Why should you be happy when your faith is in the fight? It doesn’t make sense. We’ve been talking about building our faith muscle. If you want to grow in your faith, you have to exercise it, and the way to exercise it is to use it. In a fight you have an opportunity to use your faith.
When your faith is tried, count it all joy because God is giving your faith a chance to grow. Some of you right now are in the middle of an opportunity for your faith to grow. James wrote to the Jewish Christians who were being persecuted and whose faith was being severely tried because of their love for Jesus. “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way” (James 1:2-4 MSG).
James took special care to show them that the deciding factor in whether they overcame the trial was their attitude. He said it is important to be encouraged, happy, and joyful when you face difficulties so that you can bring about the fulfillment of God‘s promises in your life. COUNT IT ALL JOY! What an attitude to have.
The faith fight specifically calls for dependence on God and for patience to purify and strengthen your faith, The rewards of such faith, according to 1 Peter 1:7, is praise, glory and honor. “So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world” (1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT).
One of the main things that a “faith fight” does is keep you depending on God. Dependence is a natural consequence of trust. You can only be dependent when you recognize God as your source. Your job is not your source, or your boss, or your ex-spouse. A dependent walks by faith, not by sight.
To overcome trials you must continue walking by faith. Faith comes by the Word of God. The only way the enemy can defeat us is by keeping us from listening to the Word of God, or if we have already heard it, by stealing it from us. He keeps chipping away at one promise after another, trying to make us doubt whether God ever keeps his word. If we believe the enemy’s lies, our faith is destroyed.
Jesus told us to be of good cheer because He has overcome all the problems of life. “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you]” (John 16:33 AMPC). See, this does not mean you won’t have to face any problems. It simply means that He conquered them all for you already at the cross.
God said be happy. He never told you to run around and be sad. Make a decision that no matter what is going on, no matter what difficulties are in your life, you are going to be happy, for the joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10 NLT).
I don’t know what you are facing. But I do know that you should still be happy because God commanded you to be. I know that there is always an opportunity to become discouraged, but I also know that Jesus has overcome the world and has given you the victory (I Corinthians 15:57). As a believer, you have the Overcomer (Jesus) on the inside of you, so why should you be unhappy?
Have you slid into doubt and unbelief? Are you looking at the problem instead of looking at Jesus for the solution? Are you concentrating on the difficulties instead of the victories? Jesus is your Champion. God has promised to help you and His Word is sure. He never fails. He is faithful to perform it. I believe this is a powerful truth, useful to handle life’s difficulties and trials. James is not saying that you should lie down, roll over and play dead when there’s a problem or difficulty. Instead you should stand your ground and exercise your faith in the promises of God’s Word. Be patient and steadfast and not moved by the pressure. You should be rejoice because God has given you the victory.
If you focus all your attention on Jesus and the victory He has already won, you will have an underlying peace that will let you be happy in spite of your circumstances. Don’t be sad and discouraged and try to squirm out of your problems. Rejoice and face them with TOTAL CONFIDENCE that Jesus is giving you victory over them. You can depend on Him to deliver you.
When your faith is being tried, it teaches you patience. Exercising patience means you are handling them scripturally, correctly, and calmly waiting for the answers because you know God controls the situation. Anxiety and frustration have no place. Don’t murmur or complain. This will lead to giving up too soon. Read about the children of Israel in Exodus. God would do something amazing for them and then they would fall into complaining and murmuring, quickly forgetting what He had done and how He was carrying them through the desert. Don’t doubt or question, but know God is able and willing and will do what He has promised.
When your faith is in the fight and it looks like nothing is going right, be encouraged, be happy, COUNT IT ALL JOY and be patient. Facing down our enemy can keep us in good spiritual shape. Resisting the devil gives our spiritual muscles a good workout and we grow strong and firm in faith. Keep your eyes on Him. We have victory in Christ.
