Today, reach for your shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. Join Joni on the frontlines and in the good fight!
SHAUNA: I’m Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Thank you for joining us!
JONI: My husband, Ken, is a World War II buff, especially when it comes to knowing types of airplanes and battleships. But I have absolutely no interest in why the Army Air Corps used a B-29 instead of a B-17 bomber in the Pacific Theater during the war. I’m just not interested in war. I agree with the person who said, “There’s no such thing as a bad peace or a good war.” However, I am reminded of one war that is emphatically good. That war is underlined in 2 Timothy 4:7. The Apostle Paul, near the end of his life writes that “the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Now, the thing I love about Paul is that he battled all the way up to the end of his life. He did not lay down his spiritual weapons of warfare until he was about to be executed. And I love that he called his fight, a “good” fight. And if you look deeper into the life of Paul, you’ll learn that the good fight of a Christian is to get rid of all evil, especially in your life. Every day we’ve got to fight to keep our focus on Jesus, we’ve got to fight to resist the enemy; we have to fight for our joy, and we must fight hard to rid ourselves of sin. But we’ve got great weapons with which to battle. And our enemies [the world, the flesh, and the devil] these enemies are no match against our spirit-blessed weapons—whether we choose a bullet-sized verse or a bulletproof prayer. Sure, we may grieve over lost territory because of disobedience, but we can always rally to reclaim lost ground. Sometimes we have to tighten a tourniquet on wounded pride, or step back for reconnaissance into God’s Word. But the captain of our salvation is always there to replenish his grace, giving us strength and courage. The God of our salvation is always for us when it comes to our good fight; never is he against us!
Every day, you and I go into war against an ensnaring world, a corrupt flesh, and a very busy devil. When we wake up in the morning – immediately, we step onto the frontlines of the battle. Never do we start the day in retreat. As a Christian, we are always on the advance, always striving to gain new ground. Philippians 3 describes it this way, it says, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Our fight is constantly toward the goal, constantly to win the prize. Sure, the frontlines in our daily battle are a risky and ruggedly demanding place to be. But the battle prize is for all of us who reckon the fight to be good.
For you, the frontlines of the good fight may be drawn against an extra minute or two of an indecent TV program. Or when you battle a surge of self-pity. Your fight may be against immoral thoughts that linger in your mind, or phrases that manipulate others. Your fight may be to bite your tongue against gossip. And the warfare is real, isn’t it? It’s hard, it hurts. It’s painful and it’s tiring. But concerning this daily battle, Eugene Peterson said that what God does within us is far more important and lasting and it’s real than anything that could be done to us. And I agree. So today, reach for your shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. Join me on the frontlines, would you? Join me as we gain territory for the king. Join me in the good fight!
© Joni and Friends