Getting in the RIng
"Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." - 1 Timothy 6:12
Welcome to the fight; if you haven't already noticed, we are in a fight and when you're in fight you generally want to, well, win. The apostle Paul, in his letter to Timothy, a young man who was a disciple of Paul, encouraged Timothy to fight the 'good fight of faith,' and be a man of his word, not going back on the confessions that he had made in front of many. While our Christian walk & faith that we are invited into are to point to Christ, our reputation and witness does matter. We should be full of faith and be people of our word, not unreliable and forever changing our minds on important subjects.
We will face difficulties, of that we can be sure, but Christ has encouraged us to stand firm to the end and not give up! The situations and circumstances that we face aren't so different than what others are experiencing and we need to rely on strength that comes from the Holy Spirit to persevere through trials in our lives.
"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though something strange were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may also rejoice and be overjoyed." - 1 Peter 4:12-13
There is no doubt trouble will occasionally catch us in moments of weakness. In those times we need to remember that we are called to live our lives in the Spirit, we don't walk alone and when we feel alone, we should push even harder in our prayer lives and seek the Lord all the more. Learning to lean on God and not our own understanding and put our trust in the Lord and this requires us to have incredible faith.
Many of us are taught, even from a young age, to rely on our experience and knowledge and there is some value in knowledge and experiences; but if we are to live and experience what God has for us then we need to listen, trust and obey what God is saying to us. How can we do that if we aren't listening, if we aren't asking, if we aren't looking to Him? We can't. If we are to live the full life that God has for us, we need to think and live differently and learn to trust and lean fully on God.
So herein lies the fight, that we are waring against the body of flesh that we find ourselves in. Go to war with sin, especially the sin that easily entangles you, don't tolerate mediocrity in your life, you were made to be alive in the Spirit and not merely exist to get by with whatever we know in our own understanding. The good fight of faith is something we are always engaged in and we win when we recognize our weakness and ultimately that we desperately need the strength that we only find in Christ.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5-6
Welcome to the fight; if you haven't already noticed, we are in a fight and when you're in fight you generally want to, well, win. The apostle Paul, in his letter to Timothy, a young man who was a disciple of Paul, encouraged Timothy to fight the 'good fight of faith,' and be a man of his word, not going back on the confessions that he had made in front of many. While our Christian walk & faith that we are invited into are to point to Christ, our reputation and witness does matter. We should be full of faith and be people of our word, not unreliable and forever changing our minds on important subjects.
We will face difficulties, of that we can be sure, but Christ has encouraged us to stand firm to the end and not give up! The situations and circumstances that we face aren't so different than what others are experiencing and we need to rely on strength that comes from the Holy Spirit to persevere through trials in our lives.
"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though something strange were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may also rejoice and be overjoyed." - 1 Peter 4:12-13
There is no doubt trouble will occasionally catch us in moments of weakness. In those times we need to remember that we are called to live our lives in the Spirit, we don't walk alone and when we feel alone, we should push even harder in our prayer lives and seek the Lord all the more. Learning to lean on God and not our own understanding and put our trust in the Lord and this requires us to have incredible faith.
Many of us are taught, even from a young age, to rely on our experience and knowledge and there is some value in knowledge and experiences; but if we are to live and experience what God has for us then we need to listen, trust and obey what God is saying to us. How can we do that if we aren't listening, if we aren't asking, if we aren't looking to Him? We can't. If we are to live the full life that God has for us, we need to think and live differently and learn to trust and lean fully on God.
So herein lies the fight, that we are waring against the body of flesh that we find ourselves in. Go to war with sin, especially the sin that easily entangles you, don't tolerate mediocrity in your life, you were made to be alive in the Spirit and not merely exist to get by with whatever we know in our own understanding. The good fight of faith is something we are always engaged in and we win when we recognize our weakness and ultimately that we desperately need the strength that we only find in Christ.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5-6
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