Fighting words!

Fighting Words
Matthew 11:12 … The Kingdom of God suffereth violence and the violent take it by force.         
Have you ever seen a real live street fight or an after school fist fight? It always starts with words. One party will say the “wrong thing” and another party will counter with their “right thing”. This exchange normally goes on for a couple of minutes before fists are thrown, hair is pulled and pummeling begins. As an educator, I have seen my fair share of fights. That’s one of the reasons, I started San’s Child, Inc. to counteract anger, aggression, bullying and fighting, but I digress.
Normally, a good fist fight starts with words. An insult that really hurt the other’s feelings at the core, but turned into anger as it manifested. As a result, the fists fly. Matthew 11:12 says that the kingdom of God suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. That means that the violent - those that are inflicting violence are coming with the heat. They didn’t come to play and so they don’t play. We have an accuser who comes with the heat everyday. He takes no days off. His only job is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).
This accuser, however doesn’t attack us with sticks and stones, he attacks our minds and thoughts. He attacks how we feel about ourselves; he attacks our self-esteem, our relationships; our families. It’s a mental attack. In order to win this attack with the enemy, you have to have some fighting words! An arsenal of resources that will help you when each battle.  I mean you have to be prepared to issue a 1 – 2 verbal punch that will send him running. You have to hide the word in your heart so that when, it’s time to fight, you’re ready blow for blow.
When sickness hits, you have to say I am healed by the stripes of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53:5). When financial pressures come you have to declare, I am a lender and not a borrower (Deuteronomy 28:12-13); I am blessed in the city and blessed in the field (Deuteronomy 28:3). When depression hits, you have to declare that he shall turn my mourning into weeping and give me a garment of praise for a Spirit of Heaviness (Isaiah 61:3). Listen! You have to have some fighting words.
When Jesus was tempted by satan, He didn’t say “Leave Me Alone” or “Go Away”. He used the word of God to defeat satan. Things are no different now. We can’t fight satan with fists or stones like David fought Goliath, we have to fight him with the word of God. But not only do “Fighting Words” fight the enemy, they encourage you.
The Bible says that David encouraged himself! David was being chased by King Saul. He wanted to kill David. It was simply a matter of jealousy, but the Bible says that when David got low, he encouraged himself. He reminded himself of who he was in the Lord.
There will be times in life when you have to encourage yourself. You will have to use your fighting words to remind yourself who and whose you are. Satan wants to take your courage, but when you encourage yourself, you take that courage back!  Speak over yourself. Declare the word of God over your life. Don’t let the accuser keep you in the past. Daily repent and work on being better.  You have to remember that you are in a rigged fight with a defeated foe! We have already won!
Find you a couple of scriptures that are near and dear and whenever the enemy attacks, use them to fight. The word of God cannot return void (Isaiah 55:11), it has to accomplish what God wants it to accomplish. Remember to stay in the RED – loved and forgiven.
#Loved
#Forgiven
#FightingTheGoodFightofFaith