day no. 15,708: without were fightings, within were fears

2 Corinthians 7:5
For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears

Christians are engaged in combat everywhere they go and everywhere they look. While the wicked are afforded no rest in the face of righteousness (Is. 48:22), the righteous are offered no rest in the face of unrighteousness. From attacks that come from others to attacks that are inside jobs, from oppression from without to corruption from within, the Christian is always on the front line of the battle.

To be a witness for the Word of God means to be opposed to the word of the world and they don't take kindly to being disregarded anymore than any, " prince will lightly lose one of his subjects." (Bunyan, Pligrim's Progress). And if, for a moment, the fighting from without dies down, the fears from within may rise up. The world, the flesh and the devil will not stop opposing the advance of God's kingdom in us or in His world around us. So we should expect trouble on every side and trouble on the inside, but we must also expect to see deliverance from both.

So, we must have faith -- faith to fight the good fight and faith to fight our fears. Faith plays the man. Faith endures every attack from around or within by looking above to the One who reigns and is bringing, in ever increasing proportion, His kingdom to bear down on His earth.