The streets will be quiet, some stores may even be close, and the crime rate go way down and the Filipino people will be united again. Is that possible? Yes. Every time Manny Pacquaio steps on the ring! I’m very sure most Filipinos will be glued again to their television or radio today – just to watch and hear the fight of Pacman against Cotto. He’s fight is always a must-see because of the excitement, the skill and the pride that he brings into the boxing ring for the Filipino people. Both said in an interview that they had never trained like how they trained for this fight. And all the months of training, the hours of preparation, and the amount of discipline and determination to win will be decided today.

…to be strong in the Lord is to surrender and fully submit our heart, mind and will to Him…

But do we ever spend the same energy, having the same enthusiasm, the same discipline and determination to our spiritual life? As you know, we are also in a “ring.” It’s a different kind of a “ring” – it’s the “ring of life” wherein we do battle, we do struggle – not with flesh and blood, but with the spiritual forces in heavenly realms. And this ring we are in isn’t once or twice a year fight– but it is everyday! Here is the real picture of life. Many believers seem to live as if there were no spiritual battles at all. They see Christianity not as an entrance into warfare but as an exit from it. But we are called, in the Christian life, to a battle, not to a life of ease; to a battle, to a warfare, to a wrestle, to a struggle.

Beloved, life is not a playground, but a battleground. When one becomes a Christian it doesn’t mean that the battle is over, no, we just change sides! Oh we wish we would have vacation from that, that we would have a very long break from life’s battles, that we could declare a ceasefire – but no, not in this life. Every time I go out of town for a short break, yes, it’s a break from my duties and responsibilities here, but it’s no break from the temptations and seductions of the world, the flesh and the Devil. I cannot put my guard down. I need to be in constant look out in prayer of the fiery darts that the enemy throws at me and to my family.

So what is the Bible’s command? “Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power (Eph.6:1).” The good news is it is not our strength that equips us to stand, it is God’s strength invested in us when we submit to God. To be strong in the Lord is to surrender and fully submit our heart, mind and will to Him. We stand in the power of His might! Our strength is not in ourselves. Our strength is in Him. Paul said, when I am weak, then I am strong. For His strength is made perfect in my weakness.

So be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power!” This phrase could be very loosely translated, “In the grip of His hand.” We don’t have a hold on God. He has a hold on us. In John 10:29John 10:29
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.  

WP-Bible plugin, Jesus said, “ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” Beloved, as we fight the battles of life, yield to Him by faith, and as we surrender our will to Him and submit our heart to Him, this is the assurance, whatever happens, HE WILL NEVER LET YOU GO! We have a love that never lets us go…and a love that fights for you!