When the Battle Is Long

When the Battle Is Long
 — By M.T. Clark — P-1998, 06/24/2026 —
 Today’s Audio Podcast
 Today’s Message on YouTube:

Today’s photo of Edvard Munch’s “Wandering Towards the Light” — an expressive sketch of human figures creating a great mountain of humanity with a solitary figure arising from the top triumphantly, comes to us from yours truly, who captured this work of art at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA on July 9th, 2023.

Well, it’s Wednesday, and I share this mountain of humanity to visually represent our arrival at another mid-week summit – Happy hump day, and because this image of figures straining upward toward the light can serve as a reminder of something the gospel makes wonderfully clear. 

We do not have to climb our way up to God by our own effort, because in Christ, God already came down to us. The longing to reach the light is real, and it is in every human heart, but the good news is that the Light came looking for us first. 

We do not ascend to Him. He descended to us, and He lifts us the rest of the way through our faith in Jesus Christ.’

Our series, “The Armor of God,” continues today with a word for the believer who is tired — the one for whom the battle has been long.

When the Battle Is Long

Some battles are over quickly. The temptation comes, we resist it in the strength of the Lord, and it passes. 

But other battles are long. The struggle drags on for months or years, the same ground gets fought over again and again, and the believer begins to wonder whether anything is actually changing. 

This is the season that the apostle Paul speaks to when He calls us to stand in Ephesians 6, but he also shares a word that every weary believer needs to hear.

Paul writes in Galatians 6:9 (NKJV), “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

Notice that Paul assumes weariness is coming. He does not say if you grow weary, but speaks to the reality that doing good over a long stretch of time will tire you out. 

The believer who has been standing firm in the armor of God, resisting the same attacks day after day, fighting the same flesh and the same lies and the same circumstances, will eventually feel the weight of it. 

This is not a sign of spiritual failure. It is the normal experience of a soldier in a long campaign. 

Paul does not disparage the weariness. He addresses it honestly and then gives the weary believer a reason to keep going.

That reason is the promise of the harvest. Paul says that in due season we shall reap, which means the results of our faithfulness are coming even when we cannot yet see them. 

The farmer who plants a field does not see fruit the next morning. He works the ground, he waters the seed, and he waits through a long stretch where nothing above the surface seems to be happening. 

But underneath the ground, the work is real, and in the proper season, the harvest comes. 

The believer’s faithfulness works the same way. The standing firm that feels fruitless today is producing a harvest you will reap in due season, as long as you do not give up before it arrives.

That last phrase is the hinge of the whole verse. Paul says we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

The harvest is conditional, not on our strength or our success but on our perseverance. 

The danger in a long battle is not that the believer will be overpowered by the enemy. The greater danger is that the believer will simply grow tired and quit, walking away from the field the day before the harvest comes. 

The enemy knows he often cannot defeat a believer in a single decisive blow, and so his strategy in a long battle is to wear the believer down until he gives up the fight on his own.

This is why perseverance is itself a weapon in the armor of God. The believer who keeps standing, who keeps doing good, who keeps showing up to the same fight one more day, is winning a victory that the believer who quits will never see. 

The harvest belongs to the one who remains in the field. So, when the battle is long and the weariness is real, do not measure your progress by what you can see today. Measure it by the faithfulness of the God who promised the harvest and keep standing until it comes.

You will reap in due season. Do not lose heart, and do not leave the field.

Keep on walking and talking with God.

— M.T.

*******************************

Check out our past Podcast series or teachings via The MT4Christ247 podcast playlists on YouTube at MT4Christ.com!

The MT4Christ247 audio podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Amazon, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Podbean, Audible, and many more podcast platforms!

Subscribe to The MT4Christ247 Channel on YouTube!

Email me at m.t.clark@mt4christ.com with any questions, comments, or to inquire about our Christian Life Coaching or Prayer Ministry Services.

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

Support MT 4 Christ Community Freedom Ministry!

To give via PayPal, go to the MT4Christ Donations Page

Or Give Via Venmo or the Cash App by scanning the QR Code below: