The Holy One calls to me this morning. It is early but the battle is raging and He wants to speak to me about something very important in this spiritual war. There is a sense of urgency in the atmosphere, yet I feel the peace in His Presence.
The unseen world is engaged in a kingdom battle over God's creation and humans are the focus in this warfare.
I hear the words of Paul written so long ago in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians. II Corinth 10:4, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have Divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Our weapons are not carnal (worldly) but Divine (Heavenly).
The Holy One speaks to me about the carnal weapons we pick up to fight a Holy war and how defenseless we are against evil when we choose to use them. If we engage in our earthly/worldly battles using the weapons of pride, hatred, retaliation or even fear, we are defenseless against the real enemy and the evil one knows our vulnerability. How can hate defeat hate?
Godly wisdom is a Divine weapon that defeats the evil one and his agenda every time. With Godly wisdom comes Truth, Divine discernment, Divine discretion, and Spirit self-discipline. With our Divine weapons we can stand firm and not walk into the baited traps set by our relentless adversary.
With our Spirit provided weapons, we have and can exercise Divine power and authority over all the fiery darts of the wicked. Knowing our potential as "born again" believers, we must choose to exercise our privilege, and before we engage in any altercation with the enemy outside, we need to first gain victory over the darkness within, otherwise known as our flesh.
The Salvation that Jesus brought and the Cross provided was more than just a forgiveness of the sins of our flesh. Jesus came to die the death that the original Adam refused to die to. The death that Holiness required was not physical but so much deeper and more attached to the flesh that contains our spirit.
The graphic torture of the crucifixion of the flesh man, Jesus, captures most of the attention and we recoil at the mental images and thoughts of His flesh death. But the more agonizing part of the wrath of Holiness was the death of the relationship Jesus had with God, the Father. That separation is what all of us would have suffered, not just for a period of hours or days, but for all eternity were it not for His great sacrifice in our behalf.
On that day over 2000 years ago, God in flesh form, Jesus, took the spiritual, relational death and separation that is present in our sin nature and experienced it for every one of us. That is the price He paid. As He died, so died the sin nature we are all born with.
Then, 3 days later, from out of the tomb walked the Resurrected Savior of all mankind. His Resurrection was a preview and foretaste of our own. For all who come to accept the death of the sin nature that He died, all are the recipients of the Holy nature that replaced it.
Flesh is the constant factor to our life on earth. However the temptations of the flesh we continue to live with after our Salvation, are no longer a compulsion but a choice. Jesus came, sent by the Father God to offer humanity a choice. Salvation is a choice each one of us makes to be rescued out of the mire created by our "sin nature".
As we choose to accept the Salvation through Jesus Christ, the great "exchange" is made: our carnal life for His Divine one. But while that decision can be made in a heartbeat, the choices to surrender all to His control come day after day after day. Only by and through our new nature can we make Godly decisions and actually become Christ-like in our actions.
When our flesh is permitted to dominate and lead in our choices and actions, we gain the reputation of being "Carnal Christians" to our unnecessary shame and defeat by the evil one. The message of the Holy Spirit today requires me to look within. He is pointing out some dark places that need to be cleaned out.
I realize that I must first gain victory over the battle from within before I can be more than a conqueror in the world outside myself. I need to lay down these carnal weapons I have relied on in past skirmishes. For the sake of my Lord's great Name and reputation and victory in the conflicts I have with the world around me, I must employ the Divine weapons He provides.
As I confer with the Holy Spirit and surrender to His perspective and the Truth found in His Word, I see more clearly where the conflict begins. The Divine weapons we have available are powerful to bring down strongholds. Strongholds are nothing more than a power grip on my flesh. My flesh controlled reaction to to people and situations forms the real battle in the war to become more like Christ. Call it the goal of the Holy Spirit or the purpose to the battle that rages within, I must choose to respond to the convictions of my Lord, put away all that is unholy in my thinking, and follow His lead in my actions and reactions.
When the personal strongholds are broken, the enemy has no power over me. My perspective changes and I find other ways to handle each crisis that leads to uncommon victories, and what some might term, supernatural miracles. These "supernatural miracles" are nothing more than allowing God to be God and watching in awe, with the rest of my world, as His hand moves through a rescued and redeemed life.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
The unseen world is engaged in a kingdom battle over God's creation and humans are the focus in this warfare.
I hear the words of Paul written so long ago in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians. II Corinth 10:4, "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have Divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Our weapons are not carnal (worldly) but Divine (Heavenly).
The Holy One speaks to me about the carnal weapons we pick up to fight a Holy war and how defenseless we are against evil when we choose to use them. If we engage in our earthly/worldly battles using the weapons of pride, hatred, retaliation or even fear, we are defenseless against the real enemy and the evil one knows our vulnerability. How can hate defeat hate?
Godly wisdom is a Divine weapon that defeats the evil one and his agenda every time. With Godly wisdom comes Truth, Divine discernment, Divine discretion, and Spirit self-discipline. With our Divine weapons we can stand firm and not walk into the baited traps set by our relentless adversary.
With our Spirit provided weapons, we have and can exercise Divine power and authority over all the fiery darts of the wicked. Knowing our potential as "born again" believers, we must choose to exercise our privilege, and before we engage in any altercation with the enemy outside, we need to first gain victory over the darkness within, otherwise known as our flesh.
The Salvation that Jesus brought and the Cross provided was more than just a forgiveness of the sins of our flesh. Jesus came to die the death that the original Adam refused to die to. The death that Holiness required was not physical but so much deeper and more attached to the flesh that contains our spirit.
The graphic torture of the crucifixion of the flesh man, Jesus, captures most of the attention and we recoil at the mental images and thoughts of His flesh death. But the more agonizing part of the wrath of Holiness was the death of the relationship Jesus had with God, the Father. That separation is what all of us would have suffered, not just for a period of hours or days, but for all eternity were it not for His great sacrifice in our behalf.
On that day over 2000 years ago, God in flesh form, Jesus, took the spiritual, relational death and separation that is present in our sin nature and experienced it for every one of us. That is the price He paid. As He died, so died the sin nature we are all born with.
Then, 3 days later, from out of the tomb walked the Resurrected Savior of all mankind. His Resurrection was a preview and foretaste of our own. For all who come to accept the death of the sin nature that He died, all are the recipients of the Holy nature that replaced it.
Flesh is the constant factor to our life on earth. However the temptations of the flesh we continue to live with after our Salvation, are no longer a compulsion but a choice. Jesus came, sent by the Father God to offer humanity a choice. Salvation is a choice each one of us makes to be rescued out of the mire created by our "sin nature".
As we choose to accept the Salvation through Jesus Christ, the great "exchange" is made: our carnal life for His Divine one. But while that decision can be made in a heartbeat, the choices to surrender all to His control come day after day after day. Only by and through our new nature can we make Godly decisions and actually become Christ-like in our actions.
When our flesh is permitted to dominate and lead in our choices and actions, we gain the reputation of being "Carnal Christians" to our unnecessary shame and defeat by the evil one. The message of the Holy Spirit today requires me to look within. He is pointing out some dark places that need to be cleaned out.
I realize that I must first gain victory over the battle from within before I can be more than a conqueror in the world outside myself. I need to lay down these carnal weapons I have relied on in past skirmishes. For the sake of my Lord's great Name and reputation and victory in the conflicts I have with the world around me, I must employ the Divine weapons He provides.
As I confer with the Holy Spirit and surrender to His perspective and the Truth found in His Word, I see more clearly where the conflict begins. The Divine weapons we have available are powerful to bring down strongholds. Strongholds are nothing more than a power grip on my flesh. My flesh controlled reaction to to people and situations forms the real battle in the war to become more like Christ. Call it the goal of the Holy Spirit or the purpose to the battle that rages within, I must choose to respond to the convictions of my Lord, put away all that is unholy in my thinking, and follow His lead in my actions and reactions.
When the personal strongholds are broken, the enemy has no power over me. My perspective changes and I find other ways to handle each crisis that leads to uncommon victories, and what some might term, supernatural miracles. These "supernatural miracles" are nothing more than allowing God to be God and watching in awe, with the rest of my world, as His hand moves through a rescued and redeemed life.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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