In the Complete Jewish Bible Version of Ephesians 6:13 Apostle Paul tells us to “take up every piece of war equipment GOD provides; so that when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist; and when the battle is won, you will still be standing”. I refer to this version of this Scripture for one reason and one reason alone — the life of a Christian is a war, that walk of faith as a born-again believer takes you through a battlefield where you will need to take to arms and fight. And in that walk of faith, GOD provides all the equipment, arsenal and ammunition that you will need on the battlefield. GOD will not permit a war in the life of one of His own without availing His provisions to us, but it is up to you and me to take up the provisions that GOD has made available to us for the battlefield. Life is full of adversity, hardships, issues and pressure for us all; No one is exempt from it; This is a fact of life.
For as long as our mortal bodies are still living, breathing and walking the face of this earth, you and I will need to deal with a myriad of things that will make us feel like we are at war with ourselves, at war with others and/or at war with the world around us. Life is by no means a stroll in the park, and the sooner we realize and accept this as Christians, the better off we are going to be; And on that day, this realization will be our first step towards gaining strength in spirit. The New King James Version of Proverbs 24:10 says, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small”; The New Living Translation Version of Proverbs 24:10 says, “If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small”. Both versions echo the same thing, that we must have our strength fully capacitated so that we do not faint in adversity or fail under pressure. GOD has left these hardships and pressures in the world, they remain in the world with us, and for as long as we are here on earth (and not yet in heaven), these pressures are unavoidable.
Some of us may want to retreat into a state of self-pity and give up when we come under pressure, but pressure is everywhere in life, in some form or another. The good news to all this is that problems are there to be solved. Life would not be worth living if it were without any problems, difficulties, challenges or pressure; And how we deal with these problems and pressures is what makes the difference and distinguishes those who succeed from those who fail. The road to success is not easy to say the least. When things start getting hard, as they invariably do, this is the time to learn how to— (i) deal with issues; (ii) solve problems; (iii) manage pressure; and (iv) overcome issues. Prosperous people succeed because they knew how to handle, overcome and rise above their problems; And guess what, people in the world have a better grasp of this fact than most Christians do! They have a grind going, but you, as a Christian, where is your hustle!? – what is your grind!? – what are you doing with yourself to make it in life!?
The thing is, GOD intended Christians to be very successful and very prosperous people BUT our Achillies’ Heel, our utter weakness, is that after having spent all that time praying, speaking in tongues, fasting and reading the word, we absolutely fail on the very last step in the process because then we do absolutely nothing. And guess what happens next, we get absolutely nothing! A shockingly large number of us Christians simply do not want to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty. We Christians do not want to go into the world and conquer. The success, the prosperity and the money that we are looking for are all out there in the world. You have to go out into the world to get it because the world is not and will not come to you to give it to you. It is not in a church – if it were, every Christian would be rich. The blessings that GOD has meant for you and for me are in the secular world. The world will not come to you, you must go to the world for it.
As a child of GOD, you must learn to face issues, pressures and problems head-on with the determination to make it, if you are to make it in life. With GOD on your side, you hold the majority, so you do not need look to any other person for your help, you need only look to GOD when you are in a crisis. When you look to GOD in a crisis, GOD will give you the grace to hold your own through the crisis and you will not come undone. BUT if you unravel, break to pieces or you fall apart when you hit a crisis, it simply means that there was never much substance in you (in spirit) to withstand the crisis because your strength was never capacitated by GOD the Holy Spirit in the first place [—Proverbs 24:10 MSG]. I repeat, crisis is a part of life on earth (not in heaven), and we have the Holy Spirit who is our guide, helper, teacher, advocate, defender, strengthener, and everything else in between, to help us navigate our way through each crisis.
Note—if you cannot withstand a crisis, if you fall in a crisis, you will most likely struggle through life as a victim, and will most likely to go through life as a victim. However, all is not lost because the issue of victimhood is a choice. The difference between victimhood and victory is the choice we make after we have taken a fall in a crisis—Will I choose to accept defeat? Or will I choose to dust it off, get up and try again? For as long as you still have breath in you, you can still choose to change your narrative and turn things around at any time. No one succeeds by retreating, giving up, cowering and not fighting. If you do not stand (and fight), you will fall (victim). Life is for fighting. Stand up and fight. In Ephesians 6:11 we are called to ‘put on the whole armor’. Armor is personal protective equipment intended for physical combat, for the battlefield. No one, absolutely no one, puts on armor to go snorkeling on a coral reef. Make no mistake—this is our armor Apostle Paul speaks of here and our armor is made for battle; There is a battle coming to you and to me, and we must stand and fight our way out of it.
The battle for souls between the darkness and the light is evergreen. It is a relentless war for souls in the spiritual realm and we live in the midst of constant warfare. It never lets up or ceases. The war is raging all the time. I do not know how many more ways I need to say this for it to sink in. And the more spiritual you become – that is, the more you pray, the more you study the Word – the more trouble you will have because your spiritual muscle has developed, and this makes your soul that much more appealing and valuable to the darkness. So in the words of Ephesians 6:10-13— (i) you cannot be a wimp or a weakling if you want to achieve anything in and for the Kingdom of GOD [v10]; (ii) do not be a sitting duck when the devil comes at you and he will come at you [v11]; (iii) we are in a relentless spiritual fight for our souls, for our lives [v12]; and (iv) the devil will bring the fight to you and when he does, he must find you covered with the armor that GOD has given you, and you will be able to defend yourself and be among the last men standing [v13].
Do not coil up into a ball and do nothing in the time of difficulty as this will invariably usher you well into the victim mentality. By doing this, you are amputating your own strength in the spirit, the very thing that you need to overcome [—Proverbs 24:10 CSB]. When things get difficult, we must fight with the Word of GOD. The Word is not called a double-edged sword, the sword of the spirit, for nothing. By its very nature, a sword is forged as a weapon for fighting and battle. And the double-edged sword of the Word is no different. It is not for display or ceremonious purposes, but it is the sword of the spirit. Believers, rise up, stand on the Word, and you go get your victory. Rise up, stand and ‘fight a good fight of faith’ [—1 Timothy 6:12]. Never stop fighting, ‘do not give up and be helpless in times of trouble’ [—Proverbs 24:10 CEV]. GOD did not create cowards, He created a power and authority within us through the Holy Spirit [—2 Timothy 1:7 NLT]. But we believers, with all the power that we have, we are still in unadmirable positions because we are afraid to— (i) try out new things; (ii) venture into the unknown; and (iii) take risks.
Truth be told, there is no real success, achievement or prosperity in this life without risk. How is it that the ungodly are not afraid to do any of these risky things without prayer and the backing of the Holy Spirit or the favor of GOD, and yet believers fear risk, loath risk, as if we are not in fellowship with the Almighty GOD!? We are not nearly as daring, bold and courageous as we ought to be and the results of our efforts and our achievements are just as average and mediocre. The reason most believers achieve nothing is seen in Joshua 1:6-7, 9 NKJV— We may never possess the blessings GOD promised if we are not bold, courageous and strong; We are repeatedly told that GOD wants us to be strong and courageous, and to go for it. This is the caliber of people that GOD works with. Fearful Christians are sitting ducks, going nowhere slowly. There can never be Godly power working through you when fear lives in you. Phenomenal blessings and breakthrough await beyond the fear. We must not get discouraged or intimidated because nothing of significance ever happens by itself. We Need To Fight For It. That God-Given Fighting Spirit Must Never Die In You!
That walk of faith as a born-again believer takes you through a battlefield where you will need to take to arms and fight. Nothing of significance ever happens by itself. We Need To Fight For It.
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