CONTEND

There is a word that has kept coming to me over the last few weeks. And it is the word CONTEND.

To contend is to do battle, to wrestle against someone, or to fight for something… to win a prize.

We talk about ‘the contenders’ in a TV show who battle it out to win a title or prize.
Contend. 

We see Jesus contending with Satan when he is in the wilderness. He fights off the temptations with what?  THE WORD.  “It is written…man shall not live by bread alone.”

 “It is written, … worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” 

“It is written… do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

He contended with the WORD.  And that is how we, his followers, his disciples are to contend with the assaults of the enemy.

Paul said that ‘The Word of God’ is “The sword of the Spirit.”  It is a weapon the Spirit uses to cut through the lies and deceptions that come against Godly living. But we have to learn the word, and we have to speak it, then the Spirit can release his power through it.

 

In Revelation ch.1 there is a description of Jesus as King and Ruler – and it says he has a two edged sword coming out of his MOUTH. This symbolises the power of his word to contend against the powers of darkness.

Declaring and praying his word is a crucial way we can contend against the power of evil and contend FOR the release of the Kingdom here where we are. Learn to use the Word in your prayer and daily life. Have that two-edged sword coming out of your mouth, like Jesus does. If you don’t know how to do that – spend time with people who do. Learn off them.

Everything Jesus did was contending against or contending FOR. His teaching, his training, when he healed, multiplied food and raised the dead… all this was part of the battle between the kingdom of darkness that seeks to steal, kill and destroy and the Kingdom of God that brings abundant life.

 

When Jesus went to the cross he went into his greatest battle on earth, and he won. He contended for our salvation, our freedom, for every heavenly blessing to be available to us. And he won the fight. But it didn’t look like it at first.

I became aware of something in the story of Gethsemane recently. Matt. 26:37-44

Jesus is being overwhelmed with sorrow and anguish. He is finding it unbearable. He thinks it will kill him... He has never had to bear this before.

He is not asking to be spared physical suffering… I believe he is being overwhelmed with the horror of bearing our sin and our grief and our anguish and terror and our deep sense of aloneness.

He is asking… “Is there another way, Father…”  But then he says “Not my will, but yours.”

This is a place of surrender to the way the Father wants redemption accomplished.

I think we have read and heard this as something passive. As if Jesus is now going to just passively let himself be tortured and killed. “Not my will, but yours Father.”

 

I was with some people recently and we were praying for each other and after praying for healing for someone, the man prayed, “But we accept your will, Father, whatever that is.”  And I thought “WHAT!”  You have asked for healing and now you throw up your hands and say ‘whatever’!!!  It felt like he gave up believing in healing and accepted that God’s will means we should just back down and let things take their course, and perhaps God would do something.

THIS IS NOT WHAT  ‘doing God’s will, not ours’ is about at all.

It is not just surrendering to the circumstances of life and hoping God will be kind enough to do something. It is actually the opposite.

Surrendering to the will of God is about stepping into the ring and going into battle to CONTEND for his will to be done in our life….

To CONTEND against our own sinful desires that lead us away from Him…

to CONTEND against poverty, sickness, injustice, and anything that comes against the way of love that Jesus walks in.

When Jesus surrendered to the Father’s will – he went into battle. He spoke peace and forgiveness and compassion and hope and truth all through that horrendous ordeal until the moment he died. Every evil done against him he turned it around for our good. He CONTENDED for the prize of bringing us to glory, of releasing Heaven on earth through his people’s prayers… and he won!

 

When Jesus instructed us to pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…”  he gave us a battle cry. He is saying ‘ call forth with your mouth – as Jesus did – all those blessings he fought on the cross for… all the riches of his grace – call them forth from heaven to earth.

Go into battle as I did for the rule of love to operate in your home, and your neighbourhood and your workplace and your city.

Be willing to sacrifice anything… be willing to say anything … be willing to do anything that will bring my life and my joy and my redemption to this earth.

Paul once said – “I want to become like him in his death…”  I think this means precisely that. Accepting the Father’s will to contend in any way the Father leads us - for his life to be released from heaven to earth.

 

I heard a pastor in the US say they are contending for a Cancer free zone in their city. We have people who would like us to contend for a cancer free zone here…  Will we hear The Father’s heart and take up the sword and contend for all that Jesus won on the cross to be released in our lives and our city?

 Will you make these words your battle cry?  “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, in my life – in our city - as it is in heaven.”

 

Prayer – Thank you Jesus for your willingness to go into battle for us. You bore it all so we could have “everything we need for life and godliness” – you released your Kingdom of love on earth.  We enter into agreement with you again this morning… your will is our will, your heart is our heart, your battle is our battle.  Your Kingdom come – your will be done… whatever it takes… in our lives – as it is in heaven.”