Fought, Finished, Faithed

By Shirley Mitchell Every Tuesday, we get our verse of the week to meditate and memorize. I want to encourage you to keep trying to focus on just one verse for the week. If you stay determined, the Word will take root in your heart. If you have failed with some of the previous verses, don’t get discouraged and quit, but continue to press on. This spiritual discipline is worth pressing through our failure! So free yourself of guilt and let’s go!  “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7   The Book of 2 Timothy is Paul’s final letter to his disciple Timothy just before his death. He exhorted Timothy, warned him of others who will turn away from the Gospel, and charged him to preach the Word and to fulfill his ministry regardless of what others choose to do. Paul knew his time on this side of heaven was nearing the end. He knew these may be his final words. Faced with his final days, he reflected on his life. Did he live right? Could he say that he had done with his life all that he should and all that God wanted him to do? Yes, he had. By studying some of Paul’s final words of examination of his life in the Greek, we see the deep meaning of his final thoughts. He had fought the good fight. He had “agonizomai kalos agon.” Agonizomai means “to enter a contest, to contend in the gymnastics games; to contend with adversaries, to contend with struggles, difficulties, and dangers; to endeavour with strenuous zeal, to strive to obtain something.” Kalos means “beautiful, handsome, excellent, choice, surpassing, precious, useful, admirable, honourable.” Agon means “an assembly, especially an assembly met to see games, assembly of Greeks at their national games.” Paul had contended with adversaries who had beaten him and tried to silence him. He had struggled through difficulties and faced many dangers. Imagine all of heaven assembling to watch Paul contend as an Olympian contends in the national games. He knew he had set an example for others in his Christian walk and ministry that was beautiful, precious, and worthy of admiration. He had finished the race.  He had “teleo dromos.” From the word teleo, we see that he was bringing to a close, finishing, ending, completing, and fulfilling all that God had ordained for him. The Greek word dromos means “the course of life, or course of office.” It is related to a word that denotes to incur extreme peril, which requires the exertion of all one’s effort to overcome. Paul didn’t walk in a one mile fun race. He had run through the marathon of life and encountered extreme peril. It took all of his effort, and he strained himself to overcome all that tried to get him to stop running in that race. But he never stopped running and dropped out of the race. What kept him running when so much was against him? His next sentence holds the answer. Paul kept the faith. Paul believed God. What simple words to say, but how hard it is for us to truly live. Paul believed that God was worth whatever he had to endure. Paul believed God would bring him victory no matter how much his circumstances screamed that doom and failure would prevail. His firm conviction and unwavering resolution that his God would prove true enabled him to fight against impossible odds and keep running when all his senses said to stop and screamed that it was over. He believed God. He guarded his faith and never gave up on God. Wow! I’m not sure if I can say with all conviction at the end of my life, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” But I want to put myself on the track of every day devotion and giving all of myself so that I can. Let’s be able to proclaim like Paul did at the end of his life that we have fought well, finished the race, and kept the faith. Carry this verse with you wherever you go this week – be it an index card or in your heart. Study it, pulverize it, and memorize it! Memorization Reminders: Please join me in memorizing these verses and implanting God’s thoughts into our minds. I’m expecting for God to radically change our lives if we do this. Redeem your time to make room for memorizing God’s Word. Take this verse with you wherever you go. Meditate on it, and pulverize it. We are blessed to live in a time where we can have the Bible at our fingertips even through the internet or an actual Bible in our hands. Yet, this blessing can become a curse if we do not treat the Bible with such honor to savor every word of it as those through the centuries who have longed to have His Word so much. They had to memorize every Scripture they had ever been given because their own copy of the Scripture was not possible. Most of us probably don’t memorize Scripture because we think that we do not have the time. However, our minds have a lot of wasted space that can be given to God. We have to redeem the time. For women, we can use the time while putting on our make-up or blow drying our hair. For men, use the time while shaving. For both genders, we can use the time while we shower, stop at red lights, do the laundry, wash the dishes, and mow the lawn. Let’s face it:  our minds are thinking about something during this time. Instead of being focused on our obsessions, worries, cares, to-do’s, and problems, give this time to God. Take your verse(s) with you wherever you go. You can type your verse out and put it on beautiful sheets of your choice. You can write it out on index cards. Many people prefer index cards spiral bound to keep them together. For iphone users, I’m sure there is an app. You can write it on your iphone notepad or record your voice speaking it and replay it throughout the day. Now that we have the verse and we have found the time, let’s focus on the method. We don’t just memorize it by saying it over and over; we meditate on it. We spend time thinking about what each word means and what it doesn’t mean.  Then one of my favorite techniques as taught by Waylon Moore is to pulverize the verse. Say the verse over and over each time focusing on a different word in the verse to emphasize. For example, say 2 Timothy 4:7 (today’s verse) aloud and say with more umph the underlined and bolded word: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7 Repeat this process until each word in the verse has been emphasized. After meditating and pulverizing the verse continuously for a week, the seed planted in our hearts will begin to germinate. You and I will no longer be merely short-term memorizing, but the Word will dwell within us. When God’s Word dwells within us, something miraculous happens. Our minds are renewed and transformed into the mind of Christ. We worry and fret less. We are armed for the attacks of the enemy. Our lips will be full of praise for our God. My friend, I’m ready for that kind of transformation!

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