Holy Fighters

I was listening to Obama talk today and he was mentioning that he wanted everyone everywhere to have the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Now we have all heard or read those words many a times before and have cheered for them I am sure. We are so proud of our country and what it stands for. But it got me to thinking...is it that very pursuit of happiness that has ruined the world? I think it should be life, liberty, and the pursuit of HOLINESS! We should be striving to see how many ways we can be used by God and find out what He wants to do through us. We Belong to God and need to live our lives as completely sold out to him and set apart for Him. It is not about what we want but what He has willed for the benefit of all and most importantly for His glory. What do you pursue more? your happiness or your holiness?

Also it made me think about liberty. It is great, don't get me wrong. I love many of the freedoms I have and feel blessed by many of them. But it can be a slippery slope. You must be careful with liberty. I mean think of our country where we are one of the "free-est" places to be and look at the sedentary life of so many christians, the lack of passion ans fervor, the decline of christianity, etc. Then look at other places in which christianity is banned and look at how strong the believers are there and what they are getting accomplished and how explosive the growth rate is there and how alive the people feel. It makes me wonder if the existence of liberty creates weakness? When you don't have to fight for something, do you still fight? When you feel no threat, you tend to relax and get comfortable. But no matter how free you may be or feel, don't you think we should always be fighting and running hard after what you believe? Now I am not necessarily talking about physical fighting. I am talking more about the other aspects of fighting. In the dictionary these are also listed

the ability, will, or inclination to fight: There was no fight left in him.

to contend in any manner; strive vigorously for or against something: He fought bravely against despair.

Now, unfortunately I think most of us do a horrible job at this. As Christians we should be fighting every day. This life is a fight. The bible even tells us to put on the full armor of God. We are the Lord's army. We need to always be prepared to defend ourselves and our God as well as provide for and protect his people and promote His name. We should be fighting for our marriages, for our families, and for our friendships. Not just for the people themselves but for the actual things that would be responsible for making them what they should be. For the concepts of love, peace, grace, mercy, truth, honor, repentance, forgiveness, etc. Good marriages, families and friendships don't just happen. They are fought for. They are daily prayed over and worked hard on. Defensive barriers are put in place to protect them and people are there to combat when the walls are shaken by any who try to come a destroy them. As Warren Barfield puts it "Love is not a fight, but it's worth fighting for". The same goes for your faith. You must fight to keep your mind and heart pure and focused and on doing your best to do what we are called to do here on earth- worship Him and bring him Glory. ARE YOU A FIGHTER? Or are you lazing around in your "freedoms" and end up caught unprepared and eventually letting other ideals overcome you?

We should make sure not to let the freedom we have in Christ and in this country to turn us into lazy, un-passionate, un-propelled, easily manipulated people. Do you feel you only come alive when attacks, hardships, and unfortune come your way? Or only when something spectacular happens or might happen? If so, do you know why?

Doesn't it feel good to have something to fight for and to fight for it? Doesn't it feel good to know that God has set you apart for something special- that he has called you to be His?