October 28, 2012 – Pastor Tim – “Get Back in the Battle” – Click to download
If you’ve given up, get back in the battle, it’s not too late to win your fight. You and God together make a majority.
Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
All of us like to win first place. But you don’t just lose because you don’t come in first. We lose when we quit.
A lot of Christians have given up the battle to receive their healing, on living upright lives, some are struggling to stay faithful to their spouses and families, and to follow God’s plan, and to obtain financial stability. According to Luke 2:52, Jesus grew mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially. “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Favor has a lot to do with growth. If you’re not growing, you’re going to notice the absence of favor.
Growth is where favor begins. Growth is the atmosphere for God’s favor. As we grow in God…so will His favor grow in and around us.
- How do we stay in the battle to do things God’s way?
- If we’ve already quit, how do we get back in the fight? Well, I’m glad you asked!
1 Timothy 6:11-12 says, “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” Notice three words: flee, pursue, and fight. The success of our Christian lives depends upon our learning these three things.
1. FLEE from the things of the devil. James 4:7, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” That includes the love of money. 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Money isn’t evil; the love of money is. If we’ll follow God’s Word, prosperity will come. When we put too great a value on money, the things in life which hold the greatest value can be lost.
We can’t play around with the things of the devil and not get caught up in things of sin. I thank God there’s help and restoration when we fall. But we’ve got to choose to stay away from certain things. Keep in mind, the devil wants to trap you and me. And we avoid the devil’s traps by fleeing and by…pursuing.
2. PURSUE the things of God. Pursue suggests a continuing effort to overtake, reach or attain. We choose to pursue God or not pursue Him. He’s not going to make us pursue Him—or go after Him and His way of life. We must choose the pursuit of love and forgiveness—the pursuit of godliness, patience, and gentleness. We must make sure that God’s plans and promises have a prominent place in our lives. Make sure that God’s Word is priority. James 1:21b tells us to ‘…and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” The Word has the ability to heal, restore, deliver, save our soul, change our personality, and change our life! But for the Word to work, it must be engrafted—it must become a part of us. For it to be engrafted, we must meditate on the Word and delight ourselves in it—we must soak it in and allow it to penetrate us spirit, mind and body.
Once the promise—the Word—gets engrafted into us, the devil doesn’t have a chance! Once the Word is engrafted, or in other words has become one with us, then the devil can’t defeat us any more than he can defeat the Word of God. All the devil can try to do is hinder the engrafting process, because once the Word is engrafted, Psalm 119:89, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.”
And in Jeremiah 1:12b God says, “for I am ready to perform My word.” When we make God’s Word a priority He will make it a priority to take care of us—to perform His word in our lives.
3. FIGHT the good fight of faith. The only fight we are called to fight is the good fight of faith. Faith does not make things easy—it makes them possible. Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”
How do we do that? We believe in our heart and say with our mouth what the Word of God says in Romans 10:10, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” That’s the way we get everything God has provided for us.
We’ve got the Word of God and the Name of Jesus. Fight to declare God’s Word over your circumstances and your situation will turn around. If you’ve given up, “get back in the battle.” It is not too late to win your fight. You and God together make a majority.
1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
The secret to success is staying right where God has placed you—even when circumstances, people, and situations are coming against you. When you are in the center of God’s will His provision, protections and deliverance will always be there for you.
It’s our choice. We can flee, we can pursue, and we can fight. These three things will make us or break us. These three things are not up to God or a preacher. It is up to us. It is up to you.
Flee the devil’s works
Pursue the ways of God
Fight the fight of faith