Fight the Good Fight of Faith: Run the Race with Patience

By R. C. Jette

Many of God's soldiers are overwhelmed with daily struggles. We feel we are getting nowhere and see no light at the end of the tunnel. We are worn out from the never-ending warfare. We want life easier and are beginning to wonder if we can continue to fight the good fight of faith.
Fatigue has enticed us to seek the distractions in this world. We are living in the now instead of focusing upon our future inheritance. Eternity is no longer our top priority. We have forgotten that this life is a vapor that will fade away, whereas eternity is forever.
It is imperative for us to realign our focus upon eternity and what is necessary to finish our race. Inheriting all things is contingent upon overcoming. If we are to fight the good fight of faith and run the race set before us with patience, we have to take authority, be the aggressor, be the strong force over the enemy of our souls.
As you read through the pages, allow the Holy Spirit to open your eyes of enlightenment, to encourage you to continue, to reveal aggressive warfare and how to run your race with resolute endurance until the finish!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Oct 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781666727296

R. C. Jette

R. C. Jette is a Christian author with a bachelor of theology, a master's in biblical studies, and an honorary doctor of divinity. Previous books published by Wipf and Stock Publishers can be found at www.amazon.com/author/rcjette. The author and her husband, Paul, live in sunny Florida. They have three adult children, four living grandchildren, and a granddaughter, Sarah, with the Lord.

Book preview

Introduction

THIS BOOK IS MEANT to encourage God’s soldiers to commit our lives once again to overcoming all barriers through diligently fighting the good fight of faith and running the race set before us with steadfast patience. To bring forth the necessity of resoluteness, I will, as done a few times in the past, borrow precise information from my previous books to help enlighten our insight. Sometimes repetition brought forth through a different approach or in a new light can birth a revelation not heretofore grasped.

There is much distraction in this world and many have lost sight of our race and turned our attention towards this life. We are living in the now instead of focusing upon our future inheritance. It is imperative for us to realign our focus from the present to eternity. The necessity to fight the good fight of faith and run the race set before us with patience or tenacity cannot be overemphasized. In this day and time of itching ears preaching that has caused some to meander onto the broad and wide path, this truth must be addressed without ceasing.

We must fight the desires of our flesh and worldly attractions. If not, we will be enticed to listen to those preaching messages that there is no need to deny self. False teachers instruct that once saved, we can indulge in any sinful behavior because Jesus took all our sins. Yet, Jesus made clear that unless we are denying self, taking up our cross daily, we are not following him.

To fight means to take part in a violent struggle. Unless we are willing to battle our flesh to conquer all that is contrary to the will of God, we will stay focused upon this life. As God’s soldiers, it is our lot to fight daily battles as sure as the sun rises and sets each day. Only through fully comprehending that we are soldiers or warriors for the Lord will we fight whatever we face each day. When we accepted Jesus as savior, we signed up as soldiers in the army of the Lord for life. Our obligation ends when we take our last breath.

Our faith journey is not a skip through the park, it is a journey full of sufferings, battles, hurdles, winding turns, thorns, hardships, struggles, grief, etc. that must be fought daily. It is a race that without unrelenting faith, we will not be empowered to run with patience.

It seems many of God’s soldiers are overwhelmed with the battles to be fought day in and day out. We feel as though we are getting nowhere and think there is no light at the end of the tunnel. We have become weary of the long arduous race set before us, the restrictions upon our flesh, the pull to go back to Egypt or our old life, and the desire to join those on the broad and wide way. We want to have life easier and want to quit the fight of faith. We are becoming weary of the never-ending struggles.

We have forgotten all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). We have forgotten if they persecuted Jesus, his servants will also be persecuted (John 15:20). We have forgotten without opposing our old nature, we will not continue to fight our flesh and its affinity to sin (Galatians 5:17).

We forgot we joined the army of the Lord for life. We forgot this life is about to become a vapor (James 4:14). It will all vanish away and what will our life have wrought? Will we have sold our birthright for a morsel of meat or some fleshly desire (Hebrews 12:16)? Will we have quit fighting? Will we have abandoned the race?

If we forget Satan has no authority over us, he will take what is not his to take. He has no power to subdue us, unless we submit to him through sin, unbelief, worry, fear, etc. Christ has conquered Satan and has given us the same authority and power to do likewise. Faith is the victory that enables us to overcome any hurdle we may have to encounter.

Only persevering in fighting the good fight of faith or running with patience will prevent us from being seduced by the temptations of this world. The seduction is like a drip of water that keeps dripping until it becomes a puddle, then a pool, then a pond, then a lake, then an ocean.

Leaven starts off microscopic, like malignancy, until it has leavened or corrupted the whole. If we allow a little lethargy, compromise, or seduction in our life, we will be overcome by sin. Once that occurs, we will have lost sight of eternity and no longer fight the good fight of faith.

I pray if you have picked up this book, it will be the nugget you need to live a life of victorious faith. Although you have read other books on faith, you do not yet comprehend how to fight the good fight of faith. Allow the Holy Spirit to open your eyes of enlightenment and reveal how to run your race with resolute endurance until you cross the finish line!

Chapter 1

Choose Whom You Serve

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the (flood), or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)

WITHOUT DECIDING WHO WE will serve, there is no fighting the good fight of faith nor running the race set before us with patience. The verse in Joshua tells us to choose. It is a choice which we make and no other can make it for us. We must select, decide upon, or determine who we will serve.

That choice or decision determines every other choice we make in life. What we choose to serve is the foundation upon which the rest of our life is built upon and determines our eternal destination. If we choose God, our life will be built upon faith, righteousness, holiness, godliness. If we choose self or false gods, our life will be built upon unbelief, unrighteousness, unholiness, ungodliness.

It is important to comprehend we may say we have made the choice to serve God, but when faced with hurdles of sufferings, storms, obstacles, trials, grief, difficult times, we can waiver like a reed tossed in the wind. Our decision was not sure and certain. It is easy to say something or commit to something when the choice is not under attack, assault, or persecution.

We can never fight the good fight of faith unless our choice to serve God is steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for our labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). We alone choose to live for this life or to live for eternity. As we persevere in fighting the good fight of faith and running the race with patience, we will be prevented from being seduced by the temptations that could cause us to forget eternity and live for this life.

I know there are so many books out there about faith. However I believe whenever we see things from a different perspective, it can cause the lightbulb of revelation to turn on. If we are to overcome by faith, we must be prepared for spiritual warfare. Only the never surrender mentality will enable us to fight the good fight of faith and finish our race with patience.

In our society of instant this and instant that, Christians can be swayed into the mentality of not enduring, fighting, or persevering until the fight is won or the race is finished. Faith is not always understood. Like I stated in my introduction, sometimes seeing something from a different perspective can clarify what was not understood before.

This book is to reveal that to live in victorious faith, we must first be prepared for spiritual warfare and fight the good fight of faith until we win our race. All the struggles we confront in this life can be a hindrance. If we are not willing to fight for our faith, it will obstruct the race set before us.

Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. (Isaiah

48

:

17

)

God promises to teach (guide, instruct) us to profit (benefit, advance) while He leads (directs, shepherds) us in the way (the path, the course of life) we are to go.

Isaiah promises God will guide us so that we profit. He is assuring us that we will benefit, be profitable if He is guiding us. He pledges to lead us into what will profit us. When we allow him to guide us, He will help us to know what we should say, what we should do,