Lesson 24: Enduring in battle
2 Timothy 2:1-6 - www.bible.com/bible/59/2ti.2

1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,
2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

When we accept Jesus as our Savior and He makes us a child of God, we enter into a battle such as we’ve never known before. God’s greatest enemy, Satan, now becomes our enemy too and he’ll do everything he can to take us out of the battle.


As believers, while we live here on earth we are living in the enemy camp. Think about some of the details of a battle: Think of yourself being behind enemy lines, living in the very city which is your enemy’s headquarters. That’s where we are as believers in Jesus – living in the enemy’s stronghold. Our job in the enemy’s camp is not to make a pleasant life for ourselves. It is not to try to defeat the enemy (for he has already been defeated, he just hasn’t quit fighting yet – see John 16:33). Our purpose is to encourage as many others as possible who live in the enemy’s camp to come to our side. We cannot save them, but the General of our army – Jesus – can. We lead them to Jesus and let Jesus change them as they accept Him as their Lord and Savior. Then, together, we reenter the enemy camp to find others and encourage them to come to Jesus too.

Our life will be one of constant harassment by the enemy because he doesn’t want to lose any of his people. His desire to keep his people is not because he loves or cares for them; he just doesn’t want them going over to his opponent’s side with us! But we need never fear as we live and work in this enemy camp, for we KNOW we are on the side of right – the side of God who has already won the battle. The day will come when we stand with our Savior in His camp and enjoy rest from the battle forever!

But for now we live in the enemy camp, holy and sanctified, separate from our enemy’s people, working for our General’s purposes in bringing as many as we can to Him. For now we live in the enemy camp with the certain knowledge of being on the winning side.

*How does our enemy try to keep you from fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20)? With fear? Pride? Unconfessed sin? False guilt? Laziness? Wanting to fit in? Someone or something you put before God? Lack of prayer, or time in God’s Word? Something else? How can you be strengthened by the grace of Jesus so you can be a more effective soldier in His battle?