Did you know when you gave your heart to Jesus, you became a faith fighter?

Paul wrote:

“Fight for the true faith” (1 Timothy 6:12, NLT).

Paul himself was one when he said:

“I have fought the good fight” of faith (2 Timothy 4:7).

The Greek for fight is agon. It literally means to engage in conflict. It was used in the context of military conflict or competing in athletic sports.

Let’s ask some questions about our faith, who we fight with, weapons we fight with and the outcome of our conflict.

We fight for the faith in whom?

Paul is not talking about faith in ourselves, but faith in Christ.

What does it mean to have faith in Christ?

Faith is trusting in Jesus’s finished work on the cross to save us, and change us. It is also trusting Him daily to do what is right in your life.

When Paul says I have fought for the faith, he is saying he has kept on trusting Jesus’ finished work to save and change him, and God to do what is right in his life to the very end.

Why is keeping our faith in Jesus like a fight?

It’s because it is possible for us to stop trusting God completely, and rely on self. We also have another enemy, Satan, who challenges our faith in Christ, His word, and what God says about us.

We need to know about our enemy

To overcome the enemy, we need to know about the enemy. “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, ….but against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Our battle is not physical. It is spiritual.

What do we know about Satan and His forces?

His life purpose is to “be like God Most High” (Isaiah 14:14). He is “the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God” (Ephesians 2:2). His job is to accuse us before God. (Revelation 12:10). Now the devil “has little time” (Revelation 12:12) so, “he prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

What can Satan do?

Satan can’t take away your salvation, but he can take away your joy. He can’t force you to do anything, but he can put negative thoughts in your mind. He battles with us in at least three ways: through influencing our old sinful nature (Romans 7:23), the influence of people and the world’s value system (1 John 2:16).

How do we fight him?

Satan can accuse us, but he doesn’t have the last word, because Jesus rose for our defence. When Jesus rose, He broke “the power of the devil, who had the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14). Satan can disturb us but he can’t defeat us because, “the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world” (I John 4:4).

The first thing you need to fight him is you must be born again. You were born again, when God chose you, made you aware of your sins, and the moment you repented and believed in Jesus as your Savior and Lord. “When you believed [in Christ] you were sealed with the Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13).

When you were born again, God gave you spiritual weapons to fight.

“We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons” (2 Corinthians 10:4). We also suit up. “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

God has many spiritual weapons in the Bible, but His built-in weapons suit lists the key weapons He gives us:

Truth belt: “Wear a belt of truth around your body” (Ephesians 6:14a, NLV).

Right with God chest guard: “Wear a piece of iron over your chest which is being right with God” (Ephesians 6:14b).

Peace giving Gospel shoes: “Wear shoes on your feet which are the Good News of peace” (Ephesians 6:15a).

Faith shield: “You need a covering of faith in front of you. This is to put out the fire-arrows of the devil” (Ephesians 6:15b).

Salvation helmet: “The covering for your head is that you have been saved from the punishment of sin” (Ephesians 6:17a).

Bible sword: “Take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17b).

God gives us spiritual weapons like faith, God’s word, right with God status, truth found in Jesus, peace that comes from the gospel, saved and empowered by grace assurance to stand against Satan’s and his minions.

Not only that, you are also connected with the commander Himself, Jesus Christ, through the spiritual weapon called Prayer, while His Spirit, who lives in you, directs you and empowers you through the battle field of life. “You must pray at all times as the Holy Spirit leads you..” (Ephesians 6:18).

You are more than conquerors through Christ

Just like Paul, you can one day say I have fought the good fight of faith. You know why? Because not only are you saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8), seated with Christ in heaven (Ephesians 2:6), transferred to His kingdom (Colossians 1:13), guaranteed of salvation (Ephesians 1:14), you are also more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37), and we conquer through Jesus and His weapons. No matter what the devil throws at you this side of heaven, you have a promise. “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith” (1 John 5:4).

I visited Singapore recently on a holiday. One of the highlights of my visit was the amount of queues I had to stand in.

When I needed a taxi, I stood in a queue. Waited for the monorail. Stood in a queue. Supermarket, shopping mall, tickets counter. Stood in a queue. Water slide ride. Stood in a queue.

Never before have I spent so much time in queues.

Queues are a picture of waiting periods

They reminded me about the waiting periods we go through in life and couldn’t wait till we got out of. Some of us couldn’t wait till we got out of college, got a job, found love, got married, got kids, got out of debt.

If you haven’t realised already, we spend a lot of our lives waiting.

It is one thing to wait in a supermarket queue. Another thing when you wait for people to change, your health to change, finances to change, marriage to turn around. James chapter 5 mentions three waiting periods; he encourages us to be patient when we meet such circumstances.

When we need to exercise patience?

1. Uncontrollable situations

“Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as for you wait the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen” (James 5:7, NLT).

James says we need patience, when we face uncontrollable situations (ex: the return of Jesus). He uses farmers as an example. They had to do a lot of waiting because they had to till, plant, prune before harvesting. They also had no control over the weather, economy, and labor practices. James tells us to be patient when we face uncontrollable situations. Why? Because we do not have control over such things.

Sometimes, when things are uncontrollable, we try to control them. We do that by worrying.  But worrying is useless. The Bible says, “can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” (Mathew 6:27). God encourages us to be patient during queues of uncontrollable situations.

2. Unchangeable people

“For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord” (James 5:10).

James says we must be patient when people are unchangeable. He says look at the prophets. The prophets were entrusted to turn people to God and change their lives. However, prophets were resisted and persecuted, yet they served God. James says when you face unchangeable people, remember the prophets, and their example of patience.

3. Unexplainable problems

“We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance” (James 5:11).

When you face unexplainable waiting periods, be patient. Everything was going well for Job. Then everything fell apart. He lost his family, friends, wealth, health and joy. A lot of things in life may not make sense. It didn’t make sense for Job, but he kept his faith. When we experience queues of unexplainable problems, God wants us to be patient.

Here is why we can be patient:

We can be patient because God is in charge. We may not see Him, but it doesn’t mean He isn’t working things out. “You can see how the Lord was kind to him (Job) at the end” (Job 5:11). What He did for Job, He does for us.

When we know He has our best interest in mind, and when we trust Him to do the right thing, we can wait for Him patiently.

And when you wait patiently for Him, make sure you also:

Wait expectantly: “… I wait expectantly, trusting God to help, for He has promised” (Psalm 130:5, LB).

Wait confidently: “I will wait confidently for God” Micah 7:7, GNT).

Wait quietly: “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:26, NIV).