Jude 1:3 commands us to "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (emphasis added). Quite frankly, there are certain things that we need to just adhere to and fight for with deep passion and conviction—the national border issues, as we discussed in chapter 4.

Servant of God, well done, well hast thou fought the better fight, who single hast maintained against revolted multitudes the cause of truth, in word mightier than they in arms.

You cannot know what prayer is for, until you know that life is war.

We cannot know what prayer is for until we know that life is war.

A GOOD FIGHT It will help us fight for joy if we realize why Paul calls it a good fight. First, it is a good fight because the enemy of our joy is evil. The enemy is unbelief, and the satanic forces behind it, and the sins that come from it. When you set yourself to combat the forces that try to make you delight in yourself or your accomplishments or your possessions more than in God, you oppose a very evil enemy. Therefore it is a good fight.

The fight for joy is the fight to see and believe Christ as more to be desired than the promises of sin.

Let us then take heart that the mark of a true follower of Jesus is not yet perfection but rather unrelenting battle against sin.

Truth is eternal, and conflict with error will only make manifest its strength....

Have Seventh-day Adventists forgotten the warning given in the sixth chapter of Ephesians? We are engaged in a warfare against the hosts of darkness. Unless we follow our Leader closely, Satan will obtain the victory over us.

I definitely don't ever plan on compromising, and if that means I'm rebellious, then so be it. I'm all for it.

When I get to Heaven, I'll want to fight.

We seem to have a strange idea of Christian service. We will buy books, travel miles to hear a speaker on blessings, pay large sums to hear a group singing the latest Christian songs--but we forget that we are soldiers.