The Other War
By Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel
“Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul…” 1 Peter 2:11
When we talk about spiritual warfare, some people only think of the devil but there is another war that is not generally mentioned or even taught about yet it is a war that if you lose, then you lose the rest of the battle. That is the war with your flesh and worldly desires or lusts..
Let me remind us that our war with the devil does not contradict the victory Jesus already won for us for which we sing “He has given me victory I will lift Him higher….” This spiritual warfare is mostly enforcing the victory Jesus won for us on the cross. It is not a physical battle but a spiritual battle. These demonic spirits have no power over us. We are confronting the devil from a position of strength not weakness. From a position of Victory not defeat!
We must remember that we are dealing with THE LIES OF SATAN! The devil tries to deceive us by convincing us not to believe and appropriate what Christ did for us on the cross. Christians need to continue to fight the good fight of faith. This means holding on to the GOSPEL; MESSAGE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. YOU MUST CONTINUE TO BELIEVE ALL THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS AND HIS DEATH BURIAL AND RESURRECTION AND ALL THE BLESSINGS THAT ARE NOW YOURS THROUGH IT ALL.
This is how the battle goes.
Gen 3 “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'” 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings”. NKJV
He convinced them that the word of God is not true. He made them walk by sight and by doing that, they walked into serious trouble!!! All they needed to do was to stand on what God said and they would have received their victory. What word of God or privilege of the Cross has he already convinced you is not true because your personal experience contradicts the word of God?
There is no victory outside of Christ and the cross. You must CONTINUE TO BELIEVE THE TRUTH OF THE WORD INSTEAD OF THE LIES OF THE DEVIL..THAT IS WHY IT IS CALLED THE FIGHT OF FAITH..THE FIGHT TO BELIEVE OR NOT BELIEVE THE GOSPEL TRUTH!
The other war that is neglected yet important is war against the desires of the flesh. Losing this war is not an option because if you do, you won’t be able to win the war against demonic spirits. The desires of the flesh are terrible and harmful. If the flesh dominates, it automatically provides a platform for the devil to disrupt your fellowship with God and eventually lead to death which means leading one away from God the source of life. Romans 8:6, “For to be [a]carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Carnality leads to death because you are walking outside of God’s presence in disagreement with Him and His word and following your own wisdom.
The desires of the flesh will slow you down, just like a computer virus slows down and limits its operation. Until the applications causing the system to crawl are uninstalled, it keeps slowing your job down. So is your spiritual journey when you allow the things of the flesh to slow you down. These are the little foxes that spoil the vine. These things entangle us and cause spiritual blindness also. They are habit forming and can get a Christian into a vicious entanglement of those habits. It is called going into slavery or bondage again!!! Because they dominate your life. They so easily overcome you. That gives the devil a platform to work against you subtly but effectively.
When we allow the Spirit of Christ to dominate us, we become fruitful and no longer slaves to the flesh. However, the Holy Spirit will not force us to yield to Him. We must willingly give ourselves to the Holy Spirit to maintain victory over the flesh. Let us remember that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit we put to death or kill the works of the flesh. Never through human effort. This is where many well meaning Christians miss it. The power of the Holy Spirit is activated when we believe the word of God. Only believe what the word says then we see God at work or see the glory of God. So what do I believe in this regard? When you came to Christ and received Jesus into your life, you received His life and nature. You were created anew in true holiness and true righteousness. This is how you were changed into a new man!!! Ephesians 4:24 says “Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. “NLT
Your new nature is not by what you did but by what Christ did for you. That’s where our transformation begins, through faith in the word of God. If you believe this truth, you see the reality in real life!!!Only believe. Say so, act like it is so and it will be so. As a man thinks so he is. These desires will no longer attract you. Your mind is being renewed and you are being transformed by that process into the image of Christ already in your spirit
Secondly we need to know that we have choices to make. Each time the bible tells us about how to relate with God, the phrase, “With all your heart” is used(Pro. 3:5). This is because God doesn’t expect anything less. In 2 Tim 4:10 Demas was someone the Apostle mentioned loved the world and couldn’t continue to follow God. Following God requires a hundred percent commitment with all your heart, soul and mind, He must be your only treasure; no distractions! God wants all your heart.
Thirdly victory comes through constant fellowship with God’s word. The word is one major way He speaks to us. We must therefore learn to listen to Him when He speaks to us through the word and believe what He says so we can overcome the works of the flesh. You cannot do this in your power, but by faith in what Jesus did. The life of Jesus is in you. Only Jesus can remove the spots of sin on us when we accept Him as our savior and abide by His words. Just like a leopard cannot change it’s spots so you cannot change your sinful nature. Only God can through Christ giving you a new nature.
Our faith in Him makes us victorious. We must continue to seek Him with all our hearts, so we can remain overcomers over the flesh and the devil. Then our joy can be full.
Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel is the Senior Pastor of Fountain of The Living Word Church, New Jersey.
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