You spent years preparing
You knew one day you were going to be required to fight.
But this fight. This is not what you expected at all
Now, you are up against a world champ.
This giant has defeated many before you-
many who were strong, experienced fighters, many who have great faith in God, many whom you looked up. Now, you are battling a world champ that has conquered every one of its opponent.
You are here in the ring. The ropes might as well be on fire or made of sharp icicles. There is no escape. No way of getting out of this ugly situation. You must fight. You stand facing your opponent who is waiting for the ref to move out of the way. As the ref moves, the fight begins. Your opponent and your move around without contact. You see that your opponent is studying you. How you move? How you breath? How your stand? It is searching for your weakness. It does not take you can long to sense your opponent knows more about you when you about it as it closes the gap between you. It can hear lack of confidence in the rapid pace of your heart beat. It strikes a punch. You barely dodge it. It smells the aroma of doubts that your pores are releasing. It strikes a punch again striking you in the left shoulder. It tastes the sweat of worry that is pouring down your face. Before you right arm to strike back. Before can even execute that punch, your opponent strikes you in the stomach. It feels the shame coming from the thorn in your side.
Before you know it, you have been backed into a corner. The unforgiving ropes are now the prison behind you that hold you there, your opponent's posture eliminates any ground you had to reposition yourself in this fight. You cannot move, you can only defend yourself from your opponent's punch. Yet, your opponent is now close enough to see the reflection of instability in your eyes. Without hesitation, it strikes such a powerful blow that your body crumbles to the ground and you plop onto your back and blackout for a moment. You tell yourself that it was a sucker punch to feel better about your defeat. Honestly, you know that you saw it coming. Your body is paralyzed by the pain. Your heart begs you to stop. Your mind tells you that it's time to tap out.
I know that it is easier to stay down. There is comfort in playing the victim. You need tp remember that there are people watching you. Your audience may only have a few people, but there are still waiting. There are those who are younger than you, wanting to believe the impossible is possible. There are those older than you, wanting to know someone is still fighting before they leave this world.
Don't be foolish by your opponent gloating. Don't align with its victory over you. Playing possum has it advance. It is only nature not to put more energy into a battle than what one needs. Your opponent thinks that it has won. Look, your opponent has given you the ground you need to reposition yourself. Its back is facing your while it rallies the crowd's cheers.
Now, you must dig deep and find what the true source of your strength comes from. You must secure those gloves- the right of love and the left of faith. Get up, you know you have all your need. Rise, my sister. Rise, my brother. The ref is not done counting. He has not declared a winner. Your fight, it ain't over yet.
Every person at one point or another was a personal battle to fight. It may be physical health-related like cancer . It may show up in the form of mental health like depression or even spiritually such as doubts about faith or the goodness of God. It is easy to get lost in what we can see or the diagnosis we are given. Our opponent can look like a giant. Many soldiers back in David's time did exactly that. They saw a huge opponent and they coward in fear. They had a choice to run or surrender. It took David's courage to face an enemy that he could have ran from. Then, it took David's focus on God and trust in God for him to overcome the giant using faith in God's strength and not his own.
They are some battles where we have the option to run from or surrender. Yet, when God says the battle is ours, we must own it. Approaching the battle with a blindfold of faith and trust that God has blessed us with the power to defend a much larger opponent is the key to victory.
Then there are battles where we have no choice. We are in it, without the option for escape. Our battleground may be a ring of fire where emotions are out of control and we need to put on the gloves of scripture to win internal peace again. We may be in a ring of ice where a relationship has gone cold and we must seek the Holy Spirit to position us where we can strike a bolt of love's spark once again. The battle may be one our opponent is spiritual. No matter what the battle is we must relay on God to be our eyes and to give us the weapons we need to overcome what we can not see.
Then, they are battles when God open our eyes to something or someone. We are awakened to evil's scheme must use face the problem with every sense we have. These eye-open battles can encage us in fear and anxiety. We can feel like we are trapped in a televised version of a wrestling production. Being body slammed, elbowed and sucker punched by actors for evil's amusement. These battle require much faith. They can easily back us into a corner and knock us down. The pain from the blow of disappointment or acting in our own strength, courage or wisdom will find us exhausted. Our stance will become unstable and our opponent will take advance of. It will use whatever energy possible to achieve the fatal blow. But as the saying says, 'It's not about how many times you get knock down, it about getting back up."
That is why we need to pray, to strength our spiritual muscles with scripture, and to seek the coaching found in a relationship with God who will stand in our corner. God does not leave us to fight our battle alone.
Knowing your opponent will help you defend your opponent. You must train for the fight. You never know when you will be called into the ring. We must study evil's game book to how many to face it, avoid it punch and counter it attacks. Listen to the testimony of other who have fought and won as well as those who have fought and lose. You will learn from both. Read the Bible, pray for the right resources and tool to overcome,
And when it is time to battle, please remember, being in the ring of fire/ice or cage is no time to live like the proverbial monkeys. Don't cover your eyes to evil, you will not see what moves it is making. Don't cover your ears to evil, you will not hear of its gloating and know what it is planning on doing. Don't cover your mouth to evil, you must be courageous enough to use your voice as a weapon against it.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12
And one more piece of advice to remember when you get knock down, use that position to your advance. Playing possum can be a strategic move in certain situations. The devil was a history of overplaying its hand. It thinks it has won before God says the fight is over. So, use that to reposition yourself, to gain ground and to strengthen your stance.
It is time to get on gloves and prepare. On one hand put on the glove of faith and the another put on the glove of love. Look to God to know, which glove to lead with. Some battle need to start with love and others need to start with the mind. No battle is won with just one's mind or one's heart. It takes both. Whatever the battle, victory is best found when we position our focus on God.
And if you are in the middle of a battle and you have been knocked down, I want to you to know, it is not over to God says so. Dig deep and rise, my friend,
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