Battles call to you everyday. To fight for that. To fight for this. To fight for fun. To fight for kicks. God has one battle to fight: the battle for your soul. He fights the devil for you, to win you and keep you. He fights the war for you, to save you and bring you into New Heaven. 

God fought for you. 🥰

“For the Lord your God is He who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’” Deuteronomy 20:4

If you want a battle to fight, fight for the gospel of Jesus. Fight for the Kingdom of God. Fight for truth. Don’t fight with the one you love. Jesus does not fight with the one He loves. He loves you. He saves you. He wants you. He wants to ransom you. He wants to rescue you and treasure you forever. His love is zealous.

You don’t have to fight for His love. You already have it. You always will have His love.

Jesus’ love triumphs over everything.

You don’t have to fight an enemy that seeks to defeat you. God is your defender. His Holy Spirit is in you. Your Spirit fights for you. Your faith fights for you. Your love fights for you. You cannot be defeated when Jesus empowers you. Don’t fight. Love God. When you love God, He fights on your behalf. Exalt Him as King and lead with love.

Lay down your sword and take up your love. 

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬ ‭

Life revolves around love.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ ‭

God fought for love. He fights for you to receive His love!

God accomplished eternal life for His creation through love. Not through warfare tactics. Not through strategizing an attack against the people. Not through raising His voice for justice. Not through fighting earthly rulers. He did it through dying for the sins of mankind and being raised to life.

Love liberates the world.

Jesus did not fight against His people. Jesus fought for His people, prevailing over the devil, to give His people victory over sin and death. 

God fights for love. He redeems His Beloved.

Jesus does not fight with His Beloved. He defends His Beloved. He protects His Beloved. Jesus’ Beloved is defined as the people of God, made holy by Him to dwell with Him as one forever.

In John 11, Mary, whom Jesus loves, runs to Jesus, upset after he does not show up to heal her brother. Her confusion prompts disappointment and she discloses these feelings to Jesus, unfiltered. But he does not fight with her.

We see the pure love of Jesus in this story and how He wins battles through love.

“Now the Jews had been in the house comforting Mary. They saw her get up and hurry out. They followed her and said, “She is going to the grave to cry there.” Mary went to the place where Jesus was. When she saw Him, she got down at His feet. She said to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus saw her crying. The Jews who came with her were crying also. His heart was very sad and He was troubled. “ John 11:31-33

“Lord if you had been here!” mary exclaims.

I love Mary’s transparency with Jesus. This kind of transparency comes with intimate fellowship. Mary spent time with Jesus and learned more about Jesus with every encounter. It gave her confidence to speak her mind to him. Love speaks candidly. No fear. No holding back. Love says what the mind thinks. Love knows the other can receive the weight of it. Friendships flourish with open communication and respect of one another’s thoughts.

Jesus does not fight with Mary when she brings confusion and frustration to Him.

Jesus weeps because of how she feels. He lets her have this moment of expressing herself.

“He said, “Where did you lay Lazarus?” They said, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus cried.” John 11:34-35

Jesus cares about what we think and feel. He honors our thoughts and feelings. He honors His own emotions too. Then He does what He planned to do, without reprimand of anyone.

Jesus understands the dynamics of human emotion at play in everything He does, and He takes time to acknowledge it heathily.

Jesus heals Lazarus after Mary expresses her confusion and frustration. He does not bypass her to get to Lazarus. He needs to raise Mary from the dead too. From the dead of a suppressed heart. From the dead of a neglected heart. From the death of not being able to say what she thinks. Now, she speaks up because she is at the end of her fears and nothing holds her back from disclosing everything.

When you come to the end of yourself, you find the essence of yourself. Your true self. Your free self. Your ransomed self, bought by Jesus and made eternal forever.

Many who saw what Jesus did for Mary and for Lazarus, by raising him from the dead, put their trust in Him because they knew He was the real deal.

“Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus had done put their trust in Him.” John 11:45

Mary encounters Jesus in her real feelings and it makes the others feel like they can experience Jesus with their real feelings too. So they put their trust in Him. People want to trust someone, and they want to trust someone whom they feel connects with their real self.

Put your trust in Jesus. The One who is trustworthy. The who knows you for who you are. His love is freedom.

I want to be free.

I don’t want to be what the world says I should be.

I want to be what God already said I am, and I live from that identity.

Our identities find meaning in Jesus.

Our God is a fighter so you are a fighter. But we must know what is worth fighting for so we do not waste our mission and efforts fighting for what does not produce fruit for the kingdom of God. Learning from Jesus and what He fights for in His ministry on earth shows us what to fight for also. Fight for souls to come alive. Our purpose revolves around eternal life yet to come. Live for that higher purpose.

Fight for what lasts into eternity.

Souls being saved for eternal redemption with Jesus is worth fighting for.

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬

Jesus wants enriching relationship with you, not based in strife, but anchored in mutual delight. Savor eternal life and live for eternal life with Jesus. He is present in every moment of your day and He wants to be loved by you… give Jesus the gift of loving Him. ♥️