By Cindy Phillips
The Bible has quite a bit to say about fighting. Do you know there are things you should fight against and things you should NOT fight against? Knowing this distinction is vital for a believer. If you are engaging in the wrong fight or failing to fight the right fight, you will be defeated in your walk. Let’s explore this.
I’ll give you the answer, then dig in. You should fight against anything that wants to steal your faith. You should not fight against flesh and blood. In this life, you will be tempted to yield the first fight and engage in the second.
Fighting the good fight of faith. 1 Tim 6:12. Simply put, anything that tries to shake you from what the Word says should be fought. What was the very first sin of man? Doubting God’s Word. We read about this in Genesis 3. God was very clear in what He told Adam and Eve. The enemy tried to get them to move off what God told them. It went like this, “Did God REALLY say…?” We also see this in the Parable of the Seed/Soil in Matthew 13:3-9 (with the explanation in verses 18-23), Mark 4:2-9 (with the explanation in verses 13-20), and Luke 8:4-8 (with the explanation in verses 11-15). Notice the issue with the first seed. This is God’s Word sown in a man’s life. The first thing the enemy tries to do is steal the Word. You have to FIGHT to stay in faith about what God has said to you in His Word. For me, when the enemy tries to steal the Word, I declare “God’s Word says it. I believe it. That settles it for me!”
Fighting against flesh and blood. This is the fight we will be tempted to engage in. This is the temptation to fight with your spouse, squabble with your neighbor, argue with another believer… The best definition of this type of fighting can be found in James 1:14-15. The bottom line is your flesh and its desires. Your flesh wants to be right in that fight with your spouse. Your flesh wants to demand restitution when your neighbor tosses his grass onto your lawn. Your flesh wants to force another believer to see Scripture “your way”. We’ve been memorizing Ephesians 6:10-18 about putting on the whole armor of God. Paul even tells us our warfare is NOT with flesh and blood (i.e. people) (vs 12).
So how do we win? The answer is simple in the telling (but a fight in truth, because it would not be a fight if it was easy). Here’s the key. James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
The next time you sense a battle coming on, stop and examine yourself. Is this a fight I need to engage in to stay in the faith or a fight in the flesh I need to let go? Submit to God and His will and resist the true enemy.