The Good Fight

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.  2 Timothy 4:7

In 1964 Muhammad Ali became the youngest challenger to ever win the heavyweight boxing title when he beat Sonny Liston. Every time Ali stepped into the ring he brashly proclaimed his superiority over his foe. Ali never imagined losing because it was not in his DNA to process losing. The only good fight Ali planned was a knockout!

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The Apostle Paul was in many ways just like Muhammad Ali. Every time Paul entered into spiritual combat he had only one goal in mind: complete victory through His Lord Jesus Christ! Throughout Paul’s ministry he was often persecuted, tossed in prison and finally executed and yet He boldly stated that he ended his life a victor. When Paul wrote to his young friend Timothy; he was in effect tag teaming his successor in the ongoing battle. Timothy later passed that fight onto the churches under his care. If we listen we will hear the bell is ringing for the first round of our own match to begin. Centuries have passed and the world is a different place, but God’s challenge remains the same. It is our turn to fight our own good fight with that same boldness and faith. When we trust in Christ in our fight we will win, because we are tag teaming with the greatest heavyweight champion of all time: our Lord Jesus Christ!

Answered Prayer

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”   Matthew 14:30-31  

When Peter began to sink beneath the waves; he didn’t consider even for a moment trying to swim back to the boat. Instead he just cried out; “Lord save me!” and it was done. God is delighted to answer prayer but He is waiting for us to give him our biggest problems; ones beyond simply blessing our food and giving us a good night’s sleep. Sadly when I think of this story I realize how little I have really lived it. Maybe it is because I am afraid of a God who is too real and too big for me to handle. But oh how I am missing out on the immense value of answered prayer.

Are you like me, sinking in your struggle with an ocean too big for you to handle? Then instead of just saying words and then trying to swim why not cry out; “God I’m in trouble – I need your help right now!” God is listening and waiting to hear our voice. He knows the path ahead and His amazing plan is to walk it with us!

Walking on the Waters

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity… Hebrews 6:1a NIV

Sometimes when we read this portion of scripture we want to skip ahead to the gallery of faith heroes in chapter 11. These passages can seem dry and filled with a high theology disconnected from our daily life. But in reality they are incredibly practical and are put there to help us to reorient our relationship with Jesus from simply looking back to His work of salvation in our past. They are focusing like a laser on the right here and right now nitty gritty of our struggles today.

When the writer of Hebrews says let us go on to maturity he points us to the ministry of Jesus as our high priest. When Jesus said, “It is finished!” on the cross, He didn’t mean that He was now ready to retire to heaven. Instead He passed from His sacrificial role as the lamb of God to become our  eternal high priest who will pray for us for us every day till the end of time. Just as Jesus was watching his disciples struggling at the oars on the Sea of Galilee, while he was on the mountain praying, so he is watching over us as we are rowing across our own rough waters. In the same way that he came walking across the waters to help them, so He is ready to come and help us with whatever we face today.  

We must never undo what lies on the path behind but maybe today God is calling you and me to focus on His purpose for what lies ahead. What is on your path today? Jesus is already praying for you and if you look out you just might catch a glimpse of Him walking on the waters towards you!

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