“Fight the good fight of faith…,” 1Timothy 6:12
Paul, through his letter to Timothy, exhorts us to fight the “good fight.” That exhortation raises the possibility that there is also a “bad fight” that we can fight. Fighting a bad fight can mean that we are probably wasting a lot of time and energy by fighting a battle that does not exist. Or, we are fighting a battle from the wrong perspective with the wrong objective. Let’s take a closer look at some of the favorite battles that Christians are fighting today.
Possession by demons
Many Christians believe that it is possible for them to be possessed by a demon. They go to deliverance services to have the demons cast out of themselves. Now remember, we are talking about a demon being inside of a true born again Christian. When they sin, they develop the Flip Wilson theology: “The Devil made me do it!” They try to overcome the sin in their lives by casting out demons and rebuking the devil. By fighting a battle that doesn’t exist, they never obtain victory. You can’t win against what isn’t there.
The Bible tells us to confess and repent when we sin. (1John 1:9). It doesn’t tell us to cast out demons. Why not? Because there can be no demons inside of a Christian. Demons may influence us, but, they can’t get in and possess us. 1Corinthians 6:19 tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in us. If the Holy Spirit is in us, how can a demon also come into us. Jesus tells us that in order to capture a strong man’s house, one must first bind the strong man (Matthew 12:29). In order for a demon to come in and possess a Christian, he would first have to bind the Holy Spirit. Is that even possible to think, let alone accomplish? There is no place in scripture that references to a Christian being demon possessed. Possession of a Christian makes for good drama, exciting sermons and interesting movies. But, it is not a scriptural truth.
Generational Curses
People who believe in and teach that Christians can inherit “generational curses” usually quote Exodus 20:5: “…For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children until the third and fourth generations…” If that were the end of the scripture, then the gen-curse theory might have some credibility. But, as radio commentator Paul Harvey used to say, “And now the rest of the story.” The rest of verse 5 reads: “…visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children until the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.” This is for those who hate the Lord. If you hate the Lord, chances are you won’t be a Christian. Adding more to the story, verse 6 says: “but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” So, you see, God has an entirely different plan for us.
In Scripture, only God places curses. Anyone else who did it had to go to God for permission (i.e. Balaam). The Devil never places any curses. He is under a curse. We are told by those who teach the gen-curse theory that we have to break the generational curses that are on us. If God did place a curse on us, what in the world could we ever do to break it? If God placed it, He and only He can remove it. Ezekiel 18:20 says that the son will not bear the guilt of the father nor shall the father bear the guilt of the son. We are each responsible for our own sins. When we accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, we became born again…new creatures in Christ. Galatians 3:13 tells us that Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law. If there is such a thing as a curse that His shed blood did not pay the price, what could we do to pay the price for it? While there are habits that we learn and adapt from our parents, they are not curses. And, if they are, the curse is broken the moment we are born again. Believe what Jesus did for you. Fighting a generational curse for a Christian is an empty battle.
Learning to love yourself/Low self-esteem/Forgiving yourself
“And you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). I have lost count of how many times I have heard people take that scripture and say something like, “We are supposed to love our neighbors, but, we have to learn to love ourselves first. You can’t love your neighbor until you have learned how to love yourself.” The Bible never tells us to spend time trying to learn how to love ourselves. Whenever self-love is mentioned in scripture, the assumption is that we already love ourselves (as in Mark 12:31). We are constantly told in one way or another to love God and to love others. Self love is already there. Sometimes we confuse hatred of our circumstances with hatred of ourselves. The main reason we hate our circumstances is that we love ourselves too much to want to see ourselves in that terrible situation. Being, in our own estimation, too tall, too short, too skinny, too fat, too dark, too light, too anything are all conditions that we want to change because of our love for ourselves. It is not “self” that we hate. It is the condition that “self” is in. Think differently. Think Biblically.
Jesus said that if we would lose our lives for His sake, we would save our lives (Luke 9:23). Paul warns us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought (Romans 12:3). Philippians 2:7 tells us that Jesus made Himself of no reputation. We spend a lot of time trying to build up our self esteem when the word tells us to be humble. Again, there is no place in scripture that tells us to spend our time trying to build up our self esteem. Indeed, the implication is that we already have too much. We are told that we have the mind of Christ. If He humbled Himself for us, shouldn’t we humble ourselves for Him?
In Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus tells us that we are to forgive others or the Father will not forgive us. There are scriptures upon scriptures that tell us to forgive others. There is not one that tells us to spend time trying to forgive ourselves. Jesus already forgave us. What is a more complete forgiveness than that? If we walk in His forgiveness, then our forgiveness of ourselves won’t be an issue. The more you try to forgive yourself, the guiltier you will feel. It is like a dog chasing his tail. He never catches it. Trying to forgive yourself keeps you in bondage. Trying to forgive yourself says that what Jesus did at the cross is not good enough. Accept the freedom of forgiveness that you have in Jesus Christ. That is the only real forgiveness that you will ever have.
Trying to learn to love yourself, build up your self esteem and forgive yourself all have one thing in common: The word: SELF!!! If your concentration is in those areas, your mind is on yourself. You are therefore self-centered instead of Christ-centered. Chasing after those things is a never ending pursuit. The devil will always give you one more reason to hate yourself which will lower your self esteem and then you can’t forgive yourself. You are fighting battles that are non-existent and will never end. Therefore, you can never win. You are going in circles. Get focused on the Lord. Get on the straight and narrow path that leads to life.
Any spiritual battle that you are fighting that has you thinking more about yourself than doing the Lord’s will is probably the wrong battle. In order to really fight the right battles, we must remember what the WAR is really about. The war is about our souls and our relationship with the Lord. We tend to battle Satan over our money. In reality, satan will give you money if it will keep you away from the Lord. He will take your money if it will keep you away from the Lord. It is not about the money. It is about your salvation. It is about your witness. It is about your walk with the Lord. It is about Satan wanting to replace God in your life. Keep your focus on the Lord and why He came and died for you and you will always understand what the war is about. You will always fight the right battles
Rejection of the truth
