How to Contend for the Faith, One Faithful Moment at a Time
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Strength doesn’t begin with how much we do.
It begins with how we show up. I’ve learned the same is true of faith.
I had just been cleared to work out postpartum. I wanted to return to strength training, the kind that challenges me.
But I also knew my body had been through something intense, and rushing back to what I used to do would not actually be wise.
So I started small.
I chose a calisthenics plan on my app.
These workouts rely on bodyweight movements, control, and proper form rather than heavy equipment or maximum effort.
The workout was only twenty-five minutes long.
When I finished, I remember thinking, That didn’t feel challenging enough.
But the next morning surprised me.
I woke up sore—more sore than after some of my heavier training days.
The soreness was precise and targeted. What felt small had gone deeper than I expected.
That moment exposed something familiar.
There are days we do not open the Bible because we only have a couple of minutes and assume it is not enough to matter.
We equate faithfulness with intensity instead of attentiveness.
But what if we chose one verse?
What if we spent those minutes reading it in context, asking questions, and letting that truth stay with us throughout the day?
Long hours in prayer and Scripture are beautiful and deeply formative. But many of us do not have hours every day to sit in prayer.
The absence of long stretches does not mean the absence of faithfulness.
What matters most is posture.
Going to Scripture, unrushed, attentive, and willing to be formed, still counts.
Depth does not come from doing the most.
It comes from staying present long enough for truth to take root.
This is often what contending for the faith looks like.
To contend is to guard and preserve the faith we have received by allowing it to shape us deeply.
It is steady formation beneath the surface.
When Jude warned believers about distorted truth, he did not call them to panic or performance.
He called them to be built up so they could stand firm—not in their own strength, but in the faith they had already received.
Jude’s call to contend was not abstract or dramatic. It was deeply practical, rooted in daily faithfulness and spiritual formation.
So what does that look like in everyday life?
It looks like small, intentional obedience.
How to Contend for the Faith
Guard what has been entrusted to you
Before I could push my body harder, I had to take responsibility for it.
Recovery required care, attention, and ownership. Faith is no different.
Contending begins by stewarding what God has already placed in your care.
Faith is not something to outsource or skim past. We cannot guard what we never pick up.
Know the Word for yourself
Depth is formed when we sit with Scripture long enough to understand what it reveals about God.
Reading in context. Asking honest questions. Letting truth shape us before we try to speak it.
These practices do not create strength on their own.
They are the means by which God strengthens us.
Stay rooted instead of reactive
Not every topic deserves your response.
Not every distortion requires immediate engagement.
Discernment grows when we pause, pray, and respond from truth rather than urgency.
Remaining rooted in Christ frees us from the pressure to react to everything.
📖 Colossians 2:6–7; James 1:19–20
Live what you believe
Faith is protected not only by what we say, but by how we live.
Integrity when no one is watching.
Humility in conversation.
Obedience in small, unseen choices.
Sometimes, contending does not look like saying more. It looks like becoming someone whose life bears fruit.
Guard your heart while you guard the truth
It is possible to defend truth and lose tenderness in the process.
Pride hardens.
Cynicism numbs.
Truth without love does not protect faith.
Guarding our hearts keeps our defense aligned with the character of Christ.
📖 Ephesians 4:15; 1 Corinthians 13:1
Stay dependent on God
Building ourselves up in faith is not a call to self-effort.
It is a call to prayer, to remaining in God’s love, and to abiding in Christ.
Growth does not come from striving harder. It comes from staying close.
Staying Close Is How We Contend
Contending for the faith can sound overwhelming, as if there is a level of strength we have to reach.
But more often than not, it is formed quietly.
Faith grows through small, faithful moments that do not feel impressive at the time.
The verse you linger with. The restraint you practice. The steady return to God when you feel unsure.
Like my workout, it may not feel like enough in the moment.
But strength is forming deeper than you realize.
When the moments come that test us or call us to stand firm, we are not relying on one decision. We are drawing from a life that has been slowly shaped by truth.
Contending for the faith is not about doing more.
It is about staying close.
“But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love…”
— Jude 1:20–21
Love and Light,
Mireya
