Tag: Spiritual Warfare

Devotionals

Fight the Good Fight of Faith             

Loring Schultz

Read: 1 Timothy 6:11-16 NLT – Paul’s Final Instructions – But you, – Bible Gateway

“Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:11-12 NLT

Photo by Suhail Mir on Unsplash

This morning I came across an interesting reading in my ‘Substack’ feed entitled ‘Prayer is Not Asking. It is Occupying.’ The thought being that is not merely asking, but it is reporting for duty. Afterall we are in a war. Paul tells Timothy to fight the good fight of faith. The Lord who called Timothy into service also called us. Our ministries may differ, but we have the same commander, the Lord God.

Our Lord is telling us to fight the good fight of faith in 2026. If you have been a Christian for any length of time you know that task is not easy. But we are to pursue righteousness while living a godly life having faith, love, with perseverance and gentleness. I do not know about you, but I cannot do that on my own. Paul also recognized this as he instructed Timothy to fight the good fight. The word Paul used for ‘fight’ is where we get our English word ‘agonize.’ It describes the attentiveness, discipline, and effort needed for victory in a military battle or an athletic contest.

The good fight of faith is a spiritual battle against the things of this world ruled by Satan. The Lord commands to us to fight the good fight by putting on the full armor of God and standing firm. (Eph.6:10-18) We are not left defenseless and are encouraged to remember our future promise of eternal life leading us to live with a heavenly perspective as we minister for the Lord. May we all eagerly report for duty each day as we fight the good fight of faith.

A Christian Perspective

Are you trained for war?          

Loring Schultz

Read: Psalm 144 NLT – Psalm 144 – A psalm of David. Praise – Bible Gateway

“Praise the Lord, who is my rock. He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle.” Psalm 144:1 NLT

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The Bible contains a lot of tough verses we wrestle with. Several publications are offered with the sole purpose of answering questions and explaining these tough verses. Our key verse today is one tough verse. “Praise the Lord, who is my rock.” That’s not tough to comprehend, in fact it’s quite refreshing. What follows confuses us. Training for war? “He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle.” (Ps.144:1 nlt) Many Christians have a passivist view of war for many reasons. I’m not going to stir the pot of debate on the world’s wars, but I am going to state that every Christian is in a war whether we agree with it or not. So, my question is, are you trained for war?

King David, the author of Psalm 144, was the king in the theocratic government of Israel. The Lord God empowered David to overcome his enemies, all who were against the God of heaven and His people. This was war against unholy idol worshipers with no regard for the true God and who continually fought against Israel. The Lord God thoroughly trained David in every way to fight against the enemies of the Lord. Ultimately David knew God was his rock and fortress. “He is my loving ally and my fortress, my tower of safety, my rescuer. He is my shield, and I take refuge in him. He makes the nations submit to me.” (Ps.144:2 nlt) But he was still trained to subdue the enemies of the Lord.

King David had the nations’ armies against him, and Christians today have Satan’s armies against us. The apostle Paul instructs us to put on the full armor of God to stand against the devil. (Eph.6:11-17) The one major difference here is we’re not to fight but be trained in putting on the armor. Once on, we stand! No matter your view on war, Christians are in a war as Paul states, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (Eph.6:12 nlt) Paul then tells us to ‘stand our ground.’ Having on the full armor of God we are now fully trained for war by standing firm.

Devotionals

Overthrow the Lofty Opinions Against God and His Word

Loring Schultz

“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV

Photo by Cassidy Rowell on Unsplash

Some people barricade themselves in ideological forts of their choosing to justify their resentment to God and His Word. Their ideology makes perfect sense to them, and they stick to it. Dr. John MacArthur unveils these forts as thoughts, ideas, speculations, reasonings, philosophies, and false religions that keep them at bay with the God of the Bible. The forts are used to codify what they perceive to be right, regardless of what the Bible says. Christians who live by a Biblical worldview also have their own ideology that makes perfect sense. God, the creator of the world and human life, sent His Son Jesus Christ to save those who trust in Him, and He has given us His Word on the proper way to live. It’s simple and that’s all there is to it.

You may feel torn in the spiritual battle you are in if you are a believer. You hesitate to speak the truth to not lose friends, but you are disturbed by all you see and hear from the ideologies of the world, even from your friends. You may be intimidated by the philosophies of the world system. They sound reasonable and hard to argue against. But you will never win an argument or lead someone to Christ by engaging in the ideologies of the world. And you certainly won’t do so by remaining silent. God does not want us to be silent, but to overthrow those lofty opinions and to do so by His Word and in love.

Paul said to the believers in Corinth, “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” (2Cor.10:3-4 nlt) What Paul is saying is that we do not use the world’s wisdom or its ideologies to reveal truth and lead souls to Christ, but we use ‘God’s mighty weapons’ the sword of the Spirit, the Bible. Paul goes on to say in this way we overthrow every lofty opinion or ideology against God. Be bold for God, lost souls depend on it.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 ESV