From This Day Forward: “Fight Fair”

From This Day Forward
“Fight Fair”
8/10/25
Pastor Mark England

Lamentations 3:19-23 (CSB) Remember my affliction and my homelessness,
the wormwood and the poison. ²⁰ I continually remember them and have become depressed. ²¹ Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. ²³ They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness!

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Fight Fair

Genesis 2:24 (CSB) This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

Proverbs 18:22 (NLT) The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord.

Psalm 133:1 (CSB) How delightfully good when brothers live together in harmony!

In God’s intent for relationships, He uses words like , blessing, , life, and .

God designed our relationships to be a picture of on .

Some of our relationships show a better picture of on …
, anger, pride, jealousy, and .

God doesn’t just want your relationships to , He wants them to and produce .

The question today is not we fight, but we fight!

If you ignore God’s principles in how to fight His way, you may win the , but you could lose the .

1. We are fighting the wrong .

The person you are in a relationship with is .

Ephesians 6:12 (CSB) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.

Mark 3:25 (CSB) If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

2. We are driven by wrong .

James 4:1-3 (CSB) What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? ² You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

The wrong motives will always point back to “”.

3. We are using wrong .

The wrong tactics is when we demand our to be .

1 Corinthians 6:3,7 (NLT) Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life. 7 Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you. Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated?

The greatest relationships take place between two !
Make the needs of more important than your own!

Proverbs 18:19 (NLT) An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars.

Healthy couples fight for .
Unhealthy couples fight to .

James 1:19-20 (CSB) My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, ²⁰ for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.

FROM THIS DAY FORWARD…

1. and carefully.

“…Quick to listen”

If you react before you you will say something !

Proverbs 18:2 (NLT) Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions.

2. my vigilantly.

“…Slow to speak”

Matthew 15:11 (CSB) It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth—this defiles a person.”

Proverbs 21:23 (NLT) Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.

Use these verses for , not to on others.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is a !
Words inflict .

Before you speak, ask yourself…
“Is what I’m about to say should be ?”
“Should it be said ?”

Work on your marriage during times.
The heat of the moment is not the time to “”.

Great questions to ask in your marriage
How am ?
What can ?

Before engaging in conflict…
Never .
Never say .
Never .
Never .
Never .
Never quote the in conflict to .

3. Manage my .

“…Slow to become angry”

Ephesians 4:26-27 (CSB) Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷ and don’t give the devil an opportunity.

In times of conflict, I will fight for , not for victory.