tag-team faith

I am a child of the 80’s. I grew up in the era of the original scrunchies and fanny packs. My bangs, with the help of Aqua Net, could be moved in their entirety by just grabbing one tiny strand of hair. We had Bop Magazine, which enabled my full blow crushes on Ralph Macchio, Ricky Schroder, and Michael Jackson with posters we could remove and place on our walls. It was also the era of WWF–World Wrestling Federation–where superstars like Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, and Andre’ the Giant took to the ring to show off their theatrics. It was a glorious decade!

One of my favorite memories of WWF was a segment they called “tag-team wrestling.” A team of two would tag one another into the ring when they were too tired to keep fighting. The only thing they had to do was reach their partner’s hand and in would fly the teammate, full of energy, refreshed, and ready to pummel the enemy.

You can see where I am going with this, right?

It amazes me that our BIG GOD, who created Heaven and Earth, measures the universe in the span of His hand, and knows every detail of my life, down to how many hairs are upon my head… has chosen to partner up with you and me!

But isn’t it sad if we never tag in the Superpower we have standing next to the ring of our life so He can go to battle for us?

He is ready! He is waiting! He is longing to fight for us.

 

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So why do we insist on fighting our battles alone? Why do we have a proclivity inside of us to bear the weight of the world upon our shoulders?

Maybe we feel we deserve to take a beating because we got ourselves into this mess. Or maybe we feel we don’t deserve His help at all.

It might be because we want the satisfaction of saying, “I did it!” or possibly because we have never seen or experienced God as our defender.

Whatever the reasons, and I am sure there are plenty more, we must break this cycle.

Why? Because we have a real enemy who has real power, and left alone, we won’t withstand him. One of his greatest tactics to destroy our peace and purpose is to isolate us, from others and Jesus.

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 (NLT)

But we must remember our God has already defeated the devil!

No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. Romans 8:37 (NLT)

If you are ready to tag out and let God fight your battles, here are two things you must do:

1. ADMIT YOU NEED HELP

Our position of humility unleashes God’s power and ability to flow freely in our lives.

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. James 4:6 (NKJV)

Humility is simply when we take our eyes off of ourselves and we put them on Jesus. And one of the greatest ways we can do this is through prayer and fasting. His grace is the key ingredient for our victory. There is no way around it. So get low and stay low sister!

2. REACH OUT AND TOUCH HIM

Just like the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5 reached out and touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, so must we. Yes, she touched it with her hand, but so were a bunch of other people. What caused Jesus to tag into the fight for her health was when she touched Him with faith! Read it for yourself!

And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” Mark 5:34 (NKJV)

Her confidence that Jesus could make her well was what activated the power and virtue of Jesus to flow from Him to her. And it is no different for us.

But for many of us, this is where we struggle. We aren’t convinced Jesus can heal us, free us, deliver us, or provide for us. We NEED God’s word to do the convincing. When we digest His Word by prayerfully reading it and inviting it to come alive in us, the Word will do the heavy lifting! It will build our faith, it will grow our faith, and it will activate our faith. It is simply impossible to develop great faith apart from knowing the living and active word of God.

So let’s get out of the ring and get out of the way. God has determined to partner with us, but we must make up our minds to partner with Him.

Sabrina Schlesinger

Sabrina is a mother to three biological girls and one adopted boy. She is a pastor’s wife, graphic designer, and founder of Mom Mentor. Along with her husband, Matthew, they pastor Grace Church in Oceanside, CA and host the Parenting on the Go Podcast! She resides in beautiful San Diego where the sun shines every day. She prefers chai lattes over coffee, mac-n-cheese over vegetables, and staying in over going out. Check her out on Instagram and Facebook!