The Nature of the Fight of Faith

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

(1 Timothy 6:12)

We're called to 'fight the good fight', as the old hymn says. It is a fight of faith. Who or what are we fighting with? In a sense, we are not fighting any sort of offensive fight, certainly not with people. In 1 Corinthians 10v3-5, Paul says we are fighting strongholds and imaginings. These are primarily problems in our own thinking. A stronghold is a way of thinking resistant to the Word of God, and through which the enemy can gain influence. Imaginings are thoughts. Thoughts which may be suggested by the world system, but which are not the final truth in God. The world and the devil will start to tell us we are sick, or poor, or headed for poverty. These are vain imaginings. The facts around us may confirm these imaginings. We need to reject them based on God's promises from the Bible. In Ephesians 6v11-17 we are instructed to put on the armour of God. Faith is part of that armour; the shield. This sounds quite militaristic, and it is. But again, there are no offensive weapons mentioned, apart from the sword of the Spirit, and that is the word of God. The sword pictures the Word of God as a weapon to cut away anything which hinders us, by discerning between flesh and spirit, between what is purely human and worldly and what is of God (Hebrews 4v12). It's not described in Hebrews 4 as an offensive weapon to attack people. The New Testament also tells us to cast out demons, so the Ephesians 6 full armour is offensive in that sense. There's a militant indignation at the devil and his cohorts, and we have authority to drive them out when their presence is discerned in a person or place. We drive them out by using the authority of the Word, because Jesus has already instructed and empowered us to do this. 

Paul's way to describe the fight in 1 Timothy 6 is not by describing the enemy, but by describing the method. The method, of course, is faith. Why is this? It's because the enemy, from God's true perspective, is already defeated. By faith, we simply agree with and enter into Gods' perspective. We should be remaining in that perspective of victory by our faith. There's a great old hymn exhorting us to do fight the good fight. What does it involve, fighting this fight of faith? 

First, what is faith? In the New Testament Greek, faith is the word 'pistis'. It means belief, conviction, credence, reliance. If we have faith in Christ, we believe Him, rely on Him and have conviction that what he says is true. How does faith like this develop and grow? 

God often speaks in pictures. A year or two ago I started seeing pictures in my mind of a man wearing headphones.  Around that time I had bought some, to listen to music without disturbing people in our smallish house in Cape Town. God often speaks using ideas familiar to us. God probably wasn't suggesting I upgrade my headphones. My wife didn't think so either! I decided instead He was using figurative language. Most headphones don't allow much external sound in. They reject unwanted, sound, the sound of the world around you. Many modern models go further and actively counteract extraneous noise, allowing you to concentrate fully on the material you wish to hear.

What did the pictures mean? We need to be tuned in to God, even if that means we remain relatively ignorant of some aspects of the world around us. It's about which voice and language speaks loudest to us. I believe God was prompting me to listen to His voice and His Word, but also to actively avoid too much exposure to hearing about the affairs of this world. We were in South Africa at the time, and there were many troubles, some of them very close to where we lived. I intentionally visited dangerous neighbourhoods at the time, and God is fine with that as we reach out for Him with the Gospel. But we also had a riot outside our complex and some internal crime. Back in the UK there are different issues, as we are reminded now we have returned. It's not necessarily better, just different. Wherever we live though, it's easy to focus in excessively on this world. We might start to think about how secure we are, or how to change the government. We start to think about jobs and income, and whether we can survive financially. In the UK, it's easy to get concerned about Godless values being enforced on people. All this is the way things seem to be. But it's really only how they seem to be. There's a higher truth we can draw from, a truth which over-rules the natural order. The natural order has reality, but there is a higher and absolute truth and reality which will bring the natural order into line with god's Word and promises. 

We cannot escape all persecution, because many people will hate us for our faith. But we can live in the positive promises of God. Even if the world tells us we will fall into sickness, poverty and misery, we can receive and appropriate His over riding promises. We do this by faith. We believe what He has already said and give thanks. You can ask if you like, but it's often not necessary, because we have His Word on issues which concern us. He will then prepare a table of blessing, of health and prosperity, in the presence of the enemies of sickness and poverty. As far a faith is concerned, over-focus on the world can paralyze us and shift us into unbelief. If we listen to the secular media too much, we don't just hear facts about this world, we also tend to pick up the thinking, principles and attitudes of this world. For example, news outlets in many countries seems to thrive on negativity and therefore generate fear. There's a form of excitement involved in this, in generating fearful suspense, but there's death in it too. Faith also has an element of excitement, but it's a different, purer, sort of excitement. It's the excitement of overflowing life. And God has commanded us not to fear. 

Using the analogy of natural hearing, we can see we are called to listen actively to His voice. 

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

(Joh 10:27)

His voice is not always an audible voice. It comes in various forms, including audibly or directly as words spoken to the mind. More usually it comes as a settled conviction or as a desire of the heart, and is accompanied by a sense of deep peace. How do we decide if we are indeed hearing God? It isn't always easy. It is much easier to discern His voice accurately and reliably if we are already thinking in line with His ways. This will happen when we spend a lot of time in prayer, worship and reading the Word. Fasting also helps, and can allow the Word to gain deep entrance by quieting the soul.

What do we mean by this world? Not the planet, that's fine, though it might not last. This world order works in a certain way. It is dominated by control of others, selfishness, and by strife, lust, anger, greed and envy. There are also elements to this world order which are not inherently evil, but which are often used in a Godless way.

Money is an example. It's a dominating factor in purely human thinking. Human learning and Godless ideas and ideals are others. These things certainly have power and some validity, but they don't have final power, God does. And He works through His Word and our faith. In this world order, this natural way of thinking, we may consider ourselves wise. But this is often worldly wisdom. We may consider ourselves good judges of people, or well able to predict the future, what people will do next. But we can be wrong. Sometimes very wrong. We may use natural wisdom, money and learning and other methods to best try to run our lives and make decisions. A lot of the time there is nothing wrong with these methods. But we mostly need to spend time listening for God's voice. What if we believe He is speaking to us about a present situation? If God speaks something not in line with our worldly evaluations, or tells us to do something seemingly risky, will we hear and obey? He will speak in line with his written Word. Will we let God's truths and promises govern how we feel about life, not what external indicators and values might say to our hearts and minds? Will we let His Word, written and spoken, govern our actions?

Our senses 'speak' strongly to our hearts and minds. What our senses perceive is not necessarily wrong, unless we deliberately expose them to sinful influences. But we need to process these sensory inputs with a mind governed by the Word of God. This well help us to act in a Godly way. If God speaks prophetically with a picture or impression, perhaps through another believer, and if we recognise God's voice in it, we should act on that word. We will maintain our peace and joy this way. We will be led in a good path. If we let the strife and uncertainty of the world in to govern our thinking, guess what? Peace will go. Bad decisions are likely.

If we've allowed the world to poison our hearts and minds, our passions and feelings will get corrupted. We will not be satisfied or peaceful within. It may well take effort to press back in to God and get back in harmony with Him. Personally there have been times as a Christian when I have let sin and the devil in, and my heart has even started to grow hostile to God. I've blamed Him for things which are not his fault or doing. This is not good, but there is a way back. If we really get messed up, and drift well away from Him, God will grant us the gift of heart repentance if we seek it and ask. In a sense, we have already repented when we realise we have drifted away, but he can help us return to peace and obedience. God granted the gift of repentance to the Gentiles in Acts 11v18. They wanted God, and God helped them to receive good things from Him. 

It is our souls which are the battleground, our souls get corrupted when we sin and neglect our relationship with the Lord. We become confused and are conscious of defilement. It is within our souls we need to find repentance back toward God. We should always be aware that our Spirits, if we are born again, are sealed for the day of redemption. We have that security. The governing essence of our being, the very core of who we are, is already sealed and perfected for the age to come. Our spirits are ready for that age of abiding, remaining, peace and perfection. They don't need further transformation. Or souls do. And our bodies may need healing too.

In summary, a major aspect of the fight of faith is to fill our minds with Godly thoughts and promises. Reading and understanding His written Word is vital. We can do so much to renew our minds, and thereby stay in the will of God. In this way, we will increasingly walk faithfully with Him. We'll be at peace. We are called to act in line with His Word.

God has given us His precious Word for a good reason. There are so many dependable promises in it. We have to exercise our faith and take hold of those truths, to grasp them with our entire being. This takes effort. Doing these things brings the joy, peace and stability of heaven in to this often drab and miserable present age.