How to Increase Your Strength for the Fight

2 Timothy 4:7 {NKJ)
⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

One well-known minister of the gospel said this concerning the struggles we all face in life; “You will either be fighting the devil or running from him.” Certainly not everything we face in life is a direct attack from the devil. But because we live in a fallen world and he is the prince of the air (Ephesians 2:2), the negative and sometimes destructive things we face in this life can be ultimately linked to him and his kingdom. Becoming a Christian does not end the devil’s attacks on our lives and sometimes it increases them because every person who becomes born-again becomes a threat to him.

The determining factor on whether we will fight or run is found in our understanding that the devil is already a defeated foe. Colossians 2:15 says (NKJV), “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. [His victory on the Cross.]” A Christian’s fight only involves enforcing the devil’s defeat. Once that truth is established then the focus shifts to “how to” enforce his defeat. Another well-known minister of the gospel shared a revelatory truth from God’s Word that most believers probably are not familiar with. He began by making the point that a Christian’s stance when faced with a challenge in life is one of rest. We can be at rest because the Word tells us that the battle is the Lord’s, the victory belongs to us (2 Chronicles 20:15). Rest does not mean doing nothing; it means not trying, but rather trusting that Holy Spirit will guide us through the difficulties we are facing. The treasure this minister discovered was in the meaning of the Greek word “lacham”. It means “to fight” but it also means “to eat.” What Holy Spirit showed him was that our fight involves resting and “feeding” on the person of Jesus, who is the Author and the Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

There are two ways that we can fight by “feeding” on the person of Jesus. One way is by spending time in the Word of God, because Jesus and the Word are one. Finding out what the Word says about our challenges is finding out what Jesus has to say about our situation.

A second way we can “feed” on the person of Jesus is by taking communion. When we partake of the communion meal, we are taking the bread and the cup in remembrance of what Jesus did for us. As we spend time reflecting on His sacrifice at the scourging post and the Cross, what should come into focus is the table which He has prepared in the midst of our enemies (Psalm 23). Jesus sacrificed all so we could have all victory in whatever fight we are facing.

Our loving Heavenly Father made sure that any fight we face in our lives, we fight while “in Christ.” (Ephesians 2:15) As stated before, our fight (our part) in any battle is found by feeding on the person of Jesus. This fight does not result in weariness, but on the contrary leaves us strengthened because of the intimacy that results in when we look to Jesus to fight for us!

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