Today’s post is from a good friend of our family, Adam Pope. He’s a talented writer and singer. You can check out his webpage here for more information. http://www.adampopemusic.com

I’m honored to have him share today on the blog. I hope his words are a blessing to you as you seek to fight for the right things this Christmas. 🙂

Guest Post by Adam Pope

I recently watched Creed II. I’m a big fan of the Rocky movies and “Creed” is a great spinoff from that series. The boxing scenes are metaphors for life; at least I see them that way in my head. I often fight back emotion while watching as I imagine myself in the boxing ring of life struggling, fighting, and overcoming every daily challenge I face. It plays out like this in my mind–

I wake up ready to take on the world. I fight traffic to get to work. I fight the weather. I fight to keep work (I’m self employed) so I can keep my bills paid. I fight self-doubt. I fight for my dreams. I look at the news and see people fighting for their lives. I fight back tears. I fight anger. I fight worry. I fight frustration.

I fight giving up. 

I would fight for freedom. I’m so busy fighting for these things I believe in that I have to pause, re-prioritize, and then fight for my marriage.

I fight with my wife… over nothing. I fight my son… for the last brownie. My baby girl fights sleep. My wife fights her to go to sleep. I sleep through all that. Now my wife and I are fighting again!

I’m a fighter. You’re a fighter too, whether you see yourself that way or not. We all must naturally fight to live this life. That’s why Paul wrote this verse in a letter to the church of Ephesus.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  Ephesians 6:12 

Our true fight is spiritual. Only God can help us fight that battle! He gave us perfect instructions on how to do so in the next verses.

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”  Ephesians 6:13-17

If we’re not fighting for time with Him, time in His word, and fighting to put on the armor of God, then we are fighting in vain and we will fail in every battle.

God can help us when we surrender to Him. We must throw in the towel of fighting our own battles our own way. We were born in the ring of life and punches will be thrown at us until the day we die. Now it’s up to us to put on the gloves (aka, the armor of God) and go to work to win with His word and His strength.

If that’s not motivating I don’t know what is!

I’m going to try to fight for the right things with the right tools this Christmas season and beyond.

What are you fighting for?