fighting the good fight

^{"But godliness with contentment is great gain, For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.}  

 ^{For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.} 

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

1 Timothy 6:6-12

in this new season, the Lord is impressing upon me 

the need to fight this good fight.

in my life, it seems so easy to just go about my day, thinking on the Lord and His goodness and on His cross and simply on Him.

yet my life is not much different than it was a year ago. 

i go to work, i try to sleep,  i go to church, i beat my missions drum, 

and well, that's about it.

i've become so discontent with my life and 

haven't really been able to figure out why.

until this last week.

i started reading "forgotten God."
while the concept scares me, i know it's true.
in essence, mr. chan says that the (western) church often lacks power 
because it lacks the Holy Spirit.
i'm not talking about a second baptism or anything like that, but the church all too often lacks the working of and the reliance on the Holy Spirit.

i had to spend some honest time before God in those moments.
how easily i forget that the Holy Spirit is present, active, and powerful.  
how quickly i forget to fight the good fight, knowing and resting in the power and faithfulness of the Holy Spirit.

i pray in this coming season, i would fight the good fight,
being "strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might" (Eph 6:10).
i pray that i would take up the whole armor of God, remember my only weapon is the sword of the Spirit, (although called the "word of God," it is powerless without the working of the Spirit).
i pray that others would join me in this fight, and that i could join others as they battle against our flesh, this world, and the schemes of the enemy.



cincerely,

cindy