If there is a good fight of faith, there must also be a bad one. Just like so much in the Kingdom of God, this principle is an upside down principle, meaning, to achieve it, you must do the opposite of what you think it is saying.
"Fight the good fight of faith," (1 Tim 6:12)
The victory of the fight of faith is revealed not through your hard labours, endless fasting, your shouting and rebuking of the devil, to 'get' the victory over situations, but rather, it is to rest in the complete and finished work of Jesus.
"For we who have believed do enter that rest," (Hebrews 4:3)
The word 'rest' means 'to abide, to take up residence, to settle down, colonise,' meaning the end of journeying because you have arrived at your desired destination.
Rest is the end of striving to achieve, of battling to get something, of having to deal with the giant situations that religion tells you that can only be overcome by all of the things I mentioned in the first paragraph of this blog.
If you are still striving and battling in faith to gain the victory over something, then you are not actually in faith at all! You need to cease from trying to get the victory, because in Jesus Christ you already have been given it, because His IS the victory over all things. Therefore we enter into the victory over everything, when we believe we already have the victory, because the victory is dwelling and abiding within our hearts.
Our 'battle' is not a battle with the Devil or demons, because they are already defeated by the death and resurrection of Jesus. We battle with the doubts and unbelieving thoughts that have controlled our minds all of our lives because we were born in sin and have heard a message of religion, which is not the Gospel of Jesus. Religion is always telling you that you have to 'do' something extra to get something from Father. But this is just another lie and deception trying to keep you out of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus.
A Victorious One
When you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and absolutely mean it with all of your heart, then you receive Him. If you receive Jesus Christ then you receive the entire package called 'salvation.' You receive the resurrection life of Jesus the Lord of all glory, the Alpha and Omega, the Author of Life, the Victorious King of all kings. Therefore, you entered into Him just as He entered into you (John 15:4). So the Victorious One is in you and you are in Him, making you a victorious one also.
You are not 'trying, striving, interceding, fasting, fighting' to get into Christ. You believed, therefore, you are in Him. So settle the argument (which is the real fight), by coming to the place of complete rest, that Jesus did it all, paid it all, fought it all, on your behalf and rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven and, on the day you gave your heart to Him, He poured out His Spirit into your heart and you received the victory and results of all He did for you. It is a gift from Him for accepting the truth.
You didn't strive to get saved. You didn't fight a battle to get saved. You surrendered, gave up your life, you laid it all down at His feet and He gave you Eternal Life - the kind of life God lives! There was and is no 'work' you could ever do in a million years, to gain what He gave you as a free gift. A 'gift' you have to work to get is not free. Paul, the apostle, says that if your salvation from the power of sin and death is achieved by your works, then there was no point at all in Jesus dying in your place to pay for your sin;
"And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work." (Romans 11:6)
Our salvation, righteousness and victory is not achieved by our 'doing' but by our 'believing' we already have it in Jesus Christ.
I am not even striving and battling to enter into His 'rest' (Hebrews 4:3). The fight of faith is to believe I am already abiding in His complete rest and I am, therefore, going to resist anything that tries to convince me I have to 'get into' His rest, no matter what the circumstances tell me.
The fight and battle we all experience is with doubt and unbelief. If we chose Him, the Truth, over the lie of sin and death, then we will always remain in the victory and rest He gave us the day of our salvation.
Faith is ALWAYS victorious. Remember, we are saved (delivered, healed, protected, provided for) by His grace, not by our works;
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:4-9)
You cannot make yourself more perfect than He made you in Christ.
You cannot make yourself more acceptable than He made you in Christ.
You cannot make yourself more holy than He already made you to be in Christ.
Your fight is not to achieve these things, but to believe you HAVE already achieved them simply by your receiving Jesus into your heart.
The Purpose Of Faith
"Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:8-9)
Peter's statement shows us that there is a purpose for faith. It is the salvation of our souls. The word 'salvation' used here, is the Greek word 'soteria' which means 'rescue, deliverance, healing, safety, saving, to make whole.'
The purpose of Jesus dying at Calvary and being raised from the dead, was for the whole of mankind, that had become lost in sin, to be 'saved, rescued, delivered' from the power of sin and death and all of sins consequences. But so many Christian believers have been taught that their faith is simply to get them into go to Heaven when they die. Of course. it is true that only believers will enter into Heaven, but this is not the only purpose for faith and is a gross misunderstanding of God's purpose of us having faith.
Faith is given to us to use throughout our entire life, to enable us to believe and receive the manifestations of God's promise into our lives on Earth. God's Word is His Word. It is His promise, to those who believe. In His Word He promises us healing and deliverance, protection and provision. We will not need these in Heaven. We need them during our life on Earth. Therefore the faith He gave us to get 'saved' and go to Heaven when we die, is the same faith that will put bread on our tables, clothes on our backs, keep us well and make us whole now. His faith will deliver us from every fear, rejection, insecurity and sense of insignificance. It will heal our broken hearts, broken marriages and families. It will restore His peace to every anxious soul and mind, whilst alive on Earth.
Whether we use faith just to get into Heaven, or use it to live our life by is completely our own choice. Paul declares in his letter to the believers in Rome;
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith." ( Romans 1:16-17)
and
"For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” " (Romans 10:13)
Jesus Christ is the embodiment of the entire Word of God. This is why John, the apostle, wrote in his Gospel that Jesus was and is the Word of God. ' It is through Jesus Christ, the Word of God, that we received salvation, because the Word of God is the power of God to save us entirely and completely, if and when we believe it. The power contained in the Word of God is activated when anyone truly believes it. It works for anyone, anywhere, at anytime. It is not gender, age, culture or era restrictive. It doesn't work more for one believer than another because the one believer is a 'better' Christian than the other. It doesn't work for a Bishop, a Pope, King or Queen, more than a believer in a poorer situation with no titles. It works because of faith.
Paul's letter tells us to 'live' by faith. So faith is not used just once to get you 'saved' and into Heaven in the future. It is to be used throughout your life to bring out the full meaning of salvation, whilst you live on planet Earth. The word 'saved,' used in the verse in Paul's letter to his Roman brothers and sisters, is the Greek word 'sozo.' It means 'saved, delivered, protected, provided for, healed and made whole.' The 'end of your faith' that Pater's letter refers to, is to walk in complete salvation in every area of your life. It has been purchased by Jesus for you to have. It is a free gift for you.
To have faith and not use it now, but keep it for when you die, is like someone giving you a gift today because they love you, but you don't unwrap it and open it, in order to see what the gift is and enjoy it. Instead, you put it on the shelf thinking to yourself, "I will open it when I am dying," only to discover, at the last moments of your life, it was a gift that was the answer and fulfillment of everything you had ever hoped and prayed about, yet had never seen fulfilled in your life.
I do not want to put off to Heaven what the Word declares I can have here today. He has given me the ability to experience the fulness of His Word today. So, I am going to spend my days believing salvation (healing, deliverance, wholeness, protection and provision) is NOW, not just for the future.