What Are You Fighting For?

Does it feel like we are always having to fight?

Depending on our season in life, the fight may vary. Think of one area in your life where you need to fight, either for yourself or someone else.

To help you prime the pump for your thinking, let me share about others I know who are fighting. Like my good friend Kris who is a medical professional and has been battling cancer for 2 plus years. She is a strong godly woman determined to live each day to the fullest. Even while on chemo week after week, Kris is fighting for her life, to spend as much time as possible with family and friends.

I’ve written about my good friend Jim (not his real name) who not only battles serious health issues, but mental health problems that can easily lead him down a rabbit hole of depression. However, his faith in Jesus Christ combined with counseling and medications enable him to live a normal life, and his new residence in north Florida provides him with plenty of support from within his community, making life less difficult. Jim strives for and sometimes must fight for balance in his life each day.

I think of times I had to stand up and fight for my children. You probably have done the same. Circumstances often make it a necessity to advocate for your child in school; to be sure they have everything they need to succeed. Or perhaps you must push back a little to have your child placed with the right teacher, or into the right program.

And speaking of teenagers, the teen years can be rough for everyone involved when rebellion shows its ugly head. Like when your child decides they don’t want to go to church anymore. They’ve decided their friends rather than parents can give them better advice. It can feel like a daily fight during those years. I certainly remember thinking I knew more than my own parents.

Sometimes we fight at work. I have a friend who has worked at the same company for years. He was asked to be part of a large team of co-workers, that he later realized due to comments and discussions conflicted with his Christian beliefs. He fought by explaining to his boss why he wouldn’t be comfortable in the group, which then led him to be excused from that part of the activities.

There may even be situations where we fight to learn and grow spiritually. Some people are seeking God, trying to understand who he is and what part he plays in their life. It may take time to unravel key components to discovering faith. Your journey of faith will have a profound impact on your entire life. Will you fight to become the person God has called you to be? Is there anything preventing you from taking that first step?

Within our sin sick society Christian’s are fighting the biggest fight against evil. Not just against specifics like pornography, abuse, drugs, prostitution, human trafficking, but against spiritual forces in a warfare we face on a daily basis. Satan aims to destroy us, our children, marriages, families and society itself. We must realize and accept this is what we are fighting against.

You can’t fight, when you haven’t identified the enemy.

God’s word speaks about fighting. We are not alone; he stands with us.

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14

“Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.” Psalms 35:1

When our day comes to leave this earthly world, may we remember the things we fought for, that were important in our lives.

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