Good morning people who fight the battles appointed to you by God

The apostle Paul is considered by many to be the greatest apostle ever. He was a man who had a radical encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, and as a result, his life was transformed from terrorist to proclaimer of truth! I love it!

Yet life, as many of us would define it, was not easy for this man. He suffered more than I ever will, and he did so with such grace and a sense of victory. His focus was not on ease for himself, but on the kingdom of God. He saw himself as a soldier. Here’s what he wrote to young Timothy:

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

Paul knew what many of us don’t know today, and that is, we all have battles to fight. Sometimes we are defeated, not by the battles we face, but by a false belief that we should not have battles to fight. After all, we are Christians and we should enjoy life to the full, right? Right, but life to the full is more correctly ‘Life to the full’; it is a deepening relationship with the Way, the Truth and the Life!

Paul knew that he was called to fight, but he equally knew that he was called to fight the good fight. He use to fight against Jesus and against Christians. Now he was called to fight the fight of faith. This was the fight over principalities and powers in spiritual places. This was a fight for the people of God and the truth of God’s Word. This was a fight against the flesh by the power of the Spirit. This was a good fight which resulted in God being glorified and Paul being strengthened.

We too are called to fight the good fight.