As women standing for marriage restoration and learning how to walk out the biblical principles of marriage restoration, we know all too well about that ever present struggle between flesh and spirit. But we also know that the spirit MUST win if we’re to have the victory we desire, because Philippians 3:3 says For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— And we can’t ever afford to forget Ephesians 6:12, which says For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And that’s not just a reference to our battles with others, because many of the strongest spiritual battles we’ll ever fight are those fought for control between the realm of our flesh (or soul) and the realm of our spirit. And just as He always does, the Lord tells us exactly HOW to win that battle in John 6:63, which says The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. And Hebrews 4:12 further explains, saying For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. And then 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 tells us The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And that means making sure that our thoughts line up with the word, which is Christ according to John 1:1-4, which says:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
And that’s confirmed in John 14:6, which says Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

So no matter how we cut it, there’s a very direct link between our relationship with Jesus and the time and effort we dedicate to reading and studying His word, and the only way we’ll ever overcome the battle between our flesh/soul and spirit is through the awesome power of God’s word. But Satan never wants us to submit our flesh to the control of God’s word, and the very sin that caused him to fall from grace is his most effective weapon as he does his wicked best to keep us from experiencing spiritual victory, and that is the sin we’re all way too familiar with, which is pride.

As we study the Bible in search of marriage restoration principles, it’s obvious why submitting to the Lord’s word creates a lot of conflict within, because it requires us to TOTALLY ditch our pride, and that’s the only defense and protection mechanism most of us know. So we HAVE to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God with absolute faith and confidence that HE will lift us up in due time. And that’s just NOT natural, BUT it IS what walking in the spirit and giving our spirit the control it must have over our flesh requires. Yesterday, I was greatly blessed by the introduction to a website I was not familiar with, www.Soleyn.com, and the following is an excerpt from one of the studies I listened to this morning, in which Sam Soleyn stated:
So, the process by which we are transformed in our thinking is a process of death and resurrection where God takes you through and brings you through. The reason, obviously, and I’ve made this point but I’ll belabor the point to hammer it home, the reason that this is God’s way is that as long as we remain in the soul; as long as our soul governs our activities we are always going to operate out of the need to provide for ourselves and the need to protect ourselves, we’re always going to do that. And we will do that by total self-reliance on these three lusts: what needs to be done, how can it be done and can I do it, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and this is the entrapment that Satan has set for us.
I know everyone standing for marriage restoration relates to that statement, so I strongly encourage everyone to listen to this message, Transitioning From Self-Reliance, which is an awesome lesson about the battle between our flesh/soul and spirit, which is something we really have to understand BEFORE learning how to walk in the spirit. And the transcript, with the text of the Bible references inserted, is available at this link, which might be preferable for some, because Soleyn is a very deliberate speaker. But he’s an excellent teacher and I’ve already learned an awful lot from the six lessons I’ve already listened to, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be using more of them in future post, especially when they are so applicable to the issues we face as we battle the gates of hell for the restoration of our marriages. So be blessed!

Posted Thursday, November 9th, 2006 at 4:29 pm in Seeds Of Faith.