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It seems I have this mistaken notion that life should be easy. Somewhere along the line I began believing this journey with God should be easy as long as one is believing.

Perhaps this is one of the biggest lies the enemy feeds us, unless it is just me, in order to discourage us. It is the lie He revealed and shattered as I read these words:

“Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you confessed so well before witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:12, NLT)

That word, ‘fight’, means: “to fight in a contest; to engage in a dreadful battle or strenuous endeavor. It envisions combatants pitted against one another for victory. It is a heroic struggle.” (taken from the New Testament Lexical Aids)

Perhaps this is the issue. Maybe we are not feeling much like “heroes”.

As I read this verse over the last few days – and in several different versions – I noticed the fight is with faith. In that verse, there is nothing which indicates the fight takes place only with people or situations.

One might have called this a light bulb moment. But my eyes became open, wide opened, that perhaps we are never more heroic than when we are battling for our faith.

Can it be that the struggles with circumstances and people which challenge us are components in a greater battle than first meets our eyes?

Perhaps the greatest battles we ever will face in our lives concern our faith. Perhaps it is when we are tempted to think that God’s Word works for everyone else but us. Or maybe, it is the battle to believe He will keep His promises to us. It may even be the battle to believe He won’t let us down.

The New Testament Lexical Aids go on to explain, “To ‘take hold of the eternal life which you were called’ would then be analogous to fulfilling one’s commission.” This fight of faith and taking hold is all a part of each one of us fulfilling our purposes here. The fight is bigger than we even imagined. John Piper puts it this way, “It is a lifelong battle again unbelief.”

No matter – it comes down to this…

We must fight the good fight for the truth faith.

 

 

Today I am joining … Testimony Tuesday and Unite and True Story and RaRa Linkup and Life Giving and Intentional Tuesday .