HOW TO OVERCOME ......The Internal Enemy inside of us

                                           Spiritual War!



OVERCOMING THE INTERNAL ENEMY


Introduction:

This topic is very important for everyone that wants to serve God faithfully, as well as those who want God to use them in doing exploits.  Many people are walking with a dual personality, the Spirit of God and their old man.  


This old nature of man, the un-regenerated soul, is the sin inside of you, which Apostle Paul spoke about.  He says that when you want to do good, but bad is what comes to mind, you want to love, but hatred comes to mind, then you should know there is sin, the old man living inside of the person.

Apostle Paul illustrated this point with himself in Romans 7.  This man was a strong follower of Christ, well anointed, an apostle of Christ, yet he alluded to the negative influence of sin working in his life.  This is why some Christians do what is least expected of them.  A minister will lead the Church in prayer, and within hours of his ministration, he is cursing and abusing someone.  It is the negative influence of sin, the 'old man' inside of such a Minister that is rising against him and causing him to do evil or fall into error.

A man must conquer himself.  

You must overcome the influence of this strange spirit through prayer and holy living, otherwise, one day the devil inside of you, which is also called internal enemy will rise against the person and throw him into error, that will not be your portion in Jesus name.  

This sin, 'old man' or internal enemy can be Lust, Jealousy, Bitterness, unforgiveness, Idol of your father's house, the spirit of polygamy etc.  It is hiding inside of the person and war against the person and his every effort to live holy.  In the life of unbelievers, the 'old man' is the controlling spirit and you can see this in the way they talk and the things they do.

But, in the life of a born again Christian, the old man hides inside the person, waiting for an opportunity to strike. The picture above could shock an ignorant person.  This picture is exactly how each person is structured in the realm of the spirit, until he receives deliverance, casting out the contrary spirit and the Spirit of God takes over.  

What is the inner man?

The soul of a person is the place, where life's decisions are made. The real you is the soul, and that is why the bible says 'The soul that sinneth shall die.  It is the soul that sinneth, though the body - your hands, eyes etc may be involved, it is the soul that is accountable to God for the actions of the body or a person.

Our spirits contain the inner man. our spirit is the part of us that the Holy Spirit of God communes with. Jesus said, “God is a Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). It is within our spirits that we are born again (John 3:3–6). The inner man is your 'old man' of sin and all iniquity.  He is the unrefined person that will have to be changed by the Word of God, to enable it desire and love the things of God, and come-at-par with the Spirit of God inside of you.  Without regeneration, there is no effective salvation yet.

Your “inner man” must be regenerated by the Word, before you can desire the things of God, otherwise, your desires and requests will be carnal, according to the flesh.  Romans 12:1–2 implores us not to be conformed to this world’s way of thinking; rather, our inner man must be transformed by the “renewing of our minds.” This mind-renewal comes about through study and meditation of the Word of God.  

It is the word that cleanses, so as we eat the word of God, sometimes, the word is our food in the morning and throughout the whole day.  We eat it, meditate on it and obey the word, this happens when you are observing a dry fasting program.  Your food for the whole day is the Word of God.  If a person does this often, and live by the Word, the Holy Spirit will come into that person's life and help him to see his errors, mistakes and sins and to repent of them.  The same Spirit of God will enable us to make the necessary corrections.  


The struggle:

Romans 7 details the painful battle between our flesh and spirit. Our spirits, having been reborn by the power of God, long to obey and follow Jesus. But the flesh is still alive to resist the godly desires we have.  This battle will continue until we deliberately kill the flesh inside of us through the Word of God and obedience to the Word.  Romans 6 explains how we can allow the inner man to triumph over the flesh. Verses 6 and 7 say, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.” 

Until we consider ourselves “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), and walk that way, the soul and body will continue to battle with our spirit for supremacy. We continue to live in a state of defeat until we die to self and allow the Spirit to have full control over every aspect of our lives, both inner and outer man.

Dying to self and the world is to reject worldliness and its desires.  If you desire to listen to their music and watch their films and videos, you are feeding your soul with worldliness, instead of the Word of God.  If you continue to join in their filthy jokes and gossips, you may be a Christian, but know that your soul is still in the world.  As long as your soul is still in the world, you cannot please the Lord.

It is God’s desire, that after salvation, our life is directed and guided by His Spirit, so we can grow in faith and mature to be entrusted with more important kingdom assignments.  But our fallen nature, the 'old man' want to rule.  He wants pleasure, entertainment, fame and all the good things of life.  He does not want to fast or even pray.  He is the proud one inside of you, who wants to be noticed and respected, and until we can starve him of his food, he will not lose his grip on the person. 

Who has the Upper Hands

If you look closely at the picture, the two spirits are looking formidable and of equal strength.  This is because the person has not decided which way to go - to serve God or to serve the devil, which is a life of sin, corruption, immorality etc.  When he decides, one of the spirits will reduce in size to show where the man is heading.

The flesh represents carnality and to be carnally minded is death, says the Lord, while to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The canal mind is enmity against God because of lawlessness, it is not subject to the laws of God and cannot be.

If you are a believer, your body has become the temple of the Holy Ghost, but you will continue to do those worldly things you are used to before you became born again, if you still have boyfriend or girlfriend, tells lies, cheats people, take advantage of people, then you are still in darkness and the spirit of darkness - Flesh is the one ruling your life.  But, if you yield yourself and your members unto righteousness, the Spirit of God will take charge of your life and gradually transform your life for better.  

How to kill the Flesh: 

1. When you reject sin and vow not to yield your body to sin.

2. When study and meditate on the Word of God and make it your way of life.

3. You obey the voice of God and His word written in the bible.

4. When you refuse to listen to worldly music, videos and filthy jokes; or when you stop reading worldly magazines, you deny the flesh its 'food'.

5. When you become dead to sin and every evil appearances and temptation.

6. When you do not play with sin when you confess and confess every wrongdoing before God
7. When you ask God to guide you and direct your path daily.

8. When you refuse to be afraid of anything or to be anxious for anything.

9. When you give God thanks in every situation, including when you lose something dear to you.

10. When you reject Satan and all his alternatives, short-cuts and focus on God.

A battle for the Soul

You have the Spirit of God and the forces of darkness contending for the souls of men from within the inside. The forces of good and the forces of evil.  You have the spirit of a man and the spirit of a woman, the spirit of light and darkness.  You have living inside of you the Spirit of the Lord and the Flesh.

This is the reason why you can see a man dressed as a woman with high heel shoe and heavy make-up.  That's the spirit that is controlling him. You see a woman dressed, walking and talking like a man, saying what a man can do, a woman can do also...that's the spirit controlling her - the spirit of a man.  She does not see herself as a woman, except for her female organs.  When the spirit of a woman is controlling a man, you will notice that man will be thinking about women and sex all the time, his heart will not be pure and it will be hard for him to live holy. That person needs deliverance to be free!


The spirit of a woman is the spirit of lust.  When it is controlling a man, such a man can hardly please the Lord, no matter his position in the church.  Spirit of lust must be dealt with immediately other, it will deal with the person. One day, the spirit will send a charming lady to the man and if God is not standing by him, such a man could fall.

Believers are at war with the evil powers of darkness (Eph. 6:10-20). We’re engaged in the battle because the devil does not want people to know the truth, that will set them free.  There is also another battle going on within the inside of you, between the flesh and the spirit, the old man and the new man (Gal. 5:17). If we do not learn how to overcome the strong inner urge to gratify the flesh, sin will take us captive and enslave us. Paul describes this war within in Romans 7:14-25.

There is a continual battle against indwelling sin (the flesh or the old sin nature).  To win the war within, we must understand the magnitude of the inner conflict.  Even though Paul had experienced a dramatic conversion, it didn’t immediately result in a life of consistent victory over sin. 


Weapons of the 'old man'
In this battle, you have the old man consisting of - The spirit of lust, all filthiness, smuggling, rebellion, worldly fashion, drinks, adultery and fornication etc.  The old man operates using different techniques and styles to fight a relentless and cunning spiritual war with the believers.  Paul says, “But I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war ….” The war that the old man wages is a guerrilla war. 

It doesn’t wear red coats and come marching towards you in formations so that you can see it coming. It uses other things like spiritual roadblocks, making you fall into errors that are grievous to God so that God Himself can destroy the person.  That's what the old man does when the devil sends a woman to a man to deceive him to fall into fornication and adultery so that God will deal him a blow.

The Inner man or the old man use land mines and hidden roadside bombs and civilians posing as friends when really they’re enemies. In other words, sin is subtle and cunning. It lures you into traps where you get ambushed. And it’s relentless. If it loses one battle, it doesn’t pack up and go home, conceding defeat. It keeps coming at you until it brings you down. My prayer is that after reading this message, the enemy will never cheat you again.

How to Overcome

1New Spirit - But, on the contrary, the Lord gives a new believer new heart and new desires. You have a new love for Christ, who gave Himself on the cross for you. You love God’s Word and desire it like a newborn babe desires his mother’s milk (1 Pet. 2:2). You long to be holy, and righteous, just as Jesus is holy. You hate your own sins and vow never to go back to them again.

2. Feed on the Word daily - If you feed on the Word of God, the flesh will diminish and its influence in your life will go down.  Reject their worldly music, video and entertainments.  Don't watch, don't listen.  Be content with the Word of God and activities in the Church.

3. Reject every strange voice - Telling you to enjoy yourself.  To drink alcohol and visit your old lover etc.  Remember, the devil represented by the Flesh is interested in enjoyment, smoking and drinking and all immorality, but the Spirit of the Lord is interested in moulding the man after righteousness, to please the Lord.

4. Rebuke and cast away strange voice - Rebuke the voice, and command it to go away in Jesus Christ name.  The two-spirit is contrary to each - one is light and the other darkness.  so, you must be sensitive in the spirit to discern the voice of flesh and cast it away.  Any voice asking you to smoke, drink, go clubbing and get girlfriends and enjoy yourself, you should know such is a voice of the devil, seeking to pull the person down.

But if he listens to the voice of God and continually amends his way as the Holy Spirit will prompt him, soon his life, behaviour, belief and conducts will change for better.  When this happens, the Flesh will be reduced in size and it demands will also reduce.  

Conclusion:

The first step to conquering yourself is the awareness of a hidden force inside of you, that could influence your actions and the word you speak. Then you make effort, through prayer and consistent praying in tongues, cast out such negative influence.  Apart from prayers, you must feed your spirit man daily with the Word of God, meditate on it and do what the word says.  The scriptures are the food of the Spirit-man.  As you eat food daily, remember to feed your Spirit man daily also, with the word of God.  This will help you to be spirit-filled when you are word-filled.

The study of the word, meditating on it and doing it will make you strong in the spirit and empower you to resist the temptations of the devil and reject sin.  Beloved, you will win the battle of life and see the Lord at the end of your journey on earth in Jesus name.  Shalom!


FIRE...






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