The Good Fight*

For many years now, I have been bringing forth a 2 Chron. 7:14 message: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." However, all we are seeing instead is division, fighting and strife. The people of God do not understand their warfare. The root of our warfare was shown to us from the beginning, in the Garden: "Now the serpent (meaning sprouts, spreads, separation, cut-off, destruction) was more subtil (meaning door or path that adds chaos) than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" (Gen. 3:1). The serpent, who was questioning the woman, was a created being. The woman answered the serpent incorrectly that although they could eat of all the other trees, God had commanded not to eat of nor touch the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, "lest ye die". "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die." (v. 2-4). As we see the meaning of the word "serpent" above, we can't help but to notice that Christians are divided and fight with one another. What should our good fight be instead? King Jehoshaphat faced a battle with all of the armies of both Moab, and Ammon, which had come against Judah: "And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the LORD...". (2 Chron. 20:1-5). Jehoshaphat immediately went to the promise and remedy of 2 Chron. 7:14, as stated above. Jehoshaphat stood in the house of the LORD, and began to pray and remind himself of the power of God, as David once did when he faced Goliath. Jehoshaphat said: "...in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God...?" (v. 5-7). Jehoshaphat then directly brought the words of 2 Chron. 7 before the LORD: "If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help...And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children." (v. 9-13). Then the Spirit of the LORD then came upon one of the Leviites, Jahaziel ("beheld of God"), and he began to prophesy: "...Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God's...Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you...fear not nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you." (v. 17). Jehoshaphat and all of Judah bowed before the LORD and worshipped Him, and the Levites began to praise the LORD with a loud voice. Jehoshaphat declared, "...Believe in the LORD your God, so shall you be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper." (v. 18-20). As they went out before the enemy armies the next day, Jehoshaphat told the singers to lead the army out with the praise of the LORD's beauty and holiness, singing: "Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever." (v. 20-21). The enemy armies began turning against each other as the LORD set spiritual ambushments against them. Judah saw the destruction of the enemy, and the king, and his people came to take away the great spoil from the dead enemies that took three days to gather. On the fourth day, Judah assembled in the Valley of Berachah ("Blessing"), and blessed the LORD there. (v. 22-26). Our good fight, in the same manner, includes praise, cleansing of self, and seeking His face. Paul wrote of the things necessary to fight the good fight also. He wrote that our weapons and our enemies are spiritul rather than natural: "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.; And having in readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Cor. 10:4-6). The good fight begins with our own thoughts and obedience. As we saw the beginning of our warfare in Genesis 3 with the destructive ways of the serpent, Paul wrote about the good fight that we wage against the devil: "...be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles (methodeia - methods, cunning arts, deceit, craft, trickery, lying in wait) of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Eph. 6:10-12). Because the whole armor of God is to be used against wicked spiritual powers rather than flesh and blood, the components of this armor are special in meaning and power. First is to have our loins girded with TRUTH. Let God be true and every man a liar (Rom. 3:4), and lies are all around us today and increasing in number. We put on the breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS - not our righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ by faith. Our feet must be shod with the preparation of the GOSPEL of peace, for we are not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation wherever we walk, for all who will receive it. The Gospel says that there is a sacrifice that has been provided for sin, and we have all sinned. The shield that protects us against every fiery dart of the enemy is made of FAITH. Like the Levites who went out before Jehoshaphat's army, we praise Him as we believe Him. We wear the helmet of SALVATION upon our heads to protect our minds, and to cast down reasonings and imaginations. We take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the WORD OF GOD. In this armor, we pray for all of the saints, regardless of denomination, and for our spiritual leaders, so they may have utterance to boldly make known the Gospel (v. 14-19). These things are our warfare tools to withstand the evil day (v. 13). One additional thing that we need to fight the good fight is contentment (1 Tim. 6:6). We see now how men's love of money and wealth is the root of all evil, and has led many to fall into a trap of destruction. The love of money has even led some into error in the faith (v. 7-10). We are to follow instead after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness, and fight the good fight of faith, laying hold onto eternal life, to which we have been called (v. 11-12). Faith requires a fight - not on the streets, or in the political arenas, but in the Spirit, and in the power of God. We need to contend in this good fight for the faith that has been delivered to us, because there are those who will creep in, in order to turn the grace of God into the denial of Him (Jude 3-4). Instead, "...let the peace of God rule in your hearts...and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." (Col. 3:16-17). *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 6/12/2022 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, theshroudofturin.org, and endtimeschool.com.