Ephesians
6:11
"Put
on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil."
This Scripture could just as
well have said it the other way around."Put
on the whole armor of God, so that you can stand for God." But
the scriptures do not say that. Instead it tells us to prepare for
our adversary. Then going into verse 12, and here is the reason we are
to put on that armor.
Ephesians
6:12
"For
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Do
you see how plain that is? These are all spirit powers that we
have to discern, they cause us all to trip up through such things as vain imaginations, wrong priorities and the like. They work primarily in and through our flesh as the voice of the flesh, in the external and material realm. "The only one we should be directed by is
the One and only Spirit that has anything to do with our inwards parts, which of
course is the Holy Spirit, the Godhead." For a moment we would like to
bring you back to Romans, because all the way up through
the Old Testament there is rare reference to the Holy Spirit. It is
back there, but not enough that you can say it was a real doctrine
for those people.I mean there were not masses of Spirit filled Spirit lead or even spiritual people back there. There were a few righteous ones but only a few saints of righteousness. They were the ones that walked with God, and in most cases that was Yehovah-Christ, though he did not carry that title then.
Jesus
of course in His earthly ministry, before He ascended, breathed on
the disciples, and said, "receive the Holy Ghost."
Then He also promised the coming of the Holy Spirit in John chapter
14, so we know it was a promised phenomena, but we do not have a lot
of information concerning the Holy Spirit except in Acts chapter 2,
when He came down on the day of Pentecost, as Jesus had promised He would, as an infilling Spirit. In the first 7 chapters of Romans we have almost no reference to the
Holy Spirit, but in chapter 8, He is all through the
chapter. But when we really
begin to understand the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives, as Body
of Christ members of this Gospel, we find that in Romans chapter 8 the following.
Romans
8:1-2
"There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law*
of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."
*the operating fact of our spiritual life, the law.
In
other words, what is the power that gives us the assurance of our
salvation? The One Holy Spirit. And we do not get any of this until
we get to this chapter. In verse 4.
Romans
8:4
"That
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, (as
believers) who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Do you see what a difference it makes? We have the law now
where? Written in our heart and impressed on our minds so we operate
in the Royal Law of Love by Grace in Faith, the royal Law of God. This law has no yoke or
burden attached to it as it is a law of Life in Christ. The operation
of the New Covenant in the power of an endless life, God's image and likeness restored in our soul. In verse 5, and
oh how Paul just explains the working of the Holy Spirit for us
as believers.
Romans
8:5
"For
they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but
(the flip side is) they that are after the Spirit (they
mind) the things of the Spirit."
Then you come on
down to verse 9, speaking to us as believers.
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