see that they all faced resistance. They all had trouble and trials too. David ran from Saul.

He knew that it was a temporary hiding out, and he could have killed Saul. Yet he respected God and the fact that Saul was king. He knew that he was to be king or I believe it would have been easier for him to surrender or do what his flesh wanted to do. You must trust that there’s greatness inside of you. God has a purpose and plan but the enemy of your soul will lie to you and tell you that it’s not worth it. Why? So you’ll give up and quit!

David fought many battles. I totally believe that he continued and continued to fight because he was man of courage and of a single purpose. Not perfect but courageous. He knew there was greater and He trusted God that there was more. More to fight for. More to go on for. I’m sure he didn’t always feel strong but he had a strong call, a strong will to live and a heart to serve God - even from a young age, HE KNEW THE POWER OF GOD WHO SLEW so he rounded up 3 stones and slew Goliath. All because HE KNEW WHO. It wasn’t by his own power and might. Here’s what he said:

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, 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.” 1 Samuel 17:45

When the enemy messes with you, he messes with God in you!

We must get acquainted with the Word of God and eventually so full of His Word that we can and will use it with authority!! How can we use it unless we know it? Even His name is POWER and it’s in that name as we see here that David came to fight!

David got down and discouraged too, even though he was great man of faith! The bigger the faith, often the bigger the battle. He talked to his soul and asked it why it was so downcast within him. The soul (our mind, will and emotions) is what tends to get down. At one point, he and his men had lost everything. Their wives and his families had been seized by the enemy. All the sudden no one was for David. He was the leader and things weren’t working out as they had planned. But guess what David did? He didn’t wait on feelings or approval, nor for things to suddenly get better. Because they weren’t going to! It wouldn’t come without a fight, he knew that and so this is what he did: He cried and mourned first, BUT THEN…… He encouraged HIMSELF in the Lord. He didn’t wait on anyone else to encourage him. There was no one who was going to. It was just him and the Lord; and he knew it.

David knew things wouldn’t get better until he had Gods ok and power to fight the enemy! He alone he couldn’t do anything.

There are times in your life when you have all the encouragement and backing one could need. It’s important to encourage one another. But then there’s times in this wrestling ring of life when it seems you are all alone in your own corner of the this great big world. You may feel small and seem insignificant but it’s simply not true. The God of the universe cares for you and if you feel alone, your not alone. On Christ you can call, lean and encourage yourself in Him. Dive into prayer. Cry. Let it all out. Read His word. Indulge in it. Listen to it. Worship. Whatever you have to do to not stay there because it’s not in staying down that you win. You might get knocked down but that’s why you must encourage yourself in the Lord to get back up! David did and guess what else? God gave him the ok to go and fight and he recovered ALL & the enemies spoils too. He got it all back and more. Stay in the fight. 

In the boxing ring of life you don’t get the prize or hear the ring without a fight. You won’t hear well done UNTIL you finish your fight. You’re in a fight either way and you must choose which fight you’ll fight. You quit, you lose. You fight like the devil, you lose. If you fight the good fight, you win - but not till the very end. Keep fighting the good fight.  🥊 

Be able to say: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

“Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:8

Do you love Him and do you wait for His coming? I know you’re tired and weary but I came to encourage you today to reset your eye on the prize and get back in the race.

It’s all ahead of you. 

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Run like those before you. Don’t quit. 

We must not lose heart or we give up. Because it’s all a matter of the heart. The hearts what keeps us going. It’s why we must do whatever we do with our whole hearts in it and as unto God, lest we quit because we only have half our hearts in it. Are we fully dedicated like the apostles when distractions come? Someone’s always begging for our attention. Let’s be honest, when hard times and come and they will; that’s when most people quit and begin to fall out of the race. Why? Because we don’t like or want any resistance. We want an easier way out. Jesus didn’t quit. He finished and was obedient even to death; even to the death of the cross He was faithful. He endured….. 

It’s the power of Christ in you. We must keep our eyes on the prize and the main thing the main thing or else we give up our crown. Expect resistance and run your race with the end in mind. That’s how you’ll get there. Resistance is actually what makes you grow when pressed against. Otherwise you remain weak and the same. Resistance is what makes the eagle soar.

Here’s what David had to say about it: “I WOULD HAVE fainted, UNLESS I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13 

If we faint, we don’t finish. Our belief will take us there or stop us. You may have had every reason to quit but hang on to the one fact that God wants you to win. Run for Him.

Here’s what Paul says about it:

1 Corinthians 9

24 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 

25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 

26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 

27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize”

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”   Romans 8:31

The devil hates you. God loves you. Don’t bother with the rest! He’s for you. No one can stand against you because when they resist you, they resist the very power of God in you. It may seem easier to go back to living the way you use to and not be bothered by Satan or his attacks but that’s defeat. Keep going and finish strong. His grace will keep you. It matters more how you finish more than how you started. Start again!

“BETTER is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”Ecclesiastes 7:8

Be patient, races take time. Slow and steady wins. God will see you through. Be diligent, consistent, and vigilant. It’s our duty to be faithful and continue with care and prayer; to watch and work! God will give us the grace and power that we need to finish the race! We’re going all the way with Him. Nothing can stop us if we trust and so follow Him. 

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4