Many years ago I received a phone call inviting me to come conduct Bible studies for a Filipino fighter named Manny Pacquiao. He was scheduled to fight Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas last November at the MGM Grand Hotel.
Pacquiao is an 8-time world champion as well as a Congressman in the Philippines. He is a national hero as well as an international celebrity.
Flying in a few days before the fight, I met with him and his team over a two day period and opened God’s Word. The theme? “The Good Fight of Faith” – a pretty easy set-up.
This message for him was easy to grasp. He had an opponent he would face – an “enemy” that would have schemes and tactics designed to defeat him. This is as clear a picture as there is of the Christian life – a fight.
Somehow as Christians, we forget that we are in a battle.
The fight is over the minds and hearts of humanity. The battle is raging in our hearts as well. We have an enemy that is fierce and relentless. We can never let our guard down –not even for a moment.
If we try to deny the warfare or pretend there is no struggle we invite certain defeat.
You see, we can plant churches and conduct ministry and do a lot of things in God’s name and end up losing our own faith. We must be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might if we have any chance to prevail.
How can we do this against such an accomplished and ruthless opponent?
Now more than ever we need to get back to basics:
Read the Bible daily, pray, walk in close fellowship with other Believers who are fighting the fight as well.
It’s those simple principles that will give us the edge in our struggle.
Sometimes like the fight Manny Pacquiao fought, the margin between victory and defeat is razor thin. No matter how many mistakes we make or shots we take from the Enemy, God’s Spirit will help us prevail if we look to Him.
I got to sit ringside and witness the titanic struggle between these two champions. Pacquiao won the fight and instantly gave God the glory for helping him prevail – acknowledging that without Him he could not have won. Being somewhat of an insider I knew he meant every word. If we are to prevail, we must have that same attitude as well.
