This month, we are covering a seemingly simple concept that has powerful, revelatory, and wide ranging applications: Right-Right vs Right-Wrong...Right WHAT-Right HOW/WHY vs. Right WHAT-Wrong (or NO) HOW/WHY.
In the previous post, we looked at the last of the examples of Jesus speaking Spiritual Warfare.
Last week was a powerful week on the blog. We looked at the examples of people speaking Spiritual Warfare. We found the key to successful Spiritual Warfare is:
1. The participant makes a Statement in which the object of the Spiritual Warfare is the subject of the Statement.
2. The participant states a will for something that is unable to state a will or act apart from its nature.
3. The effectiveness of the Statement depends on the faith (understanding and experience) of the person making the Statement.
All of this seems pretty easy until we looked at The Contrastive Example of Spiritual Warfare.
In The Book of Acts, the sons of Sceva do unsuccessful Spiritual Warfare. It doesn't look any different than what Jesus, the disciples, and Paul did, UNTIL we compare it to the three points above...then the differences are obvious and alarming:
1. The participant is the object of the Statement.
2. The participant states their own will.
3. The participant makes a Statement by someone else's faith (understanding and experience).
Throughout this Series, we have emphasized that Spiritual Warfare is made up of WORDS and SENTENCES. Readers have understood this to the point that they no longer need any more examples of #1 and #2. After reading last week's posts, I think each of the readers is more than capable of doing #1 and #2 of Spiritual Warfare effectively. However, the questions have been rolling in concerning #3...
How do we grow in our faith enough to successfully participate in Spiritual Warfare?
The rest of this month will be spent answering this critical question. Today's post will serve as an introduction for the rest of the month...
Let's review the critical passage on Spiritual Warfare:
2 Corinthians 10
"1 Now I Paul myself entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent am of good courage toward you:
2 yea, I beseech you, that I may not when present show courage with the confidence wherewith I count to be bold against some, who count of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh
4 (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds),
5 casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;
6 and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full.
7 Ye look at the things that are before your face. If any man trusteth in himself that he is Christ's, let him consider this again with himself, that, even as he is Christ's, so also are we."
We covered this passage in-depth in "Spiritual Warfare". The conclusion:
Spiritual Warfare involves casting down strongholds which are made up of imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity.
Imaginations, knowledge, and thoughts are NOT Physical.
Imaginations, knowledge, and thoughts are made up of WORDS.
Spiritual Warfare is COMPLETELY made up of WORDS!
Throughout this mini-series on Spiritual Warfare, we will consistently see that the individual's ability to succeed in Spiritual Warfare COMPLETELY depends upon their skillfulness with, and mastery of, WORDS.
Notice, the end of this critical passage deals with faith (obedience made full, trusting in ourself that we are Christ's, etc.).
SUMMARY
The overview for the rest of this Series is that God wants our brain to have Profitable Thought Processes. The enemy and our flesh wants our brain to have Unprofitable Thought Processes. What gets planted in our hearts is an effect of our Thought Processes...
Last August we began a two month Series on The Brain. The conclusion of that Series is that our mind either makes a choice to:
1. use our brain Profitably (an intentional effort to do the opposite of our nature)
OR
2. not use our brain Profitably, which means we think according to our nature (flesh) which is the same as how an animal thinks.
The battlefield is NOT our mind.
The battlefield is our brain (physical)...and is proven in our heart.
The combatants are made up of two teams: The Holy Spirit (God) and our mind vs. the enemy (unclean spirits) and our fleshly nature.
In order to understand how we OUGHT to build our faith AND how the enemy and our flesh fights our ability to do this, we need to become masters at understanding our Thought Processes...which are made up of WORDS and SENTENCES.
This week, we will be preparing for this by reviewing Thought Processes...
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