The Best Prepared and Trained Fighter!

Years ago, I really followed boxing, you know the 'good ol days' of Ali-Holmes, Ali-Norton, Ali-Spinks, Hagler-Leonard, Leonard-Hearns, Hagler-Hearns, Hearns-Duran, Duran-Hagler, Leonard-Duran, Arguello-Pryor, Benitez-Leonard and a host of other fighters and great fights.  I was always filled with awe at the capacity of punishment the human body could endure as the boxers attempted to outpunch and/or knockout their opponents.  Round after round, punch after punch, clenching, ducking, or dancing - each boxer is either in pursuit or retreat, avoiding, or landing punches. Their main goal is to win each round.  

Doesn't that sound like life?

We experience adversities and challenges all of which our body, mind and spirit somehow resiliently absorbs.  Yet, like boxers each of us have varying life skills and levels of tolerance and endurance so each punch (adversity or challenge) affects us differently. Life similar to boxing is about preparation and training, the best boxer doesn't always win the fight; more often it is the best prepared and trained boxer who wins. Those of us familiar with boxing know Marvelous Marvin Hagler should have beat my man Sugar Ray Leonard in 1987. Leonard had never boxed in the middleweight class and that was only his second fight since his 1982 retirement. But Sugar Ray won. 

On that night he was the best prepared and trained fighter!

Everyday we face an adversary, an opponent whose mission every minute of the day is to knock us out. Knowingly or unknowingly we are engaged in a fight, punches are being thrown to weaken us:  to weaken our commitment to Jesus Christ - to weaken our character - to weaken our God-consciousness - to weaken our resolve to living a life debt and drama free.  I Peter 5:8 reveals our enemy and our need to train and prepare:

Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary 

the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour (knockout).

Like Sugar Ray, you and I can beat our opponent. Sugar Ray knew he wouldn't win by fighting a purely physical fight, so he confused Hagler with boxing techniques and with physicality. Neither can we outwit the devil in physical warfare, we must confound it and use spiritual warfare such as: prayer, fasting, solitude, study of scripture, receiving communion, etc. Only through spiritual means are we guaranteed victory in both the physical and spiritual realm. When we use spiritual warfare, we can outpunch, outlast and knockout the attempts of the devil to devour our mind, body and spirit.

As we discipline ourselves through prayer, fasting, solitude, study of scripture, receiving communion, etc. both we and our enemy will discover that while we may not be the best spiritual fighters: 

 At any give time we too can be the best trained and prepared spiritual fighters!  

-- 

Much Love,

Marcus J. Singleton
Lead Pastor
Living Faith Community

Hoover, AL

Our Vision: "A diverse community of faith; inspired by the love of Jesus, committed to becoming and making disciples".