This is the second chapter of the upcoming book The Battle-Ready Believer. The title of this chapter is
What Are You Fighting For? Although I'm not a perfectionist in any other area of my life, when it comes to the things of God I strive to be just that.
It is because I have reverence for God and respect the calling that I go over what I write multiple times, and although I am currently on chapter 9 of this book, it may take a couple weeks longer than I first thought.
So, here's Chapter two. Enjoy!
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
What are you fighting for?
If a man has nothing in his life he is willing to
die for he has nothing worth living for either. We all fight for
something but the something we fight for must be so all encompassing that we
are willing, if need be, to lay down our very lives in its service.
What motivates you
to fight the fight you are fighting? Is your motivation strong enough to carry
you through the pain and the heartache? Is your motivation strong enough to
carry you through the hardships and the trials? Is your motivation strong
enough to carry you beyond this present life?
I want to begin this
chapter by quoting a passage out of Nehemiah, because it goes to another aspect
or attribute a battle-ready believer must possess, and that is the knowledge of
what it is they are fighting for.
Nehemiah 4:14, “And I looked, and arose
and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, ‘Do not
be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your
brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.’”
It is of utmost
importance to know what we are fighting for. Are we fighting for something
temporal or something eternal? Are we fighting for something as fleeting as
power or possessions or are we fighting for something with permanence like the
Kingdom of God?
Each time you strap
on your armor, each time you sheath your sword, each time you lift your shield,
what is it you are doing these things for?
Each time you pray
for someone, each time you share the gospel, each time you intercede, each time
you give of yourself and your possessions, what is it you are doing it for? The
answer we give must be clear and concise, without ambiguity. The answer we give
will determine the wherewithal with which we do battle, and ferocity with which
we fight, and the energy we exert on behalf of our endeavor.
In attempting to
embolden his countrymen Nehemiah reminded them that they were fighting for
their brethren, for their sons, for their daughters, for their wives, and their
houses. There is nothing more personal, more intimate, and more motivating than
fighting for those things you hold most dear, those things which are precious
to you. There is nothing more energizing than the realization that you are the
last line of defense for your family and your loved ones, and that their
wellbeing hinges on the success of your endeavor.
I don’t think it would have had the same punch
if Nehemiah would have told his countrymen they were fighting for their
political party. I don’t think it would have had the same punch if Nehemiah would
have told his countrymen they were fighting for someone else’s lands and
possessions. Nehemiah made it personal. He made it intimate. He opened the eyes
of his countrymen to the reality that if they lost this battle then they lost
everything.
What are you
fighting for? This is a question you must know the answer to instantly without
giving it any thought because it defines not only the battle but also you as a
soldier.
Are you fighting to
defend your pet doctrine or are you fighting to defend the truth? Are you
fighting to defend a denomination or are you fighting to defend the kingdom of
heaven? Are you fighting to defend a man or are you fighting to defend the name
of Jesus? These are all questions only you can answer.
I don’t know about
you but I am fighting for the name of Jesus, for eternity, for heaven, for
those I love and care for, and for the Kingdom of God. Because I know what I am
fighting for I hold nothing back. I do not try to minimize my effort, hedge my
bets, or try to avoid the battle. I know what I’m fighting for and it’s
precious enough to me that I would readily die for it.
When you know what
you are fighting for you will nevermore grow weary, disillusioned, or despair. When
you know what you are fighting for you will nevermore look for a way out, just
for a way through. We know that our battle is not for earthly things or earthly
possessions, but for heavenly things and treasures that do not rust or fade
away.
Know what you’re
fighting for! Know why you’re fighting the fight you are fighting! And know
that the Lord is with you if you are with Him!
1 Timothy 6:12, “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.”
So what motivates
you? What promise? What reward? What prize motivates you to the point of
forfeiting this present life and all its baubles, for the reality of battle day
in and day out?
This in the end is
what it must come down to. If we are soldiers of the cross, if we are warriors
for Christ, if we are the army of God, then the only thing we must know, the
only thing we can know is battle.
We’ve been lied to.
Repeatedly, consistently, unashamedly, the household of faith has been lied to!
We’ve been told by grinning fools that all one need do in order to obtain
eternal life is be a good person, consider ourselves spiritual, try not to do
bad things, don’t swear so much anymore, and of course, give ten percent of our
money to the selfsame grinning men making these assertions.
As such, the notion
of fighting the good fight has been lost from the collective hearts and minds
of the church, and whenever the great majority hears of such a thing they are
taken aback. Many reject the notion of
battle outright, because it would actually mean that they exert themselves,
break a sweat, put down the TV clicker, or do something out of their comfort
zone.
The church has grown
lazy and we love to have it so. There is nothing required of us except for the
few bucks we put in the offering basket, or the check we write to our favorite
ministry. We love the spiritual leaders who encourage our spiritual
slothfulness because they get us. We fawn over them and elevate them to godlike
status because they understand us, and as long as they don’t rock the boat
they’re alright by us.
The only problem
with this scenario is that one need fight
the good fight in order to lay hold of eternal life, and in the end that is
the motivation. That is the driving force of why we choose to enroll in God’s
army and do battle against the enemy.
Eternal life: the
promise and the prize. The reward for your faithfulness, exertion, sweat,
blood, tears, prayers, self-discipline, and everything else a life in Christ
entails is eternal life.
It is not an earthly
reward, it is not some material thing that rusts and loses luster with time; it
is eternal life with God in His kingdom forever.
Once we understand
the magnitude of what we’re fighting for, the training, the equipping, the
exhaustion and the bruises are all worth it. Every scar, every blister, every
sleepless night, every single one is more than worth it when we acknowledge the
reality of what God offers as reward to those who overcome, and remain faithful
until the end.
Revelation 3:21, “To him who overcomes
I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with
My Father on His throne.”
Not only does
inheriting eternal life require we fight the good fight, it stipulates we must
win the battle. We must overcome for to
him who overcomes will Christ grant to sit with Him on His throne.
Men can twist it
however they want. They can give their spin and put their personal
interpretation on it – insisting that Jesus didn’t really say what He in fact
said – but the verse is there, plainly
written, so even the plainest of men can understand it. The honor to sit with
Christ on His throne is reserved for those who overcome.
It is not our duty
to get along with the devil. It is not our duty to make peace with the enemy. It
is not our duty to try and explain away God’s righteousness and holiness. It is
our duty to defend the Gospel, if need be with our lives, and stand for truth
even if we happen to be the only one standing before a sea of men.
I realize full well
that some of us do not see ourselves in this role. That’s fine, neither did
Gideon. What we must understand, what we must allow to sink deep into our marrow
and take root in our hearts is that we must be willing and God will do the
rest.
He will strengthen
us when the time comes if we are faithful and true. He will strengthen us when
the time comes if we stand in Him no matter what. It’s not that those who came
before us were braver men than we. It’s not that those who came before us were
cut from a different cloth. Those that came before us were committed plain and
simple. They were committed because they knew what they were fighting for down
to the very fiber of their being, and they would not allow forked tongued fools
to sway them in their convictions.
They had purposed in
their hearts to remain faithful no matter what, and seeing the sincerity of
their heart, seeing their desire to remain faithful, God strengthened them and
equipped them to the point that they remained faithful even unto death.
Thankfully, we
weren’t just thrown upon this spinning rock and left to fend for ourselves. God
is with us as long as we are with Him, and He will defend, protect, strengthen,
and comfort us every time we need it.
Does this mean that
we will never be called upon to endure hardship? Does this mean that we will
never be called upon to endure persecution? Does this mean that we will never
be called upon to suffer, and perhaps even die for the cause of Christ? No, the
fact that God will be with us means none of those things.
What it does mean,
what it has always meant since the advent of persecution against the saints is
that God will give the necessary strength and fortitude to weather every storm.
He will give the necessary wherewithal to stand no matter who the foe happens
to be, and He will give the peace surpasses all understanding in our darkest
hour.
Do not be afraid. Stand
firm, and be committed to defending the truth and righteousness of God.
The life of a
soldier is not an easy one. The Word of God forewarns us that if we desire to
be soldiers of Jesus Christ, we will have to endure hardships, we will have to
be molded, matured, refined, trained, and battle tested, because all these are
necessary steps to making a true soldier.
Not only does a
pretend soldier pose a danger to their own person because they are untrained,
ill equipped, and likely fearful of the enemy’s advances, the pretend solder is
a danger to those around him as well. Much of the time a pretend soldier serves
as a distraction for the true soldiers because what they are doing is so out of
step with what ought to be done that even the most seasoned warrior is
surprised by their actions.
Yes, I know, we like
to tell each other God is doing something new all the time, so it’s perfectly
fine if some knucklehead is kicking cancer patients in the stomach, but in
reality such individuals are a distraction, and often times a source of shame
for the household of faith because of their actions.
It’s one thing to suffer for righteousness’
sake, it’s quite another to suffer due to the actions of some conman whom the
world automatically associates with you because he calls himself a Christian
just as you do.
I’ve been asked on a
number of occasions to come alongside other ministries, to validate certain
preachers, to lend my name to some gathering or another, and I’ve always been
hesitant because I know once I lend my name to a certain event or individual I
will be associated with them whether for better or worse.
This is the reason I
do not endorse ministers by and large, and if I do it is only after I possess
enough knowledge about them as brothers or sisters in Christ wherein I know
that they are walking the walk and not just talking the talk.
The Bible tells us
our God changes not. He remains the same in perpetuity, and if something worked
perfectly well a thousand years, a hundred years, or a day ago, God is wise
enough not to mess with it, or try to improve upon it. How can one improve upon
perfection? How can one improve upon something God Himself created and put
together?
Yes, men take it
upon themselves to try and help God, to improve the ways and means by which we
reach out to the lost, or attract the world to the household of faith, but
these are gimmicks God neither sanctioned nor approved. We do these things of
our own volition, driven by our own vanity, unimpeded in our actions by the
reality that God is not in it.
So what does this
have to do with knowing what you’re fighting for? No matter what motivates you
to battle, no matter what you’re fighting for, fighting in defense of the truth
will always be undergirding this motivation.
In the end that’s
what it comes down to. We fight against the darkness, we fight against
deception, we fight against principalities and powers, we fight against the
rulers of the darkness of this age, we fight against spiritual hosts of
wickedness in heavenly places, and as reward for our service we receive a
crown.
It’s as important to
know what you are fighting against as to know what you are fighting for. Some
men are zealous in their desire to do battle, but they have not a clue whom
their battle is with. Rather than pursue the enemy, rather than strike out at the
darkness, they end up fighting amongst themselves, wounding both brothers and
sisters alike, because they had not the discipline to grow, and understand who
their battle was with.
It is important to
go through basic training. It is important to be taught war. It is important to
possess the ability to identify your enemy. It is important to know what you
are fighting for. It is important to know how to wield the weapons in your
arsenal, so that when war does come, you are prepared, you are ready, and rather
than flee from before the enemy, you will advance against him as a true warrior
ought.
Just consider this:
God even allowed certain enemies of Israel to remain in the olden days, simply
so the children of Israel might be taught war.
Judges 3:1-3, “Now these are the
nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all
who had not known any of the wars in Canaan (this was only so that the
generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least
those who had not formerly known it), namely, five lords of the Philistines,
all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites, who dwelt in Mount Lebanon,
from Mount Ball Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.”
We cannot shy away
from battle, nor can we shy away from the training implicit in every soldier’s
life so that he might be able to not only defend himself, but advance into
enemy territory and vanquish him.
God did not want His
people to forget what war was like, nor did he want them to forget what being a
soldier implied, so He allowed certain nations to remain for this specific
reason.
Nowadays we’ve come
to believe that just because our fathers knew spiritual warfare, it is enough.
Since they knew it, in our mind there is no need for us to know it, not
realizing that every generation and every individual must stand on the battle
field, and on that day all that will matter is whether or not you’ve learned
warfare, or just pretended at it.
History is rife with
individuals who counted on their pedigree to see them through, only to find
themselves fleeing from before their enemy in fear.
Thankfully, I don’t
have a reputation to protect, or a following to impress, or a demographic to
win over to my side, so I can still tell you the truth whether it hurts or
soothes. That is what soldiers do. They do the work. They do the hard tasks.
Soldiers run into the battle, they put on their armor, and they stand for what
they know they ought to stand for, sometimes knowing full well that it’s only a
matter of time before they are either injured or killed.
In order to be
willing to lay your life down, in order to consciously make the choice to
forfeit your dreams, aspirations, expectations, and future you must know and
vividly so the driving force and the motivation behind this decision.
Every man and woman
of God throughout history has known what it was they were fighting for.
Everyone, to the last, who has left their mark, who is remembered, who stood
out from the pack in their bravery and valor knew why they were doing it. It
takes a certain level of self-awareness and intimate knowledge of God to choose
to remain faithful, knowing that it will mean nevermore seeing another sunrise.
When we do not know
what we are fighting for, when we are not certain of our motivation we are
easily swayed, readily silenced, and far too often made to flee from before the
enemy. Thoughts begin to creep in, and sooner than one might think we find
justification for desertion and excuses for cowardice.
The flesh is ever
ready to supply us with a long list of why we shouldn’t stand, why we shouldn’t
fight, and why it’s best to keep our head down. The flesh is ever ready to try
and save itself, keep itself comfortable for as long as possible and spare
itself hardship of any kind.
The enemy knows that
if he can get into your head, if he can make you doubt your calling, if he can
make you doubt your motivation, if he can make you doubt the need for battle,
he’s gained the upper hand even before the first blow is struck.
The devil’s desire
is to face you at your weakest, not at your strongest. His desire is to make
you doubt because doubt is the fertile ground in which the defeatist mentality
can grow unencumbered.
Even if during the
battle you have moments of doubt or moments when you feel your strength ebbing,
because you know what you are fighting for, because it is well defined and
preeminent in your actions, you will fight through the doubt, you will fight
through the exhaustion, you will fight through the weariness, because that for
which you are fighting is worth the effort.
Only you know what
you are fighting for. Make certain that it is something that will sustain you
throughout, something that will keep you advancing on the enemy, and doing your
utmost to vanquish him.
If your motivation
is not strong enough you will give up the fight sooner rather than later
because an unmotivated soldier will do his utmost to avoid the frontlines of
battle. Rather than make war against the darkness a compromised soldier’s
utmost desire becomes to keep himself from toil, even abandoning his post if
need be.
