Are You Conflicted About The Fight You Are In?

I think many Christian’s struggle when reading the Old Testament because so much of it is about fighting God and the consequences of such behavior. Adam and Eve fought God and his will and chose to do life on their terms, or at least they thought that’s what they were doing, rebelling against a loving provider. Moses fought God about his will and his calling and Israel was constantly either fighting God, their own countrymen or their neighbors.  I think all this fighting in mankind’s history in the Old Testament persuaded many believers today to only read the New Testament, because Jesus seems to be all about peace and love, or at least it seems that way. 

Is it possible that we have missed the good elements and lessons of “FIGHTING” for the things we really believe in and the things we desire?  Is it possible we have candy-coated who and what Jesus was teaching people then and now and allowed a distorted perspective on how to walk the Christian life? If we get Jesus wrong about his intentions and purpose, we will live a distorted Christian life and lose out on the blessings and promises of God.

Going back to the Old Testament, consider the Israelites leaving Egypt, which was a life of slavery, and heading towards the promised land. They had to fight a “Slaves Mentality” to endure the plagues God sent through Moses to Pharaoh and the Egyptian people. If they remained passive they would have still been in Egypt. Secondly, instead of fighting their learned behavior of not trusting God, they fought God instead of their slavery mentality

Consider Joshua taking the second generation of Israelites into the promised land. The first generation of Jews didn’t make it because they couldn’t break free of the attitudes and behavior they learned in slavery. The second generation had to break free from their parents’ attitudes and lifestyles. That meant they had to fight attitudes and traditions that kept their parents locked out of the promises God. It would lock them out as well even though they were now a free people . . . physically.

God’s word to Joshua, the leader after Moses died, was to “Face His Fears” and grab the courage to overcome his insecurities. The people had to do the same thing which had to be a huge struggle. This meant they had to fight their fear and grab some courage as well. Overcoming fear means we have to stand up and fight the feelings and attitudes that bind us to the past mistakes and wounds. Fighting is required. To be overcomers means not sitting and waiting for some peace to enter our souls but doing something to win. Life has a way of telling us when to seek peace and when to seek the courage to fight for peace. Choosing the wrong attitude at the wrong time can be disastrous and Israel’s history proves it. For Joshua and the Israelites to be strong and courageous they had to get an attitude of being warriors, not passive slaves like their parents.

Joshua 1:5-6 

“No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.”

The apostle Paul gave us similar advice about the need to fight in the book of 1 Timothy. Paul said, in essence, that for a Christian to be successful we need to fight the things that hold us back from God’s best. Victory is not always about waiting on God but a matter of cooperating with God in gaining the peace we desire

1 Timothy 1:18 

This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, 

 Do we honestly think that Jesus didn’t have to fight his physical and spiritual exhaustion when the disciples went to sleep in Gethsemane and he went out to pray all night? Do we really think he didn’t have to fight the hatred of the Pharisees when they were trying to trap him and his words? Becoming an overcomer is about fighting the spirit of fear, and the insecurities all of us must face, if we are to become victorious; whether it’s about a relationship struggle, a possible new job or believing God can use us to pray for someone’s healing.

The Old Testament is a history lesson for us to understand the New Testament. Both are crucial for us to gain the understating we need to become and do all that God has in his heart for us to do in this lifetime. Don’t let the enemy of your soul convince you to sit back and wait for God to do your fighting for you. When God gave the Israelites the promise of the promised land it included the awareness that they had to fight to enter it. Many of God’s promises “Take It For Granted” we understand that. To not fight as God directs means we fail in gaining what God promised. When failure happens we often fall back on blaming God when in truth it’s because we didn’t do our part of fighting. There are very few times in scripture where God says, “Just watch and see for the battle is mine.” All too often Christians claim that promise when it is something God never promised or instructed them.

Let me leave this one thing to clarify about fighting God’s way, in God’s timing. Some of our fighting is in our own soul over past mistakes and bad attitudes. Some fighting is in the spirit to overcome what the enemy of our soul wants to destroy in our lives. Some of the fighting, believe it or not, is in the culture around us. We all need to take a  stand for righteousness and not let wickedness go unchecked in the culture we live in.

May the Holy Spirit counsel us which fighting we need to engage in and which fighting we don’t. May he give us the Father’s perfect counsel to become the warriors we need to be living in this twisted world. 

Questions:

1) Have you avoided fighting with God’s help and not against it as a Christian? Decide to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to fight the way God directs and see what a difference it makes in your life.

2) Have you been fighting in your Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit? Doing so is exactly what the your enemy wants you to do so you live a defeated life. Get filled with presence and power of God daily by being filled with the Holy Spirit daily.

Pastor Dale