ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Breaking the Cycle of Defeat

____________________________________________________________________________________________

So it is through the Spirit and according to God’s Word

that we mortify the deeds of the body — those fears,

faults, and bad habits with which the flesh attempts to

keep us in a never-ending cycle of defeat. That is the

only way we can take the limits off our lives.

I have found that one of the primary roles of the Holy

Spirit’s leadership in our lives is to lead us out of those

left over patterns of the flesh nature’s dominance.

Those “left overs” can sabotage everything God is

attempting to do in our lives for the good.

One day I asked my brother (who was a detective in

Memphis at the time), “Do you really want to know

what has kept you from becoming a multi-millionaire?”

He was wise enough to answer correctly. His job had

nothing to do with it. His problem was his own limited

pattern of thinking that had dominated him all of his

life and had kept him imprisoned within its narrow

confines.

In Mark 9:23, Jesus said that all things are possible to

him who believes. Therefore, the only thing that stands

between us and any kind of miracle is the fleshly

pattern or system of thought that has captivated us in

the realm of the soul. That UN-scriptural pattern is

something faith can’t give substance to. It is hope that

has been programmed wrong — hope that has gone

amiss. It is full of fear and torment instead of faith.

The Holy Spirit will replace that mess for the kind of

hope that faith can give substance to.But we must yield

to His leadership when He begins to root out those

destructive patterns;otherwise, we will just remain in

that same invisible prison until the day we die.

You see, it’s no accident that right after Paul talks about

mortifying the deeds of the flesh in Romans 8:13, he

says this in verse 14: For as many as are led by the Spirit

of God, they are the sons of God.Verse 13 and 14 are one

continuous thought. The term “son of God”refers to the

mature believer who has been nurtured by the Holy

Spirit to the point that he can now walk by his new

nature rather than by the dictates of the flesh.

Therefore, Paul is describing in verse 14 a state of

spiritual maturity where carnal patterns and systems

of thought no longer dominate you because you are

now walking after your new nature instead of

according to the flesh.

Many times believers who are still immature and

carnal themselves want the Holy Spirit to give them

insight into other people’s messed-up lives or to tell

them what car to buy. But about the only thing the Holy

Spirit can do with a believer in this spiritual condition

is to lead him out of his own mess.

You may say, “Well, I want God to lead me into this

ministry or this job promotion.” But the first order of

business is for God to lead you out of anything that

keeps you in a perpetual cycle of defeat.

That’s what Romans 8:13,14 is talking about: As many as

will allow their reborn human spirit to be nurtured and

taught by the Holy Spirit, they are the mature sons of

God. For it is through the spirit — through the new

nature within them — that they mortify the deeds of

the flesh. The Holy Spirit will lead them out of patterns

and systems of thought that enslave.

Paul described this condition of enslavement in

Romans 7:7-24. He said, “What a wretched man I am.

There is a bent toward sin loosed in my members, and

the more I try to serve God,the more it wars against my

mind. There is nothing in me to ‘re-bottle’ it. Even

though God gave me the Law and I try to keep it, this

lust for sin persistently wages war inside of me. I can’t

seem to stop it.”

This hopeless spiritual condition is the reason why the

whole world became guilty before God and subject to

His judgment. The world needed a Savior. So Romans 8

tells us how the Savior came to lead us out of our

enslavement to the flesh into a walk of the Spirit.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Tearing Down Strongholds in the Soul

____________________________________________________________________________________________

All you have to do is look at the root word of “mortify,”

which means death, to know you’re in for a battle in the

purging process. Paul describes this battle in Second

Corinthians 10:

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds).— 2 Corinthians 10:4

So Paul says that our weapons for this battle we’re

engaged in are not carnal. In other words, we don’t

wage this internal war with natural means. Instead, our

weapons are mighty through God to the pulling down of

invisible strongholds, or fortresses, that are erected in

our lives.

Some believers think that the word “strongholds” in

verse 4 is talking about some kind of invisible fortress

that the devil builds at one end of a town to keep the

townspeople from getting saved. These believers think

their job is to tear down these evil fortresses of the

enemy.

No, Paul is referring to a battle on the personal level.

How do I know that? Because in verse 5 he says this:

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that

exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and

bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience

of Christ.

Who possesses the thoughts that are brought into

captivity? Paul didn’t change the subject between verse

4 and 5. If you are the possessor of the thought, you are

the possessor of the fortress.

The strongholds Paul is talking about are imaginations

and high things that exalt them-selves against the

knowledge of God. They are carnal strongholds in the

realm of the soul. Paul is telling us to bring into

captivity every disobedient thought, because the devil

will cut us to pieces with the soulish strongholds that

are not cast down. Some of those strongholds hinder us

so greatly that if they aren’t broken, we will die in our

defeated condition, never to fulfill our godly desires or

divine call.

A stronghold can consist of a certain set of

imaginations that makes a person so infuriated, he

separates himself from the truth through strife and

unforgiveness. A stronghold can also be an elaborate

system of religious thought that enslaves the hearts and

minds of an entire nation. But whether it is a

stronghold in the soul of an individual or of a nation, it

all starts with an un-captivated thought that exalts

itself against the knowledge of Christ.

I’m so glad God has given us weapons that are mighty

through God to tear down these fortresses! They are

not a part of the natural realm; they are given in the

realm of His Spirit.

The most important weapon that God gave us was the

third Person of the Godhead to live inside of us. Then

the Holy Spirit also equipped us with another vital

weapon — a supernatural language.

That language is a gift that edifies and builds us up

above a carnal realm where our natural senses

dominate. And as we employ this gift by praying in

tongues, the Holy Spirit begins the process of purging

us of every “high thing” that exalts itself against God’s

plan for our lives.

Where does this purging process take place? Well,

everything that shows up on the outside is generally a

picture of what is working on the inside of us. There-

fore, mortification occurs in the realm of our

character.

The Holy Spirit begins a work of discerning the

thoughts and intents of our hearts, rooting out systems

of thought and soulish strongholds that cause us to fail.

As we keep praying in tongues for personal edification,

He tears down any strongholds of the soul that have not

been constructed by God’s Word.

At the same time, the Holy Spirit constructs a

superstructure in our spirit man by imparting

revelation knowledge of God’s Word. For what

purpose? To mature us, to edify us, and to build our

lives higher and higher into God.

The Word of God is a two-edged sword that divides

asunder soul and spirit (Heb. 4:12). It is the only

qualified agent to deliver such a distinct blow between

spirit and soul. And in this purging process that

encompasses all the realms of the soul and spirit, it is

the only standard I trust as I endeavor to understand

the Holy Spirit’s work inside of me.

It doesn’t matter how many devils come to clamor

against my soul. I’m going to brace myself against the

attack and still choose only the Word for my standard.

That two-edged sword has penetrated my spirit, and I

refuse to believe anything or anyone that is not in line

with what the Word has declared.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

UNTIL NEXT TIME

LARRY