Stay in the fight = You Win!😊
Cave in, Give up and Quit = You Lose!🙄
I talked a little about this yesterday, but I need to rub it in to me a little deeper, so you get it, too!
Ephesians 6:12 - Fight the good fight of the faith [in the conflict with evil]; take hold of the eternal life (the life as God has it and given to us now and in the future) to which you were called, and [for which] you made the good confession [of faith] in the presence of many witnesses.
This life is a fight of faith. The evil, enemy forces are constantly exercising their strategies to get us off of our fight to live by faith, i.e. to get us to not maintain our confidence in Who our God is and What our God says.
The enemy's tactics have been obvious since the very beginning. His efforts succeeded with Adam and Eve with just the simple statement, "Did God say???" Directing their thoughts off of what God really DID say onto something alternatively before their eyes.
People have continued to be led away from their confidence in God since then. The Israelites were some of the most consistently Inconsistent people written about in the Bible. Finally, after 430 years of slavery to Egyptian rule, they are rescued. Amazing plagues had affected the Eqyptians, but not the Israelites. The Israelites are freed and sent out loaded with silver, gold.....
Exodus 12:35-38 - The Israelites did what Moses had told them and asked the Egyptians for gold and silver jewelry and for clothes. The LORD made the Egyptians generous to the people, and they gave them what they asked for. So the Israelites stripped Egypt of its wealth.
That night the people of Israel left Rameses and started for Succoth. There were about 600,000 men, plus all the women and childrens. A rabble of non-Israelites went with them, along with great flocks and herds of livestock.
Wow!!! What a rescue! Psalm 105:37 gives us us yet more detail....He also brought them out with silver and gold, And there was none feeble (not one unfit for the march or military duty)!!!
Question?: Were they all strong and fit because they had partaken of the Passover Lamb???
Take note now, as we move forward with the Israelites as they come to the Red Sea, blocked in by sea, mountains and the Egyptians chasing after them, their quick turn from the magnificent God who had very recently and powerfully delivered them from bondage to caving in because of their predicament.
Think of how Jesus has freed us from bondage. Compare ourselves, our attitude, words and behavior when facing difficulty, to that of the Israelites....
Exodus 14:10-12- As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the LORD, and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’”
Like the Israelites, how quickly do we turn from our solid stand in faith (confidence) toward God and what He says when we face a predicament?
Here is God's Word to the Israelites on the outset of their deliverance....
Exodus 3:17 - I have promised to rescue you from your oppression in Egypt. I will lead you to a land flowing with milk and honey
Exodus 12:25 - When you enter the land the LORD has promised to give you, you will continue to observe this ceremony.
Exodus 13:11 - “This is what you must do when the LORD fulfills the promise he swore to you and to your ancestors. When he gives you the land where the Canaanites now live,
Didn't they remember the promise God gave them? Didn't they respect God, honor Him and believe what He said, that they so quickly give up?
Do we?????
It is my observation and opinion that the number 1 problem in many Christians today is not knowing for certain what God says and if they do, then sticking with it no matter what gets in our way!
Hosea 4:6 - My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge...
What? Rejected knowledge?????
Hosea 4:1 - Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
Hosea 4:4 - For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Moving on with the Israelites, as they were trapped by sea, mountains and Egyptians, they were whining, complaining, ready to turn back and Give in to the enemy. Then Moses tells them in Exodus 14:13 - And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.
Here's how you take down an enemy attack:
1. Fear Not
2. Stand firm
3. Stay in the fight, don't turn back.
Here's the outcome:
1. See the salvation (rescue, deliverance) of the Lord.
2. Know God is working today.
2. This enemy you see today, you shall never see again.
Most know this ongoing story of the Israelites travels in the Wilderness. They have a constant repetoire of inconsistencies in their relationship with God. They would not stick with God. They were not interested in going up the mountain with God. They whined and complained and the bottom line was that they were unfaithful to God.
When they had gone into the Promised land to inspect it, the majority came back with an opposing report to God's Promise. They essentially said, "we cannot take this Land". Joshua and Caleb said, essentially, "we can take this land. God said it is ours and He is with us"
Numbers 14:11 - God responded, and the LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?"
Read verses 12- 19 to see Moses intervene and change God's mind about destroying His people.
Don't tell me there is no power in prayer!
Numbers 14:20-25 - Then the LORD said, “I will pardon them as you have requested. But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the LORD’s glory, not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice. They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it. But my servant Caleb has a different attitude than the others have. He has remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land he explored. His descendants will possess their full share of that land. Now turn around, and don’t go on toward the land where the Amalekites and Canaanites live. Tomorrow you must set out for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.”
Take special notice that only those that remained loyal to God, Joshua and Caleb, partook of what God had promised to all of the Israelites. All of the others essentially forfeited their inheritance because they did not Stand or remain faithful to God. They refused to listen to {keep in sync with) the voice (Word) of God. They did not enter into what God had for them. They treated God with contempt. Please, look at this whole issue with the same view as God has. This is some serious stuff. God is the same today! How are we treating God? What are we missing out on because of our behavior?
This is getting to be a long post. I hope you are understanding clearly, what I am seeing.....standing firmly, faithfully in our faith in God and His Word, is not a small, unimportant, no big deal to God, issue. To say, "God understands" as an excuse for not pursuing and not believing God's character or what God says, is actually a stupid attitude. If we are constantly living in defeat and/or never advancing in the promises of God, my questions are:
How am I Standing?
Am I staying in the fight?
What is God saying to me in His Word?
Am I treating God with contempt (to scorn; abhor, (give occasion to - blaspheme, contemn, despise, provoke). ????
Where is my confidence?
What is moving me? Fear or the enemy? Distrust in God?
What do I need to change?
What am I saying?
How do I resemble the Israelites?
Am I responding to God like Joshua and Caleb did at the Promises Land?
A dear friend of mine wrote to me this morning in response to my post yesterday and Galatians 5:1...
"if we could learn to stand firm we would not always get "tangled up"!"
Powerful and true! Ponder your "Stand".
Staying in the fight Requires Standing firm in the faith that we are to live by. Without that Standing Faith we are defeated and we are not pleasing to God.
Hebrews 11:6 - But where there is no faith it is impossible truly to please Him; for the man who draws near to God must believe that there is a God and that He proves Himself a rewarder of those who earnestly try to find Him.
Hebrews 11:6 Amplified Bible - But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him.
Read and ponder the following verses...
Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable.
Philippians 3:12
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been perfected, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
1 Timothy 1:18
Timothy, my child, I entrust you with this command in keeping with the previous prophecies about you, so that by them you may fight the good fight,
1 Timothy 1:19
holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and thereby shipwrecked their faith.
1 Timothy 6:19
treasuring up for themselves a firm foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Jude 1:3
Beloved, although I made every effort to write you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.
Zechariah 10:5
And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
Read Jeremiah Chapter 5
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