Dwight Fletcher | No retreat!

Victory in 2024 will require a fighting attitude. As Christians, we lose when we compromise, and we are in fact abandoning Christ and bowing down to another religion or submitting to a secular and humanistic belief system. The people of God in the time of Malachi were compromising, which led them to worship at the altar of the world.

“ What’s the use of doing what He says or of trying to show the Lord Almighty that we are sorry for what we have done? 15. As we see it, proud people are the ones who are happy. Evil people not only prosper, but they test God’s patience with their evil deeds and get away with it.’” Malachi 3:14-15 GNT.

They started to call good evil and evil good, and God wasn’t pleased. It was an insult to God who had freed them from slavery, fought for them, and established them in the land. The problems they were facing were their own doing. They had compromised their worship and dedication to God and were experiencing the repercussions.

Some of us are compromising. We’re ‘part-time’ Christians. Sometimes, the hardships we are enduring are the product of our own decisions. When that’s the case, we need to change our posture and stay in the fight. “Quitters never win, and winners never quit!” God will give us victory if we believe His Word and don’t give up.

Our job, as believers, is to usher the Kingdom of God into our lives and spheres of influence but, as we do that, there will be spiritual conflict and violence. Jesus said, “ The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force …” (Matthew 11:12b). If the kingdom of heaven is to be established in our lives and around us, then we must sometimes use violent spiritual force. Remember, “… the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds …” 2 Corinthians 10:4 NKJV.

Now is the time for us to believe God and trust His Word more than ever and fight the good fight of faith. These are the times when we must stand our ground, even if it looks like we’re going down for the count. Don’t quit! Everything the Lord has for us requires a fight. The Lord gave the children of Israel the Promised Land but they had to fight for it. There are many promises God has given to us in His Word, but we must fight for them. We’re instructed in James 4:7 NIV to “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

We mustn’t fight as ‘lone rangers’, because the enemy will defeat us. God is looking for a remnant group of believers who will join and stand for what’s true and godly. “ Then the people who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard what they said. In His presence, there was written down in a book a record of those who feared the Lord and respected Him.” Malachi 3:16.

The people who fear the Lord stick together. There’s strength when we’re together. God’s eye is on those whose eyes are on Him and are staying the course. We must be in one accord, band together and sharpen each other. When we do this, we get God’s attention. He comes in our midst and listens to our conversation. “ The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, he will forsake you.” 2 Chronicles 15:2 NIV.