Understanding the internal warfare of the laws of God, of the mind and of your members.
To my fellow soldiers of the cross, believers, and to those who are yet unable to believe.
I bring warm greetings from a grateful, refreshed heart. As much of my burdens for the people assigned to my words are birthed from a real journey of love, imperfection, trials and victory, you know I must start this ventilation of the word of life from the place it was birthed.
Believe me, it is not always easy receiving a word from a spirit, because the word doesn’t enter through your ear it enters through your life.
So when a minister of the word in any fashion dispenses a word that hosts spirit and life, it is because in some form, that living word first passed through them - there can be no exceptions. The experience varies; sometimes it is like a gentle dove coming out of the skies, other times it is a scroll sweet in the mouth and bitter to the belly.
Don’t be quick to judge your seasons of discomfort, they don’t often reveal their true source or intentions on the surface. I’m not sure how the world deals with discomfort. I do know that when I was of the world discomfort usually produced anxieties, depression, bad choices and fear. In this present life in Christ, in Truth, discomfort signals a change of perspective, a new season or a call to deeper realms of intimacy with the Spirit that governs me; a brooding that transforms my life.
And what is the life of man? A guided study of Genesis 2:7 helps us understand that the life of a man is defined by his mind, will and emotions. Anything that affects those things has changed your life. This is why although salvation regenerates the spirit, you can consider the soul a forever work in progress.
It is one of those choices you either make or it is made for you - every one of us is a WIP either of the Spirit of the Living God or the spirit of this age.
My recent discomforts have began to unpack into several understandings I will share in posts to follow. This particular one isn’t new but perhaps necessary for a reason best known to the Governor of my life and calling. It unfolded as I listened to the testimony of a man who experienced a particularly rough spiritual (and natural) upbringing.
You know, there is hardship that affects the soul, but when the roughness includes demonic covenants and ancestral rebellion is another story. If you’re African you’re likely to be close enough generationally to your family’s ancestral rebellion, so we’re not far removed from such. Our ancestors were into some super weird stuff, and I say that without judgment. After all the heart of man seeks to make sense of this world and will find that sense one way or another. How could you not search? We only need to look up in meditative reflection at the night sky or the sun in its splendor, and the explanation of a random explosion creating life and intelligence just doesn't cut it. I know that science appears as advancement but on some matters, the ancients knew things our generation can't be bothered to discern; there surely is a God and He orchestrated all life and creation, whether you like Him or not.
Anyway, this man said something simple that struck me: salvation is instant (upon confession and belief) but deliverance and healing takes time. Pretty simple, but spiritual things aren’t importantly realms, portals or seraphim, they’re love and kindness and peace. So a person gets saved, and then the salvation of the soul begins. This process is often either underestimated or disrupted. I made up my mind to write about the fragmentation of the soul from trauma of just existing in the world. Then as I went into a personal spiritual retreat this past weekend I found myself drawn to the book of Romans, going deeper into a study of the governance of the soul.
One thing ever I’m grateful for is to have teachers after the heart of God (Jer 3:15), that feed me with spiritual knowledge, fast tracking my growth with revelations they labored into.
A father in the faith once expounded to me the range in the soul of man. In comparison to the spirit of a man that can house only one entity at a time, the soul can house many many expressions. When people think possession we usually think dungeons and dragons, but anger, envy, greed, corruption are natural expressions of spiritual things. The mad man at Gadara was occupied by many of such spirits, although the scope of his possession (living among the dead in tombs, schizophrenic behavior) indicated that his spirit was also possessed and there was a new governor in his abode. Either way, when he was rid of the infestation, Jesus sat him down at his feet to study and begin the renewal of his mind (Luke 8:35). Now the new creature in Christ has a spiritual occupant in the Holy Spirit, and cannot be possessed in the spirit but the soul is not only susceptible but might be fragmented - broken.
I’ve heard of and personally known at least one man who watched his mother violently abused by his father, in tears and sorrow for her condition but going on to do the same thing to their spouses, shedding the same tears they offered their mother after every incident. This is an example of what a breakage in the soul can cause.
A traumatic experience produces a negative reaction (offense is a favorite) which is legal ground for the entrance of spiritual manipulators of the life (will, mind/intellect or emotions) of a man. Whether these invasions of the original state of the soul is in the case of a remorseful unbeliever or a repentant believer, Paul puts it quite perfectly:
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” Romans 7:18-19 NKJV
I’ve discussed here how the “flesh” is more a spiritual than a bodily entity. Which is what makes the long past teachings of fanatics who advocated self-flagellation (self torture) as a means of penance, ridiculous. This is because the volition (power to perform one’s will in action) is a “soulical” component and not physical.
So Paul is saying I will go do good but I find myself unable to perform my will. And it is not as a result of not being reborn in Christ, Paul certainly was. Look around today and many reborn Christians struggle with the same sinful desires as those who are yet unable to believe. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but something to be understood. Shame is a cheap device to keep people bound in ignorance, and I have to remind myself of that often. The real issue is what is described in Romans as “another law in my members”.
“For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Romans 7:22-23
Have you ever struggled with something you do not want to do but find yourself doing? Some people do what they do not want to do, in tears but unable to stop until it is done. The reason is that there is a law at work. At rebirth, the spirit inherits the law of God in it through the Holy Spirit, and as we journey with the Holy Spirit in us, the mind (soul) learns the law of righteousness in spirit and in practice.
But when a soul has gone through trauma and damage it is broken up, fragmented into pieces, some of which can still express life through the lens of what we suffered or experienced in our body (or natural realm) in times past. So your mind learns that anger means you have given up your power to another, but there is still a button that can be pressed in your emotions (soul) that yields that response. Or your mind knows that fornication is against the law of God (and quite frankly bad for you and your generations to come who have to be birthed in that iniquity, please dears) but a certain sound or shape presses a button in your soul that you have not yet overcome.
The remedy for this condition of the soul is walking. No, not exactly a walk in the park although that does the body lots of good. I mean, a practice.
“that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:4-6 NKJV
That’s it: we do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. That passage also goes on to tell us what that implies practically - we set our minds on things of the Spirit.
How do you set your mind on a thing? The Living Word tells us that only the posture of the Gadarene man, sitting at the feet of Jesus in study and fellowship, can renew the mind setting it on a new thing than what it has been used to. I often harp on to anyone who will listen about the practice of faith, which in fact is what I am called to understand and dispense. But this helps us see that a practice of faith is critical. It’s not because God needs your time, it’s because He wants you whole.
Which brings me to deliverance and healing. Well, we’ve been talking about it this whole time because whether your condition is lust or fear or pain, healing and deliverance is an ongoing process that comes down to how you live.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2 NKJV
Yes, you won’t get it right all the time but there’s no scorecard for the new creature (truly living) in Christ. There only a desire to walk by the Spirit and that desire and practice is the only thing that can win the internal war.
For it is only “by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, [and] live.” (Romans 8:13)
Ultimately, give growth time. The fragmentation of the soul runs deep and some things do resolve sooner than others - like a broken bone. But all things take a good walk, to maintain; hence why we practice the faith.
And it feels good to practice this faith. From someone who’s seen both sides in depth, I wouldn’t trade this life for anything.
Grace-Grace.
BONUS: PRESS PLAY on this snippet from a podcast I was on. Mustard is a brilliant purpose driven venture helping brands succeed by finding their "why". We discussed the intersection of passion and wisdom, in starting something that impacts lives. LINK to the full chat.
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