“Fighting Can Be Godly”

“Fighting Can Be Godly” Part Six: “You Have Power – It’s a Fact!”

1 Tim 6:12 “Fight the good fight of faith…”

I was at a park. There was a sandbox with young children playing in the sand. Two little boys decided that they both wanted to play with the same truck. They began to fight over it until the mothers intervened. Kids fight with no training needed.

I was driving down the highway. There was a car in the left hand passing lane that was going exactly the speed limit. It seemed as though this person made themself the guardian of the speed limit and consequently had a large line of cars in the passing lane behind it. The car directly behind was tailgating it trying to get it to move over to the other lane. It was flashing its lights, honking its horn, and tailgating – all to no avail. The lead car was fought back by slowing down more. Adults fight with no training needed.

John and Ted each managers, ran separate departments within their place of work. The company had been expanding and adding people. Consequently, office space was at a premium. An office had opened up and both John and Ted wanted it for one of their employees. They tried to talk it over and persuade each other to give it up, but to no avail. Instead they went and fought about it with their boss. Employees fight with no training needed.

Mary was preparing dinner and it would soon be ready. She called out to the back yard to her husband Tom to tell him dinner would be ready in 15 minutes. Twenty minutes later Tom came in. Mary was steaming mad because he was late which made Tom even more mad that she was so inflexible. They fought and couldn’t even remember what the dinner tasted like. Couples fight with no training needed.

In case you haven’t figured it out, people fight and they need no training to do so. It is the third instinct – that which we do naturally and with no training – that we have within us that we can harness as a source of power to live for God. We were born to fight. People are survivors by nature and will do what they have to, to survive. They will fight. You don’t have to teach children or anyone to fight. They’ll just do it because it’s instinctive. If something is instinctive, it comes effortlessly and can be harnessed as a source of power.

We may have been made to fight, but not with each other. That is where we need to saddle this stallion and make our instinct to survive and fight work for us.

God teaches us in 1 Tim 6:12 “Fight the good fight of faith…” The kind of fight God intended you to fight is the good fight of faith –for those things He tells us to fight over. Then we will win in a godly fashion that brings blessing.

In Galatians 6:9 we are taught – “So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to our Christian brothers and sisters.” He is saying; don’t get tired at doing good. Keep fighting to stay in the game of living for God. Keep fighting to be a blessing!

He also teaches us who NOT to fight with in Eph 6:12. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

We learn that we aren’t to fight people. We are to fight the demonic forces behind the scenes that try to create strife and division. We are to pray for those – us included who yield to fighting each other. The good fight of faith is fighting the devil. The good fight is standing strong for good! That is what the Apostle Paul did and he finished his life saying, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:7)

You have the instincts of a fighter. You were made to survive and fight for what is yours. But, you weren’t made to fight people. You weren’t made to be selfish. You weren’t made to be a jerk.

So how do you fight? Start by learning to first take authority over Satan when something is going wrong. Don’t get mad at people. Get mad at him. Know that he is hiding behind the curtain trying to stir people up against each other. Deal with him first. Kick him out of your situation in Jesus name. Then take it to the Father and ask Him to help bring a resolve. Not everything always goes well. You may be fighting a godly fight but someone else might not be. Regardless, you just do what is right!

Fight an issue at a time. Don’t try to solve all the worlds or your problems at once. You’ll blow up in overload. Again, don’t fight the person – know the issue you want to resolve and stick to that. Remember – stray and you pay! (from the issue) Always attempt if possible to make constructive solutions believing God for wisdom. If you can’t think if any, why do you expect someone else to have the answer? And first and foremost – look for the promise of God that speaks to your problem and pray it in faith and lean on God. For those of you that do pray in tongues, when you can see that a problem is bigger than you – than praying in the Spirit – in tongues will help sooth and pave roads in ways you won’t even know about. Romans 12: 27 “For we do not know all that is necessary or all that we should pray for, but the Holy Spirit personally makes intercession with sighs and words that cannot be understood… God who searches the heart, knows what the mind of the Holy Spirit is because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”

You were made to fight God’s way and when you do, you’ll win more battles. More on instincts next time….

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/