Spiritual Warfare VII

Identifying The Enemy. Could it be my own soul?

We will be discussing our growth into maturity in Christ Jesus. Daily we examine ourselves by contrasting what we read in the Bible to our daily walk with GOD. Do we listen to Holy Spirit and apply biblical principles in our daily walks In Jesus? Do we Image the personality of a maturing disciple of Jesus in our obedience and personality. Does GODs’ light shine from my face? If we have been alive very long, we have already seen and experienced these spiritual traits in some of our acquaintances at church, place of employment or school. Yes, and most times they are not easily forgotten, in that they bring life into a room. They light up the area where ever they are at. It is a joy to be around such people. They bring the Holy Spirit with them and it is obvious, with their demeanor and expressive conversation, that they are full of hope, joy, and love. Good fruit coming from a good spirit and soul connected to Holy Spirit. If we can capture this into our imagination, lets expand this thought process to include us. What do I need to be able to be this type of person. Or can I even be this type of person. Hmmm, let us go there. Jesus is our Saviour and Lord because of our faith in God’s Holy Word. The Holy Word speaks life to my faith as well as opens my Heart to believe and trust that God will honor all He says He will do for us as His adopted children. In short, we believe God. God has promised Holy Spirit would come to us and dwell in us. That is a pretty awesome thought and my imagination loves the intervention of Holy Spirit in all of my life processes. Our home, school and church or work lives are influenced by the Holy Spirit. Hmmm, even our thoughts and imaginations. OOPs, oh yes, our thoughts are not only influenced by Holy Spirit, but also known by the Holy Spirit. So, what can we do to keep our thought life as well as our imagination in line with Holy Spirit. This is where the battle starts. We want to do this but our fleshly body says NO!!! Our flesh says “I want your soul’s attention, spirit can not tell me what to do!!" So what do we do? We know that God has given us a plan and a way to deal with our flesh and get and keep it under submission to our spirit man. Enter center stage, staring the Holy Spirit and God’s Holy Word. The two combine to bring our faith and life back alive, enabling us to live a life in Jesus, glorifying Our Father God. Yes and amen to those thoughts!! So now we will snap out of our imagination, while moving towards taking on the carnal man in reality.

Let us bring in some scripture to start our digging deeper with 2Peter1: 3-4;

2 Peter 1:3–4 ESVHis divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

We also see that this is indeed good knowledge and leads into the truth of being an overcomer of all carnal urgings and sinful temptations. Sinful desires war with our soul and spirits. Sinful desires temp us with a satisfaction of fulfilling the needs of the flesh body, maintenance of the earthly tent, in a way contrary to the Holy Spirit. Body needs are just that, needing to be satisfied by the way God meant them to be fulfilled and not the way of a carnal world. Fulfilling our bodily needs should never be contrary to the Holy Spirit or the Holy Bible. So all food, sleep, sexual, social, etc. can be done in the correct way by an Holy Spirit controlled person. Yes, the Amplified Bible puts it this way 2Peter1:3 “ For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue)”.

The Amplified Bible (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1987), 2 Pe 1:3.

So in all we have to defeat our carnal enemies is supplied by Jesus Christ , through the work at the cross. We need to ask Jesus to help us understand what we have. Followed closely by the asking of The Holy Spirit to teach us the what, when, where, and how we can manifest this knowledge into our spiritual lives. such as this passage also in the Amplified Bible rendered as “5 For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence),6 And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety),7 And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love.8 For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).9 For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins.10 Because of this, brethren, be all the more solicitous and eager to make sure (to ratify, to strengthen, to make steadfast) your calling and election; for if you do this, you will never stumble or fall.11 Thus there will be richly and abundantly provided for you entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

The Amplified Bible (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1987), 2 Pe 1:5–11.

This is Stated well in the Amplified Bible and in the ESV it is also understandable, but it is the thought process I liked in the AMP I wanted both to contrast and glean from both this principle, “if these qualities abide in you in an ever increasing amount you will be effective and fruitful”. You will be exercising in ever increasing amount spiritual growth and fulfilling Gods plan and will in your life. Again, we know this is to be true. “Entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" and again in 2Peter1:13 “I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder,” . These truths will keep us in a growth stage and our mind on Jesus and our ears tuned to the Holy Spirit. These can be used in ALL VIRTUES WE NEED IN PRAYER AS WELL AS SPIRITUAL LIVING! So what is our conclusion over all of this​

We have been given all we need to live a spiritual life by Jesus bestowing on us great promises.

Jesus also bestowed to us a way of escape from temptation and moral decadence.

Peter reminded us to keep building our faith by building on what we have learned to grow in spiritually.

Peter wanted us to Grow and become stronger in our faith and mature in our spiritual walk in Jesus.

Holy Spirit is going to help us in all thus growing and learning if we call on him. But we have to be doers and not only listeners.

Passionately, pursue a life in Jesus with the aid of Holy Spirit guiding us all the way.

Emphasizing Reference: 2Peter1:3-15

2 Peter 1:3–15 ESVHis divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

Application:

Intercessory points

When we live this life building our spiritual man, our prayer life reflects it.

A strong mature prayer life requires that the person praying to be strong and maturing in the faith.

Character is important! Personal godly character must be modeled from a pure heart that is steadfast loyal to Jesus.

Kingdom praying is more than a “ I want it list”, but more of what is the Father doing and what does Father want me to Pray!

Pryers of a righteous man avails much. So pray in Faith, believing Gods’ system works. BELIEVE GOD!!!!

Wait, Trust, Praise, Celebrate because the answer will manifest!!!

Always remember to be thankful from a pure grateful heart.

WORD from PASTOR: I am reminded by Holy Spirit one more point. Recapture your Passionate First Love for Jesus. He woke me up In the early AM, (3ish) , to remind me of this very fact. This was to be expressed to you in a loving tone, as an invitation, and a promise to meet you when you do. Jesus is calling us to a closer relation ship with Him. Jesus wants us to listen to His heart through the Holy Spirit and Holy Word of God.

Closing Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we turn our heart and loyalty to all of what and who you are. Let us become passionate in our love to you and for you in all that you are. We want to know you and your ways as Moses asked you at Mt. Sinai. We ask you would help us spiritually build up our spirit man in the Holy Spirit. Help us regain our passion for Jesus. Please purify our heart, mind, and soul. Renew a right spirit in us. Draw us close to you Jesus. We surrender our will to you. Help us to move past all unbelief and fear to you in faith and belief. We believe GOD. Let us glow in your Holy Spirit once more. Let us light up a room again in your Holy Spirit as we speak of you and what the Father is doing. Let hearts and souls become hungry for you God as we so passionately share your hope, faith and love as we lovingly share your Good News to our neighbors as Holy Spirit leads us. Oh grant our King and Lord. Bring us close to you our King and our God!