What is a Faith Fight, anyway?

The "Faith Fight" is a battle not of bullets and bombs but of thoughts and words.

This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.
1 Timothy 1:18, 19

The Greek word for prophecies used in the New Testament refers to divinely inspired declarations. They reveal the purpose of God and could take the form of an encouragement, an admonition, or could reveal wisdom; they may foretell the future, but the definition is not limited to that function. The point here is that Paul was talking about an earlier discourse or speech, and Timothy is being instructed to fight using those words and ideas.

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.
1 Timothy 4:1

Later on in the same letter, Paul told Timothy that the faith fight is lost by paying attention to
deceitful spirits and lying philosophies.

Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate.
1 Timothy 6:12, 13

Again, this time in Chapter 6, Paul urges Timothy to fight the good fight of faith. This time he gives an example of how Jesus fought the fight of faith with Pilate: with a testimony of good confession. If you want to look that up, it is in John 18:28-38, but the reason I am pointing it out here is that Faith comes by hearing the anointed word, but the fight is won by speaking the anointed word. "Anointed" means to be poured over and rubbed in, that is, in this context, you use words that are permeated with the Holy Spirit. Finding these words is not a mysterious secret. Scripture is Holy Ghost inspired, so any "whosoever" promise found in the Bible can be used in the fight, as can the promises made specifically to believers. The things God shows you during prayer time can be used in the fight of faith, although, these things must agree with established scripture because the adversary will tell you things while disguised as "an angel of light." cf 2 Corinthians 11:14.

The "Fight of Faith" is fought with words that have the Holy Spirit poured over then and rubbed into them; anointed words. If it was food instead of words, we'd call it marinated. To help explain, we can contrast the spiritual with the fleshly.

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:6-8

It is worth noting that this passage is not about being born again or salvation of the soul; it is about the mindset. There are many carnal Christians who do not have their minds renewed, and even those who have renewed minds in some areas are still works in progress in other areas. cf Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

During the engagement period, Gwen's mind was thinking in conformity with the world. We knew this by the way she was talking about material things—by her words. Practically all of her criticisms had to do with fleshly material things, and the mind set on the flesh is hostile to the will, the ways, and the word of God.

The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:4, 5

I've used a lot of scripture in this post, but it was essential to establish the Bible-based foundation. One's heart-attitude toward the Word of God means everything in the good fight of faith. We must cast aside our fleshly reasoning and our head knowledge and place ourselves in agreement with what God says. We must bring captive every thought of our own that opposes God. Those who falsely think God is in control will not resist the thoughts that the enemy brings; more often, they think that it is wise to consider all these possibilities. They allow their own reason to take the place of God's Word because acting on that Word of God does not appeal to their senses; they are uncomfortable with it and it feels like fanaticism to them. God's Word never fails, but human reasoning often does.

The Lesson
A faith fight is conducted via confession with words.
• Confessing anointed words in faith establishes "Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." (from the Lord's Prayer, cf Matthew 6:9-13)
• Confessing human reasoning that opposes God gives worldly results.
• Confessing fears can result in destruction. You become trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. cf Proverbs 6:2
Our confession affirms what we believe.