“Suffer together with me like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. A soldier on active duty doesn't get caught up in the business of everyday life. He wants to please the one who enlisted him.” 2 Timothy 2:3-4 (FBV).
The whole Bible talks about enemies, and battles, and about taking up the fight. We must remember that we are fighting in a spiritual war. We are fighting against “… forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world.” Ephesians 6:12 -(CEV). In the world things get darker, more and more unrighteous and full of sin, but we are called to fight in the other direction. We are fighting for purity, for righteousness, for the will of God in a world full of corrupt and sinful people. (Romans 12:2; Philippians 2:15.)
It is a life of action that every Christian should live. It is our job to show that God’s will is perfect. We should lead the fight against Satan and his evil army, who want to have full control over the world. We must stop them from taking over completely and make it difficult for them to reach their goal. We must be the light and salt in this world. (Matthew 5:13-16.)
So how can one person make a difference?
Spiritual war in your personal life
You can make a difference by being faithful in your own life. If you love Jesus more than anything else, and you only want to make Him happy then you will do everything to please Him. And the enemy is anything that wants to come between you and Jesus.
Sin is anything that goes against God’s Word and God’s will and breaks the connection between us and God. We are tempted to sin by the sinful desires in our human nature, and Satan uses these temptations to try to get us to sin. He makes sin look nice, like something that will make us feel good, but the truth about sin is that it breaks our connection with God and takes away the blessing that comes from that connection. Instead, it only brings suffering, blindness, hurt, and a lot of other evil things in our lives.
It is written in John 10:10 (NCV) that “a thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came to give life—life in all its fullness.” The thief that Jesus is speaking about here is Satan. But then Jesus says that He has come to bring us life in all its fullness! A life in all its fullness is what we get when we fight against this enemy. When we see our own temptations as a battle against the forces of darkness that want to rule this earth, then we understand why the Bible speaks so strongly about victory, and overcoming, and being a soldier. One victory over sin in our own lives is a victory over evil in the world. The battle is about more than just our personal lives.
We’re not just fighting for ourselves. We’re fighting to build up the body of Christ. (Romans 12:5.) Everyone who is fighting in this spiritual war is a part of the body of Christ. We fight for each other, to strengthen and build one another up. When we focus on working on our own development and keep doing what is written in the Bible, then we save both ourselves from sin and those who hear us. (1 Timothy 4:16.) Then God can use us for doing good, to be an example to everyone who meets us. (Romans 6:12.) We can become a sweet smell of life leading to life, the sweet smell of Christ among those who are being saved. (2 Corinthians 2:15-16.)
Eternal life
As we go further on this way we become more and more alive in our spirit, and this is an eternal spirit that leads to eternal life. When we give in to temptation and allow Satan and sin to come into our lives, then our spirit becomes unclean, and that eternal connection with the Father and the Son is lost. (Ephesians 2:1.) Giving in to sin is an eternal loss; it is not just a short moment of sinning that you can quickly recover from. You cannot live that moment again. You will never again have the opportunity to get some of the godly life that you could have received at that moment. And if we continue giving in to sin, to live in it, it leads to death. (James 1:14-15.) This is not just a physical death. We all die physically, but those who have been made alive in their spirit go to be with their Saviour. Those who broke their connection with God and continued sinning will spend the rest of eternity with a burning desire for a connection with God and His goodness, but they will not be able to get it. This is spiritual death, the result of sin. (Romans 6:20-23.) That is the worst thing that could happen to you! That is why sin is such a huge enemy.
But here and now, while we live on this earth, we can choose to fight against sin. To beat Satan every time we are tempted. We have a great opportunity here, so let’s not turn from God because we are fooled by Satan and by sin. Instead we can have the same cry in our heart that Jesus had: “Here I am, to do your will, O God.” (Hebrews 10:7, GNB.) Then we do His will, and we get more and more of eternal life in us. There is no doubt that each temptation will be a victory when God is on our side. He has all power in heaven and on earth, and He can give us everything we need to overcome the enemy. And then we show with our lives that only God’s way is right and perfect. And the blessing that we get for faithfully fighting for Him is far more than we could ever think.