By Pastor Kemi Anjorin

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. 1 Tim. 6:12

This fight of faith in the above scripture is not physical. It is a fight to keep our faith. We must do all we can to protect our faith. This is the life we have been chosen to live which was activated when we confessed our faith in Jesus.

I once slipped at church and hurt my leg. After I got up, I walked around for a while, enjoyed the rest of the event, and went home.  . I experienced some discomfort afterwards so I decided to see a doctor. The leg was cast and I was given crutches because I had a fracture.  A few days later, I was told that I no longer need the crutches. I was given a pair of boots to wear for a few months. I didn’t need to take any pain reliever during that period. I held on to the word of God for my healing and stood my ground. I was scheduled to travel to Nigeria in a few months. I told God that I didn’t want to wear those boots to travel and God made it possible because of my faith in His word.

We have to stand our ground and believe God will see us through when the devil comes to attack our faith.

What is the fight of faith?

This is a personal commitment to living a life completely dependent on God’s will, despite conflicting evil happening around us in opposition to our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. True faith is confidence in God and not in ourselves or anything else. We ought to live by faith in the word of God, not by sight.

Imagine the side comments Abraham would have heard from the people around while he was waiting for God to bless him with a child. Like Abraham, we have to believe God over the comments of men.

What is the good fight of faith?

The word “good” means something nice or pleasant. The good fight of faith requires that we run or flee from sin and all appearances of sin. Evil comes from the devil. We have to pursue righteousness which God has already imparted and imputed in us through Christ. There’s need to also pursue godliness because we need a holy life to please Him.  We must also pursue love just as Christ loved– He prayed for those who nailed Him to the cross. We have been commanded to love all men. We have to also persevere and endure. Christ endured for the world. We must pursue gentleness.

We have to make a deliberate choice to consistently follow God’s will and live our lives controlled by the Holy Spirit. We are required to be witnesses all around the world. We should not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Keep the standard of Christ despite trials and tribulations.

Our fight is a gracious and good one for God and the truth. God has already won the battles for us. This is not a battle against a physical opponent but principalities and powers in high places. Jesus is bigger than them and has already defeated them. We should not allow fear to make us act timid. We should be bold because we are guided and controlled by the Spirit of God. The word of God is one of the weapons we can use to fight against the enemy. Set yourself apart from all distractions and focus on The Word!

Pastor Kemi Anjorin is an Associate Pastor at Fountain of The Living Word Church, New Jersey.