Eye of the Tiger

During the Viet Nam war the phrase “The Eye of the Tiger” was coined– which referred to the fierce gaze of a soldier once wounded in battle who later comes back to fight. They were different. The fierceness of a recovered soldier is phenomenal. Perhaps you have been wounded in the battle. 

“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13). 

Although we have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness, the devil still tries to attack us, intimidate us and bring his darkness around our heart and mind.

The reason Paul says that we wrestle against our enemies (Ephesians 6) and not box or kickbox is that wrestling is the only form of combat where you never lose physical contact with the adversary. And it is the only one that strengthens you as you fight. Have you seen the All-Black rugby team do this in training?  While they are trying to wrestle each other to the ground, they are getting stronger.  Our wrestle against darkness is creating in us the strength and spirit of a warrior. When Satan attacks you, he is unwittingly developing your fierceness and strength in God.  Satan may think he has your measure now, but he doesn’t reckon on who you are going to be in the future. 

 Perhaps the greatest threat to Christianity is not attacks from the enemy but a time of ease - when everything is quiet and there is no need for weapons or strength. The Philistines closed all the blacksmith shops in Israel to weaken them and stop them making weapons. A blacksmith shop may seem a dark place where Someone is stoking the flames. It might even look like hell but the sound of hammers hitting and striking are forming weapons in the fires of adversity. If the “blacksmith shop experiences” were taken from the church, we would have fewer weapons. 

If we have never been attacked, we cannot gain the “eye of a tiger.”  We develop “the eye” when we go through and grow through his attacks. 

Friend, the enemy has tried to intimidate you. Wrestle through the heat of the battle and you will soon find that you have a new strength and weapons that will intimidate him.