As men and women standing for marriage restoration and learning how to walk out the biblical principles of marriage restoration, we know all too well about the constant struggle between our flesh and spirit. But we also know that the spirit MUST win if we’re to have the victory we seek, 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 it’s very important to keep Ephesians 6:12 in mind, because it warns that …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. So we MUST realize and ALWAYS remember that our battle is not with others; including our spouses or the NCPs (non-covenant person) they may be involved with.

In fact, most of the strongest spiritual battles we fight are over the control of our flesh (body, mind and heart – our soul) by our spirit. But, just as He always does, the Lord tells us in John 6:63 exactly HOW our spirit will ALWAYS win the battle for control over our flesh; because it says The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. And we see how the Word of God does that in Hebrews 4:12, which says 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 gives us very specific and practical instructions about WHAT WE HAVE TO DO to overcome the control of our flesh; it says 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 of God, which John 1:14 teaches is synonymous with Christ, because it says The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
And there’s no doubt how important it is to understand that when we read 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. And then John 3:5-6 says 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.

So no matter how we cut it, there’s a very direct and undeniable link between our relationship with Jesus and the time and effort we dedicate to reading and studying His Word; because 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 in our lives, and the very sin that caused him to fall from grace is his most effective weapon to keep us from experiencing spiritual victory; and that’s a sin everyone standing for marriage restoration is way too familiar with, which is pride.

And 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, which is the only defense and protection mechanism most of us know. But God OPPOSES the proud and gives grace to the humble, so we HAVE to humble ourselves under His mighty hand with absolute faith and confidence that HE will lift us up in due time as we cast our cares on Him; just as 1 Peter 5:5-7 promises. But that definitely does not come to us naturally; yet it IS what walking in the spirit and giving our spirit the control it must have over our flesh requires.

I was greatly blessed last year when someone shared a link to www.Soleyn.com, and the following is an excerpt from one of the studies I found so enlightening, 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.
And since this is a message everyone standing for marriage restoration can certainly relate to, I strongly encourage everyone to listen to, Transitioning From Self-Reliance. It’s 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 overcome the hold pride has on our flesh. 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 learned an awful lot from the lessons I’ve listened to, because they are very applicable to many of the issues we struggle with as we take a stand in the spiritual battle now being waged against our marriages and families. One of the most important things I’ve learned through his teachings is that ANYTHING we think we can do, should do or attempt to do that God promises to do is pride. And since God OPPOSES the proud, we obviously need to learn a lot more about exactly what pride is and how it has such a destructive hold on our flesh; so we can overcome it, which we do ONLY by humbling ourselves under God’s mighty hand and relying on the grace and victory He gives us when we do. And when we overcome the hold pride has on our flesh, we will indeed be blessed and encouraged!

Posted Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 3:33 pm in Seeds Of Faith.