Contending For The Faith

 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Jude 1v3

The Christian walk is not always an easy walk in the park. It is a journey full of all kinds of traps, tests, trials and temptations inasmuch as all the good things are also abundant in the life of any believer. It is to be noted that if you are a believer you are pleasing God on one side and displeasing the devil on the other side. The battle between the two of them is a fight for control of your life. Satan wants to control you as much as God wants to control you, so don’t expect such a battle to be all rosy for you or anyone.

Our opening scripture highlights a fight that we need to fight. It is very surprising that throughout the Bible we are told of a God who fights all our battles and who fights on our behalf. We are told that the battle is not ours but it belongs to God. There is a time when God’s people won a war without fighting anyone. That is how God would fight for people and still does today. However it is also important to note that there is only one FIGHT, one BATTLE and one WAR that God decided not to fight but left it for us. It is what Paul calls The Fight Of Faith. The fight of faith involves fighting in faith and fighting for faith as Jude says “contend for the faith.”

The reason why we ought to contend for the faith is because faith is the tool we use to function in God’s territory. The opposite of faith is fear; faith is the mother of belief whereas fear is the mother of unbelief. God wants us to walk in faith and so we can please Him (Hebrews 11v6). The enemy however wants to keep us as far away from faith as possible, that is why he perpetually fights to steal faith away from us and thus Jude tells us to contend for the faith, fight the good fight of faith and lay hold of eternal life (1Timothy 6:12).

There are darts everywhere that the devil throws at us to keep us away from living by faith and we ought to be wary of them but today I will highlight a few things that can help you contend for the faith.

1)    Prayer

Luke 18v1 tells us that if men pray always they will not faint. The reason why people backslide and fall away from walking in faith is because of an inconsistent prayer life. Prayer keeps you up and running and if you continue in prayer consistently, you will be able even unawares to fight off the enemy and anything that may have the intention of bringing you harm.

2)   The Word Of God

The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit according to the Bible’s description of the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6. It is the only weapon on the list that is used to attack. A Christian who lacks knowledge of the Word of God is shallow and is prone to falling from and failing in the fight of faith. Remember the parable of the sower? I will explain it sometime on this blog because it shows how different receptions of the Word can determine the life of a Christian.

These two points above are the basic foods for contending for your faith. If you can use these to fight fear, worry, doubt and all the tactics of the enemy you will contend for the faith and walk in victory all your life…remember,

Jesus is Lord!!!