How Long Is The Battle Supposed To Last?

I think it would be a fair assumption on my part to think that you the reader understand that everyone has challenges in their lives. And that no one is exempt from them either, regardless if you are a good person or a bad. Whatever you want to call it; karma, reaping what you have sown, or just the way of the world, the truth of the matter is no matter what, everyone faces battles in their lives. So we better prepare ourselves.

So with that thought established let me move on to my thought: "How long is the battle suppose to last?" Really, I think this is a fair question to ask, because unless we have some idea of how long we must stand and fight, we can and will lose hope and eventually lose heart. And when there is a loss of heart, morale goes down and men cannot fight as well and then defeat is just a hands breath away.

I really enjoy movies which depict men having to battle overwhelming odds and come out the victor. Scarred, battered and bruised maybe, but victorious over their enemies. The really interesting thing is that it doesn't usually happen in a half an hour. But that is what has happened to us in America anyways isn't it? We watch 30 - 60 minute television programs where by the end of the show whatever conflict started at the beginning will be completely resolved and everyone loving each other again.

Transition that reality (Which really isn't, but our minds want to think it is.) into your own personal family life and see if one of your conflicts with your teenager resolves itself in an hour. In our home, they usually lasted 3 - 4 hours with all of us going to bed exhausted, and very rarely had any agreements having been reached. It usually was several days before we had everything back to normal.

When we try and put these unrealistic expectations on ourselves, we end up being set up for a fall. I think that this is one of the ways that the enemy uses to get us to lose heart. I mean think about it for a minute; you read God's Word that healing belongs to you, you get faith to believe for your healing, then the cold that has latched itself to you decides to stay on for 4 or 5 days. Isn't our first thought, "Why isn't God's Word working?" Well who's to say that it's not. After all where do you see in the Bible that healing comes with a time frame?

I read in the Word that by Jesus's stripes I am healed, (1 Peter 2:24) but I don't see in there where it states that my physical symptoms leave the moment that I pray and believe. You see this is where we miss it the most. We see in the Bible stories that Jesus did something and in an instant the people got what they needed. Then we think if it doesn't happen for us that way, we didn't get it. And nothing could be further from the truth!

We do receive our answer the moment that we believed and prayed, but that doesn't mean we will actually see the manifestation of it right at that moment. We may actually have to fight the good fight of faith. (1 Timothy 6:12) Just because we are fighting the good fight of faith, does not mean there isn't going to be a fight. Fighting the good fight of faith just means that we are fighting a fight that we will win. (Some times immediately, and some times eventually.)

You see, what the fight of faith actually is, is the fight (Within our minds.) to believe that what God's Word says is true, regardless of what everything else around us is saying. (To our physical senses.) I would say that the fight could go on for a while. There is nothing written in stone as to how long we must endure and fight the good fight of faith, just that we are to fight it, never surrendering.

So what are you going to do now? I know that I am going to continue to fight to believe that what God's Word says is true, regardless of what my physical senses are telling me. You know, I'm pretty sure that men fighting on the battlefield don't quit fighting with the enemy if they are unable to vanquish them in just a few hours. No, they keep fighting with everything that they've got, because the moment that they quit, they die. So let's learn from that example and fight to believe with every fiber of our beings. Well there's that, get 'em up folks, and let's go whip something for the Kingdom!