I came across this thought last week: “The Christian life is not a victorious life but a victorious battle!” Whilst we may experience even long periods of lulls in the warfare, it is helpful to be reminded that, as Christians, we are engaged in a lifelong battle, facing an enemy ‘trinity’ of the world, the flesh and the devil.
Many will be aware of the famous ‘armour of God’ passage in Ephesians 6v10-18 and it is good spiritual practice to think and pray through regularly the various pieces of equipment God has provided and to ‘put them on’. Paul also reminds and encourages us in 2 Corinthians 10v4 that “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
As with any aspect of Christianity, the key is faith, for “We live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5v7). Our spiritual armour is put on by faith and, of course, includes the vital shield of faith which enables us “to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6v16). It is by faith that we have total confidence in the mighty divine power of the spiritual weaponry at our disposal.
We will be thinking this morning about the faith of two people who desperately sought Jesus’ help – Jairus whose faith was perhaps initially somewhat secretive and the woman suffering from long-term bleeding whose faith was, to a degree, superstitious. Yet Jesus totally met their needs and indeed commended the woman’s faith. The essential nature of their faith was that it flowed from great need and was focussed solely on Jesus. Such faith is indeed fighting faith – let’s ask God for more of it!
Peace and Grace
Paul