View RSS Feed

The Only Way in Christ

Take His Word, the Sword of the Spirit, to finely divide our spirit, soul and body to walk after the spirit. This leads us to realize various truths that are key to spiritual life: 1) dividing, spirit, soul, body; 2) osas arminian; 3) partial rapture, 4) gap restoration; 5) Scriptural locality.

  1. Intuition


    As the soul has its senses, so too has the spirit. The spirit is intimately related to the soul and yet is wholly unlike it. The soul possesses various senses; but a spiritual man is able to detect another set of senses—lodged in the innermost part of his being—which is radically dissimilar from his set of soulical senses. There in that innermost recess he can rejoice, grieve, anticipate, love, fear, approve, condemn, decide, discern. These motions are sensed in the spirit and are quite distinct from those expressed by the soul through the body.

    We can learn about the sensing of the spirit and its many-sided character from the following verses:

    “The spirit indeed is willing” Matt. 26.41
    Perceiving in his spirit” Mark 2.8
    “He sighed deeply in his spirit” Mark 8.12
    “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior” Luke 1.47
    “The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” John 4.23
    “He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled” John 11.33
    “When Jesus had thus spoken, he was troubled in spirit” John 13.21
    “His spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols” Acts 17.16
    “He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit” Acts 18.25
    ‘Paul purposed in the spirit” Acts 19.21 ASV
    “I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem” Acts 20.22 ASV
    “(Be) fervent in spirit” Rom. 12.11 ASV
    “For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him” 1 Cor. 2.11
    “I will sing with the spirit” 1 Cor. 14.15
    “If you bless with the spirit” 1 Cor. 14.16
    “I had no rest in my spirit” 2 Cor. 2.13 Darby
    “We have the same spirit of faith” 2 Cor. 4.13
    “A spirit of wisdom and of revelation” Eph.1.17
    “Your love in spirit” Col. 1.8 literal

    From these many passages we can see readily that the spirit clearly senses and that such sensing is manifold. The Bible is not telling us here how our heart senses but rather how our spirit does. And it would appear that the sensing of the spirit is as inclusive as that of the soul. The spirit like the soul has its thoughts, feelings, and desires. But how we must learn to distinguish the spiritual from the soulical! We shall come to appreciate this difference if we are matured through the ...
  2. Prayer and Warfare

    Broadly speaking, a Christian who has not yet experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit is rather vague about the reality of the spiritual realm. He is like the servant of Elisha whose eyes were closed to that sphere. He may receive instructions from the Bible, yet his understanding is confined to the mind because he still lacks revelation in his spirit. But upon experiencing the baptism his intuition becomes acutely sensitive and he discovers in his spirit a spiritual world opening before him. By the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit he not only touches the supernatural power of God but contacts God’s Person as well.

    Now it is just there that spiritual warfare begins. This is the period when the power of darkness disguises himself as an angel of light and even attempts to counterfeit the Person and the work of the Holy Spirit. It is also the moment when the intuition is made aware of the existence of a spiritual domain and of the reality of Satan and his evil spirits. The Apostles were taught in the Scriptures by the Lord after Calvary; but they were made conscious of the real existence of a spiritual realm following Pentecost. Spirit-baptism marks the starting point of spiritual warfare.

    Once a believer has contacted the Person of God via the baptism in the Holy Spirit, he then has his own spirit released. He now senses the reality of the things and beings in the spiritual domain. With such knowledge (and let us call to mind that the knowledge of a spiritual man does not accrue to him all at once; some of it may, and usually does, come through many trials), he encounters Satan. Only those who are spiritual perceive the reality of the spiritual foe and hence engage in battle (Eph. 6.12). Such warfare is not fought with arms of the flesh (2 Cor. 10.4). Because the conflict is spiritual so must the weapons. It is a struggle between the spirit of man and that of the enemy—an engagement of spirit with spirit.

    Before he arrives at such a juncture in his spiritual walk, the child of God neither understands, nor can he engage in, the battle of the spirits. Only after his inner man has been strengthened by the Holy Spirit does he know how to wrestle with the adversary in his spirit. As he spiritually advances he begins to discover the reality of Satan and his kingdom and then it is that he is given to understand how to resist and attack the foe with his spirit.

    The reasons for such conflict ...
    Categories
    Spiritual Warfare
Page 5 of 5 FirstFirst ... 345