Are You Winning the Fight?

If I asked you if you were winning the fight? What would you say? When it comes to living the best life, there is really only one important fight you have to win. It’s not winning the financial lottery and having the security that money offers. It’s not the old adage, “He who has the most toys when he dies, wins!” It’s not living in a mansion or owning a beachside villa, though both would be nice. It is not related to anything outside of you, but often affects what is inside of you. And, it is never a physical fight though appearing that way at times. The most important fight you have to win is the one that goes on between your ears. Every human that ever lived had to contend in this fight. No one is exempt. The fight is referred to as the spiritual competition. It is the classic battle of good vs. evil that goes on in your mind every moment you are awake. And though you may assume the fight is only about choosing good or choosing bad, it encompasses much more than that. It is the fight between happy or sad. It is the fight between getting results or getting thwarted. It is the fight between living a blessed life or enduring a miserable one. The money, the possessions, the mansions or anything else outside of you don’t indicate if you are winning the fight. The indicator is how happy you are; how enthusiastic you are; how excited to be alive you are; how blessed you are; how thankful you are. These are the real indicators of whether or not you are winning the fight; the only fight that matters. Again, are you winning the fight?

Did you know that beside ever seeking to drag you into bad situations or circumstances, your personal adversary also works tirelessly to steal away your life from you? Those thought impulses running through your mind are not random nor happenstance. And, they are certainly not meaningless. Those thoughts you are engaging are the competition you find yourself in presently. Words and concepts and ideas are generating in your brain leading you in a certain direction. As they present themselves, you have a choice to make and no choice is also a choice. You can decide to go where they are leading you or choose another way. If you don’t make a choice, i.e. let it go, then there is nothing to challenge the notions being presented. But, as a thought generating human being, you can decide on another path; one leads you where you actually want to go. You begin to win the fight when more and more you corral your mind and make it go where you want to go instead of mindlessly going where it leads (where you don’t want to go). Outside things don’t really make you happy. You make you happy by what you do and do not do with your mind. It’s much more comprehensive than just making mistakes on occasion. The fight takes place every single day. It is a competition for your mind. If you aren’t consciously contending with that wieldy head of yours, I can guarantee you are not winning the fight. You just don’t realize that yet. Your blessedness inside comes from working on controlling your thinking and obeying, as it were. The real obedience to God isn’t found in just doing good. It is found when you obey what He clearly says to do with your mind. That’s a level of obedience that will lead you to your best life. That is winning the fight.

We foolishly conclude that the reason we suffer so much is because of negative circumstances and problems. However, this is not the case. Negative conditions do not make us negative, which by the way is the wrong path. We make ourselves negative by the thoughts we choose to embrace. We are confronted with negative things and then we have a choice to make. Will we continue down that well worn path or will we go in another direction? So much of what the Lord advises us to do involves letting go. Give it to God and let it go. Or if we feel bad for being sinful, accept Christ’s sacrifice for us and let it go. Or, if we just received a negative health report, pray to God about it and let it go. Why is it all about letting go? Because holding on to the negatives is the wrong path! Cleaving to the negatives just encourages more and more negatives until we become overrun, worn out, lacking energy and enthusiasm, tired all the time. In these moments or years perhaps, we are losing the fight. You begin to win the fight again only when you finally begin to take control of your mind. You are in the competition whether you choose to compete or not. You are in a fight. Fight for yourself and win the fight. Find something God says that opposes the negative and cleave to that instead. That is the right path and it will lead you to the victory you so ardently desire. Win the fight.

This life we are living waits for no one. Your allotment of years continues to decline. You ain’t getting any younger. No matter where you are on the journey, know this, you can win that fight that goes on in your mind day by day if you really want to do it. However many years you have already endured unhappy are incentive alone to find the right path. The happiness and excitement for life you once had are still there waiting for you. They are waiting for you to begin to control that unruly mind of yours. They are waiting for you to work with and not against yourself. It’s your one mind and it’s your one life to live here on earth. Why not learn how to win the fight? Are you winning the fight; the only fight that matters? I sure hope so my friend.

Just some good thoughts…