Fighting to Win - pt. 1

Okay, I'm a girl and not into boxing (some girls are, but not me).  But the truth is, we all have battles in our life that need to be fought and today, Pastor David (PD) started a new series in church titled "Fighting to Win".  It is based out of Ephesians 6:10-20, and he invited competitive boxer and trainer Ron Casper to come and share with us some basic instruction about what it takes to win in the ring.  PD then took that natural application to a whole other level in our spiritual lives.  Here's an outline of what I learned today.  Yes, even a girl can learn from boxing analogies!  :)

Your FOUNDATION is key.  Your stance needs to remain balanced, centered, positioned to move easily in whatever direction you need to go in.  If your weight is off-center, you are easily pushed off balance.  This effects how you hit your opponent as strength comes from a stable foundation.  There are three areas where we fight:
1.  The world (the negative cultural elements that pressures us in our daily lives)
2.  The flesh (me, myself, and I.  I need to take responsibility for my  stuff, my screw-ups, my sin)
3.  The devil (yep, he's real, and you can't let your guard down - stay connected to God.  Fear is
 not God and often the devil uses fear to shake our foundation (1Peter 5:8).  Recognize that and believe God - don't fear!.)

Philippians 6:10 says God wants us to be STRONG in the Lord and His mighty power, not powerless and knocked over!  If I'm strong with His strength, then I'm not going to lose!  This doesn't mean there's no battle though.

In boxing you have to understand that there is an opponent, you will get punched, and you are in the ring to win.  Can we not apply the same attitude?

God has given you all the tools you need to win.

James 4:7  Allow God to teach you (He's the best trainer you can have)

Here are some weapons we have at our disposal, illustrated by 4 kinds of boxing punches:

#1  THE JAB.  In boxing, the jab is used to feel out the opponent.  Without the jab, you've got nothing.  You have to be able to read your opponent and jabbing helps you to do that.  It sets the stage for the power punch! 

Spiritually, our jab is PRAYER.  We go through our day, praying, feeling things out.  At times a weak spot will be revealed where we can send a power punch to defeat the enemy, but we don't know where that is unless we first jab at it with prayer.  Prayer positions us for the power punch!

#2 THE CROSS.  While our "left hand" is jabbing, our right hand is waiting at the chin for an opportunity.  When it's time, the punch is thrown, not from the arm, but from the strength of the foundation.  The power comes up from the hip through to the fist.

FAITH is our foundation.  Without it, we are simply hoping to land a punch.  Faith puts action to what we are hoping for, stretching out to hit its target.  The cross is a calculated punch.  You search out when to land it instead of just flailing at the problem.  It's strategic, it hits its mark.  WORSHIP is a calculated punch.  It's in the words we use and speak into a situation, it's thanksgiving.  When the enemy is messing with us, we keep in prayer, and then Wham! we let go with worship and the full weight of who God is comes into the situation.  We've brought God right into the ring!  It's a choice, it's calculated, it's strategic.  You set yourself to worship!

#3  The HOOK.  This punch can come from either the right or left and it also uses our foundation to bring the power behind it.  When the enemy is throwing a power hit at you, that's when you go for the jab.  Your arm goes with the body, follows the body.  You could hit with just the power of the arm, but there's not real strength in it like if you use the whole body.

Our "hook" is the WORD.  When you are getting hit by the enemy, bring your right and left hook out!  Take your faith stance (we need that solid foundation -God doesn't change!) and speak the word into that situation! [and when the whole body is involved, we're not flying solo, our hook is that much more effective].

#4  THE UPPERCUT.  This is exciting!  This punch can be thrown at the body or the face, and the fighter is always looking for a hole, an opening the opponent has left - an opportunity - and this punishing blow is thrown.

WISDOM is our uppercut punch!  There is such power in Godly wisdom!  It sows good seed into our life.  Do you like what you're reaping in life?  Then look at what seed needs to be sown to get the good harvest.  Wisdom knows the power of words, and it reaches beyond hope into faith with works.  But you need to know what seeds need to be sown.  We can't always figure things out on our own, but God's wisdom can come in and show us exactly what needs to happen, exactly what direction to thrown the punch, and it's a game-changer. 

PD ended with a challenge from Ephesians 4:27, to not give the devil any foothold in our lives, but to confront head on our faulty disciplines (such as anger) and to trust our Coach (God) who spurs us past our limited capacity into His winning capacity.  Go God!

A big thank you to Ron for coming out, and his bride Erica, for sharing from his gifts and talents, bringing a very real spiritual application alive for us.  Next week, two-time world champion Muay Tai fighter Mel Menor will be with us to bring more powerful illustrations about what it takes to win in the fight.  If you're in the midst of a battle, these messages are all about preparing you to win.  Bring a friend and perhaps I'll see you there!

p.s. the messages will be on-line at http://www.c3mb.com/ if you want to listen - FREE - and keep watch for a possible video of Ron's demonstrations on display.

Keep fighting to win!

Mountains out of Molehills

There's a long hill next to my house.  It's a hill I've been familiar with for years, and now I live at the crest of it.  I have a history with this hill.  For years I've driven past it, driven up and down it, and all the while it's taunted me.  Seriously.  It has looked me boldly in the eye, causing me to look away.  See, I had this thought that the hill was too long to walk.  When you get around one corner, there's another.  It would be hard, I wouldn't make it.  I'd probably have to stop part of the way up.  So I never tried.

I moved to my home at the end of February, perched at the top of my nemesis, and felt challenged in my heart to walk that hill.  To conquer it.  Nearly 6 months later I hadn't tried.  Until today.

Can I just say, No.big.deal.  I mean, I had really worked myself up to believe how it would be.  And it wasn't.  It took maybe 15 minutes.  Down.Up.Done.  This is important to me because my bigger goal is a 3 mile loop which includes this hill, and I had to get past the hill to begin walking the loop.  This is what I learned:

Never listen to the voice that says "you can't".  It's always lying.  No matter what our hill is, we can't allow intimidation to stop us from trying the things that are in our hearts to do (obviously within God's grace).

When you launch out, don't think about the hill.  Focus elsewhere. A note here:  focusing on the finish line doesn't work for me.  I'm the type who see's the whole course when I focus on the finish line - I can't separate the two.  So, I focus elsewehre.  I put a fantastic message on my ipod and listened as I walked.  I was encouraged in my spirit, thinking on the good things being said, and paid no attention to the hill I was walking.  "Think on good things" can help propel you past your obstacles! (music doesn't work for me either, but it might for you.  I'm a thinker, and thinking upward is a positive and encouraging way to move forward for me).

The battle to guard our thinking is constant.  Today, maybe you can take a look at that area you've been avoiding because it seems too difficult.  And just possibly you'll lace up your tennis shoes and go for a walk.  It will be just the beginning!