It's Not a Flow, It's a Fight

One of the things most people want to experience, and this includes Christians and the church, is for life to  be a Flow. We don't want to experience a lot of stress, we don't want to experience a lot of strife. We don't want to have to deal with a lot of dissension, we don't want to have to endure a lot of confrontations and circumstantial turmoil. Yes, we know that life involves problems and that "things" do tend to happen. But all in all, we just want things to go smoothly and have a tranquil life. Even though this is ideal, it's not necessarily reality. Neither is it reality for the Christian believer. There are more than a few Christians who mistakenly believe that since we "are" Christians, and because we do have God in our life, that things should be easier for us. However, this is a gross misconception of the Christian experience, because living for Christ Is Not a Flow, It's a Fight.

One of the things that we must constantly keep in mind as believers in Christ is that we have an archenemy that is positioned to bring about our defeat and destruction (John 10). Because American society has not really been exposed to an "all-out war" on our land (even during the World Wars), we don't have a concept of what it means to live and function in "wartime". Saints, we've got to understand, we are at War. Now more than ever, because the Devil knows his time is short; plus he knows God is up to something, he just doesn't know fully what it is. Therefore, we need to abandon the mindset that things are supposed to go smoothly for us because we're "Blessed". Wrong. No saints, It's Not a Flow, It's a Fight.

For this reason the scripture says to, "fight the good fight of faith" (1Timothy 6). The scripture also says for us to "endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2Timothy 2). When we're challenged to endure pain, hardships, hurts, conflicts and disappointments, particularly in regards to our faith, don't look at it as an aberration. Don't perceive it as something odd. And don't try to question "what did you do wrong". Understand, this is part of the Fight. This is part of the struggle called Life. Then remember what the scripture says in Romans 8, "and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose". Whatever God is allowing you to go through, whatever it is, He's already ordained it to work for your good. But if we're going to get to the Good for which God has ordained, we've got to Fight, we've got to Struggle, we've got to Press. Is it easy? No. So quit thinking it's supposed to be. Is it going to get harder? Yes. Whoever said Bearing your Cross is supposed to be easy? (Matthew 16) But is the Reward worth it? Yes! (Hebrews 11). And we will be rewarded saints if we understand, It's Not a Flow, It's a Fight.