The Big Fight!
Pastor Chip Kawalsingh
1 Timothy 6:12 (NLT) - Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses.
When I was a young boy growing up in Trinidad, my brothers and I would love to listen to my dad’s stories about when he was our age. He told one story of some boys from his village who wanted to fight him and his brothers. One day, the two groups met on the village road at dusk and stood toe-to-toe. My dad pushed his way to the front and began to shout at the other boys, knowing that his brothers were with him. The biggest of the boys from the other group came forward, and my dad shouted ‘Come on!’, only to look over his shoulder and see his brothers running like lightening in the other direction!
Paul isn’t talking to Timothy about youthful scrimmages, but about a greater fight we face every day. Paul was a real tough guy. Take a minute to look at some of the things he endured; shipwrecks, snakebites, beatings, floggings, hunger, and danger from thieves and bandits. He had to walk miles to get to the churches and places he went to. He had to be a tough guy! Christians are meant to be a tough bunch of people too, not spiritual wimps or those who run after weak and ineffective things, but people who fight to the end.
Faith is what makes our spiritual muscles strong. Faith is for tough times, difficult positions and impossible situations. You cannot fight an effective fight if you are unfit and untrained. You may last a round, only to be knocked down in the second. We must exercise our spiritual muscles daily in order to become great fighters for His Kingdom.
So what does this mean to me?
- You are in a battle
There’s a real war waging in our lives. It’s not necessarily about fighting the devil and his demons, but our own selfish, carnal desires (James 4: 1-4). The weapons we need are not guns and knives, but spiritual armour. Ephesians 6:16 asks us to daily “take up the shield of faith.” - Church is your boot camp
We shouldn’t give “up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another” (Hebrews 10:25). When you miss Church you are endangering your life. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us that the devil prowls around like a lion, looking for those who are outside the flock. Church is where we strengthen our faith, where we grow, and where the army unites and becomes stronger. Church is where we treat the wounded, the hurt, and the dying, and nurse them back to health. - Get the Word in you
Throughout the Bible you read, “The Word of the Lord…” There is something important about having the Word of the Lord in you. Romans says ‘faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word’ (Romans 10:17, TNIV). It’s important to read your Bible every day, pray every day, and get the preached Word in you. Weak believers are those who miss church for trivial reasons and don’t bother to get the Word in them. Take advantage of the CDs available at the Bookshop and get His Word in you. The hidden Word keeps us from sin and from drifting (Psalms 119: 11; Hebrews 2 1-2).
