11/24/2018 Who’s fighting Whom?
Ephesians
6:14-18
Laying in
bed, early one recent morn, Father had me thinking about the woman my childhood
friend, Ron, and I met at the Golden Corral as we celebrated Veterans Day (free
meal, you know). She was in our same age
bracket and though she was never “in” in the military her deceased husband had
been a career man.
We got to
talking as we were in line to get into the Golden Corral so we sat together and
continued talking. Eventually ‘religion’
was mentioned which Ron brought up that I was into more than he. Part of my prayer is that Father keep me
sensitive as to where other people are at in their relationship with God so I
didn’t jump into a religion vs relationship situation (and shake some booties)
but Father did lead me to mention what He has been showing me very recently –
the significance concerning how the ‘natural man’, the ‘spiritual man’ and the
‘heart of man’ are impacted by the natural and spiritual realms (as if that may
not shake some booties!).
Because some
of what I was sharing that night was as fresh as the morning dew (some just that
morning), I only had (and still only have, as of this writing) the basic
concept. Father is still working out the
details. In fact, even as I jot this (and
previous adjustments leading up to this publication) down, revelation continues
to come.
In studying
the Armor of God, Father has shown me the three areas that are
addressed, the natural man, the spiritual man and man’s heart.
He showed me
how the first three pieces of the armor, the girdle of truth, breastplate of
righteousness and the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace all
reflect protection for the natural man.
The shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the Sword of the Spirit
all protect the spiritual man. I said,
Father, that’s only six pieces of armor covering only two areas. Then Father asked me “What about verse
eighteen?” Always praying in the Spirit,
watching and praying for the saints. All
about where our heart is! I said “Wow!
That’s pretty cool.” Father showed me
that the first three pieces don’t require salvation to be true. People who don’t know the Lord can (and some
still do) refrain from lying. They can
live (what they think) is a righteous life and they can read the bible. May not understand it, but they can read
it. Without the leading of the Holy
Ghost, they can only get a
‘surface’ understanding of what the Word says (John 16:13).
This is
where faith comes in. We have to have
faith to receive Jesus into our hearts (1
John 5:10). If we don’t believe who
He is, we’ll never accept Him. If we
don’t have Jesus in our hearts, the bible will never truly open for us. Faith is the beginning of our spiritual
experience (Heb. 11:6) and it
carries through protecting us from the fiery darts of the enemy. If we don’t believe in our hearts that Jesus
is for us, how can the shield of faith protect us?
The helmet
of salvation is self-explanatory (I think).
I mean, through Jesus, our eternity is secured (1 John 5:13) but without some sort of faith, we would never have
accepted Jesus to begin with.
Also, without Jesus, how can we effectively
use the Sword of the Spirit how can we rightly divide (understand) what is
before us without His guidance through the Holy Ghost dwelling in us (Heb. 4:12)? All this deals with our spiritual man. After all, the sword of the Spirit is the
Word of God and the Word of God IS Jesus Christ and Jesus IS God (Eph. 6:17, John 1:1)! The sword shows us how to deal with what is
before us and without Jesus we would have no effective sword and Father had to
give us a touch of faith to receive Jesus to begin with. Ergo, our spiritual man is being dealt with.
Father gives
us the Holy Ghost when we accept Jesus into our hearts (John 14:16-17), but Jesus promised His disciples a greater impact
on their lives once they receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which is
evidenced by speaking in the Spiritual language (tongues) God gives us at that
time. Jesus says that when the Holy
Ghost is come upon us we shall receive power (Acts 1:8). Power (strength)
to do what? For one, live this life in
this world. To have the authority to do
what Jesus did (just as He said we could John
14:12-14) while He walked with us and helps us to witness to His love in
this world. Paul says we should always
be “…praying … in the Spirit …”.
Communicating with Father with our heavenly language because the Spirit
speaks mysteries (1 Corinth. 14:2). We should always be watchful for we don’t
know when or how the enemy will strike.
And because we all need support, we should pray for the saints and they
should be praying for us. These things
reflect where our heart is as well as strengthening our hearts in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Father knows our hearts (Jer. 17:10) and He wants our hearts to always
be right with Him (Acts 8:18-21).
Father also
showed me how the spheres and choirs of angels (according to Origen, 184
AD – 254 AD) also reflected angelic interaction in these three areas. The third sphere deals with the natural
man. It contains Principalities (rulers),
archangels and angels, all who are responsible for what goes on in this natural
world.
The second
sphere consists of dominions (lordships), virtues (strongholds) and powers
(authorities) which deals with matter (creation) and ruling spirits. If you will – the heavenlies.
The first
sphere includes Seraphims who continually glorify and praise God, the Cherubims
who protect God’s throne and then the Thrones who serve God’s justice and
authority. Think about it. When we enter God’s presence (spiritually we
enter His throne room) and can’t help but praise Him. We enter His presence and
we are under His protection. And when we
enter His presence we willingly subject ourselves to His justice and authority
which are administered (to us) only for our benefit. These are things that deal
with our heart, our relationship with our heavenly Father.
More
recently, Father had me up at four AM, one morning, showing me how the law
(the Ten Commandments, Exod. 20:3-17)
also dealt with these three areas. The
last five commandments (killing, adultery, stealing, lying and covetousness) deal
with the natural man, Four and five (honoring the Sabbath and mom and dad) deal
with the ‘spiritual man’ (how we view things around us) and the first three (no
gods before Jaweh, no idols and not taking His name in vain) deal with our
relationship with the Father, our heart.
He wasn’t
finished. He reminded me of the three
temptations of Jesus (Matt. 4:1-11)
(originally He had shown me this one a
while back). Jesus fasted for forty days
so Satan knew (in the natural) He had to be hungry. So he tempted Jesus with the stones, then the
pinnacle of the temple and then the mountain which overlooked nations. The stones into bread – the natural man; jump
off the pinnacle – the spiritual man and all these nations, putting Satan first
– our heart.
There’s more.
He showed me how Jesus’ ministry follows suit. For thirty years Jesus lived as we do. He walked a mile (or three) in our shoes and
didn’t sin. Then He spent three and a
half years teaching us how to deal with our spiritual man. THEN He ascended back into heaven, sending
the Holy Ghost back to dwell within us so He could continually help us to grow
within our heart. That is, impacting our
attitudes and our relationship with the Father. After all, didn’t He tells us I
am in you and I would that you would be in me as the Father is Me and I in the
Father (John 14:11-21).
He also
showed how the Godhead influences these three areas. Jesus came to this earth to redeem the
natural man (because we are born into sin – thank you Adam & Eve). The Holy Ghost helps us to get our spiritual
man ‘together’, while Father (working through Jesus & the Holy Ghost) works
on our relationship with Him, getting our heart right.
I said
“Lord, that’s only six areas (the armor, the angels, the Law, temptations of Jesus, life of Jesus and the
godhead). Six is the number of man, our
weakness. I’m not comfortable with
that. What about seven?” I searched my mind and heart but for the love
of me I couldn’t come up with a seventh area.
Finally, Father said to me “Buck, are you (humans) a three part
being?” I said “Yes.” “What are they?” I responded “Body, soul and Spirit.” Then the light came on
So Father
has shown me six areas that are broken down and interfacing with our three part
being – natural, spiritual and our heart.
He’s shown me areas (in scripture) where He has pointed this out to us
so we can be aware of the need to address all three areas of our being so we
can live fully in Christ Jesus. So we
can successfully stand against the enemy (Satan). Father doesn’t leave us
hanging on our own (Heb. 13:5) as He
shows us the protection we have and the help we have at our disposal.
PTL!!!
All of this
to ask the question “Who is fighting whom?”
Father gave
me the example of two women contending over one man’s affection (hey, I’m a guy
– my perspective). The woman coming up
on the short end of the stick will submit to trickery, deceit and anything else
to promote her cause to ‘win her man’.
So, even though at times, she may hurt the man, who is her real
opponent? The other woman, of
course. But she knows she can’t defeat
the other woman in a fight (fair or otherwise), so she turns and works on the
subject of the other woman’s affection.
In the end, the sad thing is, the woman may not even really want the
man. She’s simply fighting to keep the
other woman from having him.
Does this
sound familiar? The spiritual battle for
our souls! Satan trying to keep us from
our rightful place with our Father in heaven???? It’s not that he wants us all that bad. He just doesn’t want God to have us.
We have a
three-pronged battle to fight. The
natural man, the spiritual man and where our heart abides.
We are a
three part being: with our body
reflecting the natural man, soul reflecting our spiritual man and our spirit
reflecting our heart. The law in the last five commandments
reflecting the natural man, the forth and fifth reflect our spirit man then the
first three expresses that this battle is a real and a fight for our hearts. It is emphasized in Jesus’ life, ministry and resurrection. And even in the three recorded temptations which Jesus faced in the wilderness. The stones, the pinnacle and the mountain all
point to the reality of the need to address all three areas. Oh, and don’t forget God, Himself, in the Godhead, He shows us the three areas
that need our attention as Jesus (the Son) has redeemed our bodies, the Holy
Ghost helps our spiritual man to stay in proper alignment and the Father deals
with our hearts. Then the armor of God, which He gives us for our
protection: the belt, the breastplate and the shoes for the natural man, then
the shield, the helmet and the sword for the spiritual man and finally praying
in the Spirit, watching and praying for the saints to get our hearts right.
You say “You
said there were seven areas!” Right, God
also gives us the angels to help us
in our fight. The three spheres
(mentioned above) provide help for our natural man (sphere #3), our spiritual
man (sphere #2) and our heart (sphere #1).
As I said,
we have to be aware of all three areas of contention (body, soul & spirit)
if we are to give
ourselves to the One who truly loves us (Father through
Jesus) and become aware of all He has
provided to help us to victory over the
forces of darkness. After all, we don’t
wrestle against flesh and blood. We do
contend with powers, principalities, rulers of darkness and spiritual
0wickedness. Don’t we?
Praise the
Lord! We are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ. All we have to do is realize what we are
fighting, the protection Father provides us then take up the weapons
He has afforded us.
Amen?