The Word To Live By: 1-12-26
Phil Waggoner
Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:13
The Word To Live By: Why do we need to fight the fight of faith, how do we fight it, and why is it good? Three very good questions? We need to fight to keep our hearts and minds fixed on God’s word, which is the source of our faith. The good news is It’s not a physical fight. The bad news is, spiritual fights can be harder, if you don’t know the weapons you have at your disposal or how to use them. 2 Corinthains 10:4 says, “The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destructions of fortresses.” (Fortresses being the thoughts and suggestions, and temptations of the devil that begin in our mind. Such as worry.) Why do we need to fight the fight of faith? Because the temptations of the world are knocking at your door constantly in order to steal, kill, and destroy your life. How do we figtht? Let’s look at a famous battle that Jesus was in with the devil. Matthew 4:1-10; Jesus is coming off a 40 day fast and is tempted by the devil. You can read it for yourself, but what I want you to see is the weapons that Jesus used were the Word of God spoken out of His mouth. (A two-edged sword will do you no good if you leave it in the scabbard.) And even when the devil tried to throw the Word back at Him, Jesus knew the context of what the verse meant and didn’t let the devil confuse Him. In Ephesians 6:13-17 Paul lists the weapons we are to have at our disposal to fight the good fight of faith and to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Notice they are all tied to knowing the Word of God and using it. He uses words like be prepared with it and stand firm with it. In verse 17 he says to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. What do you do with it? The Amplified translation says to wield it. Which means to employ it, apply it, and use it. Matthew 4 doesn’t say whether the devil’s temptations were in the form of a physical person or spiritual in the form of thoughts it doesn’t really matter. What I want you to see is that Jesus did battle with them by speaking what was, “Written”. Why is it good? Quite simply because, YOU WIN! 1 John 5:4, “Whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith.” 1 Corinthians 15:7, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory!” 2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ…” And here’s one I always kept in my back pocket in case I needed it growing up, “My dad can beat up your dad!”
Read through the Bible in a year: Luke 11:1-28; Genesis 19; Psalms 12;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 12, Matthew 6:18-34, Acts 12:
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160