One of the reasons we lose our might to fight is we get discouraged. In a culture of instant gratification, we want to say a quick little prayer and poof there’s the answer. Most of the time, God uses time to test our determination and our persistence. He builds character and endurance in us as we discover how to walk with Him into the strong, turbulent winds of adversity. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to walk into storm winds, but they push you backward with every step. It requires you to grab hold of something and pull with all your might to process. If you’re in a storm, the something is really a someone, Jesus is with you in the storm, but you can’t lay down…you’ve got to stand in faith.
So many times I’ve heard my grand-daughter protest, “It’s hard.” The meaning behind those two words was, “I quit. I’m done. This is hard and I don’t do hard.” And the reality is way too often as believers, we give up on people. We give up on situations when we don’t see results on a time table that is consistent with our agenda.
But using the words from Casting Crowns song “Courageous”. “Lord, Make us courageous,” must become a mindset and a determination, not an excuse. We must arm ourselves with a bull-dog tenacity and the courage to persist in the face of hardships and adversity if we are going to win the battle. There are several stellar lines in this song, but one of my favorites is; “The only way we’ll stand is to start on our knees.” I can only say, Amen! You are not called to be a watcher. You are called to be a warrior!
Listen to the Lyrics. They’re powerful.
Think Missional! Pass this on to someone you think may enjoy it or need it.
Yes, Florence Chadwick broke the world record in 1950 when she swam across the English Channel in 13 hours and 20 minutes. And yes, she is notably the first woman to swim the English channel both ways in 1951. Still she’s best know for her “not so successful” swim in 1952.
Ms. Chadwick’s new goal was to be the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, a 21 mile swim from Catalina Island to the California coast. Rough waters, bone chilling waters and sharks make ocean swimming arduous and dangerous. Long distance swimming adds another layer of complexity to the challenge that lay before Florence. The shark infested waters alone, would be enough to keep this “land lubber” from attempting such a daunting task.
Her support team armed with medical supplies and rifles to shoot sharks, accompanied her in a small boat. In another boat held moral support-her mother! Yeah mothers! Of course, I must mention her dad had accompanied her on the English Channel record shattering trip, so yeah for dads too!
Florence swam methodically hour after hour in the cold waters pulling herself toward her goal. A thick, soupy fog settled over the waters making visibility impossible. When the bleakness of that fog began to blind her inner vision, she began to doubt her abilities. She complained to her mom, “I don’t think I can make it.” Still she swam for another hour. Florence had been swimming for almost 16 hours. But without that inner vision, all she could see was a never ending struggle and that drained her energy. That lack of vision and lack of hope defeated her. She called for her support team to take her out of the water. When she was sitting in the boat she discovered she was less than one mile from land.
Brian Cavanaugh, in A Fresh Packet of Sower’s Seeds, noted that she told a reporter, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I know I could have made it.” (Read more:
Florence Chadwick
She didn’t know just how close to victory she was. She was less than one mile…one mile. If only she had known…if only you knew just how close to victory you are. Life doesn’t give us mile markers to indicate how close we are to victory; like an interstate highway marks our progress to the next town. Without those indicators we must have confidence in our guide and a clear vision of where we’re going. If you don’t; you’ll lose heart. You’ll lose your might to fight.
While our vision must include a picture of victory, our vision must go even beyond the fight, even beyond the victory to the person holding the victory. That is essential as a believer. Jesus wants to give you the victory. As you behold Him, His promises, and His love for you, your heart will receive hope. That hope is a light that enables vision. If it’s dark where you’re cowering this morning and you’ve lost your might to fight, then go to God’s Word. Find a promise for your situation and begin to declare God’s truth, God’s reality over it. Look to Jesus.
Hebrews 12:2 “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God’s throne in heaven.”
I talked with a dear friend recently that is fighting a huge battle, I asked, “How are you doing?”
My friend responded, I’m deliberately building my faith. It’s a fight, but my confidence is in God.”
Two months later Florence Chadwick tried it again. This time she kept the vision of land in her heart the entire swim. The entire trek was completed in a record shattering “13 hours, 47 minutes, and 55 seconds”. Not only did she break the record by two hours, she began the first woman ever to swim the Catalina Channel. She did it and you can be victorious in your circumstance as well. Fight the good fight of faith by keeping your eyes on Jesus.
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. Mark Twain Get your fight back…more tomorrow.
Think Missional! Pass this on to someone you think may enjoy it or need it.
Kimberly made an interesting comment in my blog yesterday…”I know your prayers have helped me get back up when I wasn’t sure I had any fight left!” Her post actually fed a thought that was already rattling around inside my head.
Everywhere I turn I see people facing huge challenges and battles. Many of those faces reflect what I imagine young David must have seen when he approached the battlefield at Elah.
He was there to supply bread for his brothers and cheese to their commander. He came with youthful enthusiasm to root and cheer for his team-the Israelites.
But David laid down his pompoms when his expectations of what a battlefield was like was dosed with the reality of what it is. David saw men running …not in the direction he expected. They were running away from the battle. Frighten men. Trembling men, trying to hide. Hiding from a single adversary, whose voice shot arrows of terror into the hearts of the would be heroes. They were too far away to see the muscles of the giant antagonist’s neck bulge as he bellowed , “Send me a man.” But they felt the blow of intimidation with every syllable he spoke.
Nobody wanted to be that man—the man sent to face the giant, so they hid. They cowered. They trembled while their accuser blasted them day after day. They had no “Might to Fight!”
That’s what I see in people’s faces and hear in their words. People seem to be looking for someone to fight their battle for them. And it simply doesn’t work that way. Maybe you’ve seen that same look or heard the resignation to defeat, come from the lips of tired warriors. Or maybe you’ve been there yourself, facing a battle without a clue what to do next.
But you must fight..there is a battle to be WON. Whether it’s a battle for your children or the nation, you must fight. Whether it’s a financial battle or a health battle or both. You cannot lay down or give up.
We all want victory, but victory is never automatic. I understand Jesus won the battle for us at Calvary. That victory should be our rally cry, not our excuse to be lazy. Remember the cross is our declaration of faith in the same sense that the Texans declared, “Remember the Alamo.” Remember, Calvary catapults us to take what is rightfully ours. It inspires us to stand our ground with the shield of faith and declare, “satan, you cannot have my kids. You cannot have my health. You will not steal my faith. I remember the price Jesus paid for my peace,you cannot have it without a fight. I resist you in the name of Jesus. Jesus you are my victory. You always causes me to triumph.” Victory doesn’t come without a fight.
In my next few blogs I want to talk about what we need to do to regain our might to fight. But before I can address the “how to get our Might to Fight back, let’s look at how we lost it in the first place. I think they fall under four maybe five categories. I’ll list them, then I’ll talk about them in the next few blogs, over the next few days.
Reasons we have No might to Fight.
· We loose our focus.
· We get discouraged. (That may actually be the same as loosing our focus, but I think it deserves special attention.)
· We compared ourselves or our situation to others.
· We get complacent.
· We feel hopeless.
Do you have some reasons to add to my five reasons? What have you seen that robbed people of their might to fight? Please share it in the comment section.
Think Missional! Pass this on to someone you think may enjoy it or need it.
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One of the reasons we lose our might to fight is we get discouraged. In a culture of instant gratification, we want to say a quick little prayer and poof there’s the answer. Most of the time, God uses time to test our determination and our persistence. He builds character and endurance in us as we discover how to walk with Him into the strong, turbulent winds of adversity. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to walk into storm winds, but they push you backward with every step. It requires you to grab hold of something and pull with all your might to process. If you’re in a storm, the something is really a someone, Jesus is with you in the storm, but you can’t lay down…you’ve got to stand in faith.
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