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Feb 23, 2025 06:00am

Keep Fighting

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At the beginning of December, a dear friend came to me in confidence and asked that I pray for a scheduled scan of an abnormality in her breast.

For several weeks we waited on and prayed over the result. Then it happened.

Early one Friday morning I got the call and it was confirmed; my friend did have breast cancer.

Obviously, this was not the result we’d hoped for. I’ll never forget my friend’s response to the news when she said, “This is a spiritual fight and I am going to keep fighting!”

This friend has been my spiritual mentor for seventeen years. I’ve had the benefit of watching her not only in the highs and lows, but in the day to day normal rhythms of life “fight the good fight.”

If you’ve been in church for any length of time you’ve probably heard something if not many things about spiritual warfare.

There are certainly many teachings, sermons, and even books written on it.

Ergo, in one blog post I will not communicate everything there is to be communicated about it, but I pray I communicate what the Lord’s been teaching me through my friends’ battle.

As a church girl, it’s often been implied that spiritual warfare begins when you get the dreaded phone call. It’s at that time you’re supposed to call the elders, get some anointing oil, and “pray the situation away in Jesus‘ name.”

Though there are some partial biblical principles and even spiritual benefits to some of what was just stated together, as a whole, the latter is false teaching.

It is false because a.) this is not the moment warfare begins and b.) God is more interested in His eternal glory than giving us a satisfactory earthly outcome.

Letter “b” is a hard pill to swallow. We’ll circle back around in a moment.

It’s important to establish what spiritual warfare is and when it begins.

Speaking of salvation, Ezekiel 36:26 says, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

This means that when we repent of and ask Jesus for forgiveness of our sins we have a new Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, that comes to dwell on the inside of us. This heart transplant, if you will, leads us to desire the things of and to be like God.

In other words, we have a desire to do not just the right thing, but the godly thing as we share in His Spirit and have been made spiritually alive in Him.

Though our spirit is alive and desires godly things, we still think with our emotions and have a bent to do what will satisfy us rather than what will satisfy and bring glory to Christ.

Paul puts it well in Romans 7:15&18 when he says, “15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”

Key fact: the fight is not internal only.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” -1 Peter 5:8

While Satan cannot take our salvation from us, he can devour the abundant life Jesus has to offer us through His work of sanctification in our lives.

This means spiritual warfare begins the moment we put our faith into Jesus Christ to forgive us of our sins.

Sanctification; that’s a churchy word.

Sanctification simply means: the process of being continually ridded from sin and self to become more like Christ.

This brings us back to “b” the purpose of warfare. We often think the purpose of spiritual warfare is “trusting God to provide a satisfactory earthly outcome.”

This is false.

In fact, if we allow ourselves to accept this lie there is a pressure and temptation that comes to “pray good enough” so that God will perform. Accepting this lie, also puts our faith in what Jesus can offer us versus in who He is.

The substance of our faith is not in signs and wonders; it’s in the person of Jesus Christ.

The same Jesus, God incarnate, who said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Following Christ at its core involves a denial of self. This means dying to our emotions, our wants, and desired earthly outcomes so He may live in and accomplish His will through us.

The hard truth is: God’s goal is to sanctify us, not satisfy us.

We do have a right to our emotions and will, but our emotions are not to have us and our will is not to consume us.

On a daily basis, we must cease putting our hope in ourselves and in earthly satisfactory outcomes. We must use the divine weapons (i.e., the Word, worship, and prayer) we’ve been given to take every thought and or desire captive and make it obedient to the person and will of Christ: His glory.

Only when we’re intentional to be aware of and engage in daily warfare against our sin and self will we be able to, when the phone rings ushering in a dreaded battle, not succumb to emotional weight and pressure.

Instead, we will be able to fix our eyes on Christ the author and finisher of our faith and “keep fighting” in the strength of His might; for His glory.