Winning the battle on the inside Part 2

Winning the battle on the inside Part 2

Deuteronomy 12:9	For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God giveth you.
10	But [when] ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and [when] he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;

Rest was equated with Israel coming into their inheritance

The New Testament equivalent is found in Mat 11

Matthew 11:28	Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29	Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Hebrews 4:9	There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

 Spirit Transformation

When we are born again our spirit received the very nature or  the spiritual DNA of Jesus. This seed when given the right conditions will grow and bring forth the image of Jesus in us.

Romans 8:29

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

The problem we have is incompatibility between our Sprit and Soul

Your soul has to come into rest in order for your spirit to flow out through it, but bringing your Mind and Emotions into rest is not easy. Israel’s rest was the Promised Land this was achieved by fighting for the land.

In the New Testament equivalent:  THE LAND IS YOUR SOUL

The incompatability between your spirit and your soul sets up a tension that is very destructive in terms of physical health and peace of mind. The Bible talks a lot about the importance of unity, but first unity must occur between our spirit and soul.

If you are to be sensitive to the Lord and walk with Him, your Soul has to come into rest.

Self Pity, Depression, Jealousy, Anger, Bitterness, Resentment, set up a barrier hindering Christ in your spirit from coming through our soul to the outer world. Your un-renewed mind comes into conflict with the mind of Christ in you and actually becomes an enemy of the Lord within us.

Romans 8:7

Because the carnal mind (natural mind) is enmity (an enemy) against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

When there is unity between your soul and spirit, the mind of Christ can flow easily through us.

Our will controls both our mind and emotions

God gave us a will so that we can choose or make choices on how we are going to live. The will must be surrendered to God and His will, this is a choice that sets the rules of the game. Once we surrender our will to the Lord we have to be careful to ascertain the mind or will of God and choose to follow it. This takes faith and an implicit trust in God.  Hebrews 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest.

The will of the Lord is understood through the written word and through revelation or God speaking to us.

Hebrews 4:11

Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Unity is first an inner quality

We live in an extremely competitive world, in sports, business, looks, and yes in church. Competition, wants to be better than the other person, this is diametrically apposed to Kingdom Ethics and it is based in pride. Remember God resists the proud. Pride is a terrible bondage; it is a time bomb just waiting to explode. There can never be any rest in competition. We strive to be fair to our children; we try to equalize everything out, but life is not like that, life does not deal the same cards to everyone. Life is not fair, if your children grow up believing the godless assumption that the world owes them, they are going to have hard time. Learning to handle injustice is part of your training. Children must learn to handle disappointment its part of life. A competitive spirit is alien to the Kingdom of Heaven; there is no competition in heaven. Godliness with contentment is great gain, being content with what God has purposed for us and seeking to attain the highest in it is a pure motivation for advancement in the Kingdom of God.

We must achieve a unity or compatibility between our spirit and our soul, the two must become one in order for God to use us at the level he wishes to. We must win this battle on the inside.

The Apostle Peter wanted to know what Gods purpose for the Apostle John, there was a little rivalry emerging here

John 21:21	Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what [shall] this man [do]?
22	Jesus saith what [is that] to thee? follow thou me.

When we don’t trust God we tend to become manipulative and controlling

1 Thessalonians 4:11

And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

The word study here is the Greek word: v4238. prasso, ; a prim. verb; to "practise",

The word quiet here is the Greek word 2270. hesuchazo, hay-soo-khad'-zo; from the same as G2272; to keep still (intrans.), i.e. refrain  meddlesomeness or speech:--cease, hold peace, be quiet, rest.

Practice to be quiet mind your own business.

We are supposed to be about our Fathers business. Come into rest let the competitive spirit go, love everyone being kind and good hearted, the is the nature of God and when it becomes the nature of your soul your become more compatible with the Lord.

Jesus clearly implies that there will be no rest to our souls until we are yoked to Him

Matthew 11:28	Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest
29	Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Take His Yoke: His plan for you rest in it: The battle on the inside must come to an end, only then will you have rest. Most of the greatest miracles of Jesus were performed on the Sabbath, the day of rest; this is a prophetic picture of what will happen when we come into rest our Sabbath.

Stop fighting for your rights, trust God, we must die to ourselves and live unto God.

Micah 6:8

He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

God Bless youN Johnson © January 2006