July 7, 2022
Contend For Your Faith
Beloved you must contend (fighting) in the spirit daily to fight the good fight of faith. It is a fight to have great faith. Paul told Timothy his spiritual son, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, and courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:12) Today you and I must fight the good fight of faith, even more so. To contend for your faith means you will have to do spiritual warfare. You may have to get loud to let the devil know you mean business, but you must take the authority you have been given and defeat the devil just as Jesus did in the wilderness. (Matthew 4:1-11 NLT)
When I am attacked by the enemy, I am passionate with zeal when I pray. I may get loud, but I want Mr. Devil to know I mean business. When I was growing up if Daddy raised his voice, he had my undivided attention. I want the devil’s undivided attention and I mean business! I have the authority to take dominion over the devil and put him under my feet and you do too! I want the devil to tremble and run when I wake up and my feet hit the floor! Romans 12:11-12 (Message) says don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
3. Contenders are focused on their mission! Stop letting hardships stop you from contending. Paul was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and a prisoner yet he did not allow his hardships to stop him from contending for his faith. He remained focused. He said, we are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:8-11 NLY) He never lost sight of his mission!
Contenders push aside how they feel and keep moving forward staying focused. It’s about winning and hearing our Heavenly Father say, ‘well done My good and faithful servant enter the rest of the Lord. (Matthew 25:23 NKJV) Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, whom both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! (Hebrews 12:1-3 Message) Fix your eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of your faith! Contend (fight) for your faith!
