The battlefield for this age is the soul. It is evident that since the time of the early church and especially with our modern flood of information the warfare of the battle has increased tremendously. The main battlefield is for our hearts and worship is central to that battle. It is a battle against your mind to control what you think, affecting your emotions and trying to mold your determination.
The real action is not what you can see with your physical eyes, but spiritual forces all around us. The powers of darkness are the unseen forces motivating the desires of the lower nature towards idolatry. In the dimension beyond what we can physically see with our natural eyes is where the real action originates. Do you see radio waves or Wi-Fi running through your house? No, you don’t. How about 5g transmissions? No, because it moves by the power of the air beyond what we see with our eyes.
The Battle for the Human Soul: Navigating Spiritual Warfare in the Digital Age
We live in a spiritual world, but we have a physical body. It's part of being human. We need to understand that this present evil age is inspired by dark spiritual forces the Bible calls this present darkness. The continuous stream of information in our society since the introduction of the Internet makes the scope of the battle much more intense for the affections of man. If you don’t discern the spiritual warfare that is attacking your mind, will and emotions then you will be overcome by it.
It is why it is so important to daily renew our minds and to meditate upon the word of God. It’s so that we will have faith to overcome this world.
It takes daily discipline to exercise spiritually. We live in a physical body that needs to be taken care of by eating well and exercising. If we don’t discipline ourselves to eat the right foods and exercise then we are going to be out of shape, overweight and not live healthy lives. In the same way our spiritual man needs to be fed and our faith needs daily exercise to be developed. The daily discipline of prayer and a consistent intake of the word of God is the framework for the spiritual man to develop. Let’s take a further look at developing the spiritual discipline of daily meditation which is one of the keys to living the victory of faith.
The Distinction Between Logos and Rhema in the Word of God
The two Greek words logos and rhema are used to translate the one English word we use for the word of God. To some there is a debate as to if there is really that much of a distinction between the two. I have come to the conclusion that there is a difference between the logos word of God and rhema word of God. In generalities the logos is the teaching of the whole of scripture in general. In Hebrews 6:1 the King James Version of the Bible says the doctrines of Christ. The New American Standard says the elementary teaching about the Christ. The word translated into doctrine and teaching is logos. We don’t establish doctrine through the rhema which is the word of God that is personalized to our specific needs and meeting others needs. False doctrine is the result of personal revelation and taking text out of context.
The Vines Expository of Dictionary Words explains this difference between logos and rhema. The significance of rhema as distinct from logos is exemplified in the instruction to take the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God Ephesians 6:17, here the reference is not to the whole Bible as such, but to the individual scripture which the Spirit brings to our remembrance for use in a time of need, a precondition being the regular storing of the mind with scripture. We need both the logos and rhema. The logos has everything to do with the systematic teaching that we are doing in this school of discipleship.
It is important that we regularly study the word of God, yet at the same time we must be open to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will breathe upon our hearts to bring the word alive to us, so that it becomes not just a word, but our own personal word.
The rhema is a specific word for a specific situation we are facing in life. It’s what Jesus was saying when he said that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It is by the rhema word of God that faith is released so needs will be met, bodies will be healed, lives will be changed and God’s divine direction will be given. The rhema word from God will produce a living overcoming faith. However, it is only as we learn to meditate upon the word of God that we are going to see the word become alive in us. Christ is more than a book: He is alive.
Jesus said that the words which I speak, they are spirit and they are life. We must move beyond a mere intellectual study of the word, which is important to the word of God working in and through us. Jesus is our prototype and he had one mission and that was to do the will of the Father. Fulfilling the will of God for our lives is the very essence of living a fulfilled life in this age. Jesus had a consistent time of prayer along with the apostles.
The Power of Meditation: Starting with Sound Doctrine and Strong Foundations
The first step to meditation however is getting the right thoughts to ponder and then spending our time focusing upon those thoughts. It’s why I put this first section of this School of Discipleship together and made the first section centered around sound doctrine along with the foundations of our faith. If we start off wrong in our thinking then we are going to end up in the wrong place, doing the wrong things. The strongest principle, which shapes and influences a person’s thought patterns, is the principle of identification. Whatever it is that we most strongly identify with is what we will become like.
It takes 21 days to develop a habit. I am asking you to give yourself at least 15 minutes daily in the morning or before you go to sleep to meditate on the word of God.
Jesus said in Matthew 4:4 when he was tempted by the devil that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus was telling us that we sustain the spiritual man by partaking of the word of God because it is from it that we truly live. We then see in John chapter 4 that Jesus also talks about the water of life. The story of the woman at the well has been one of those chapters in the Bible that has opened my understanding to the unseen God.
It helped me to see that the unseen God who created all things is present in our here and now filling our souls with his life-giving Spirit.
In the conversation that Jesus had with the Samaritan woman he clearly demonstrated that God does not live within the boxes of man made religion, but He declared that God is Spirit. We need soundness of truth and sound doctrine, but if we don’t have the life-giving Spirit of God causing that word to be alive, then the Bible is just words in a book.
Jesus’s conversation with the woman at the well was one of the keys that helped me to really understand Jesus’s teachings about the Spirit of God in this present age.
We are no longer waiting for God to be present in our here and now we just have to open up our hearts. We can taste of the age to come now. We can partake of the Spirit of life now and we can drink in the heavenly glory of the age to come in the here and now. It’s why Jesus told us to pray. Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, but we are only getting a taste in this present corrupt age.
Our ultimate blessed hope is that Jesus is going to return physically to this earth, resurrect the dead, give those who are alive at the time resurrection bodies, judge and rule the nations from the city of Jerusalem. It’s what he called the 'end of the age' and told us about the conditions before his return as laid out in Matthew 24. It’s going to begin the restoration of all things, as Peter said in his first sermon in Acts 3:21. However, until then our bodies and hearts must be the place where his kingdom rules. It’s the rule of His Spirit over our lives.
He has broken in upon our reality, we just need the eyes of our hearts open to see that reality. Faith is the channel by which we reach out and touch the age to come.
It’s what all men and women of faith have tapped into throughout the redemptive story. You don’t have to fully understand the spiritual realm to operate in the spiritual realm. I’m not a computer person so I can’t tell you the technicalities of how I get on the computer and talk to people across the oceans through technology because I can’t see it with my physical eyes, but it works and I use it. Faith is not always understanding everything and having everything figured out. Faith is walking, living and allowing the life of the Spirit to live within you.
I Corinthians 13:12 says in this age we see in a mirror, darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully even as also I am fully known. We are limited in our understanding and operating function during this age because we are tied to the earthly realm through our bodies. The victory of faith is about overcoming this world through the Spirit of God in our hearts. It’s letting the incarnation live through us even if it's only partial during this age.
In this age we are going to struggle as we fight the good fight of faith.
Paul in I Corinthians 9:24-27 said that we need to run with purpose and direction. We need to fight so that we hit the target and are not just swinging our arms in the air. To do this we need to ask ourselves. What is God wanting from us? Why do we exist? Why are we here? What are we supposed to do? It can all be summed up in the will of God.
It’s God's will that we walk in love. Love is the nature of God and it’s out of faith working through love that we produce the fruit of the Spirit. The foundation is faith working through love, but the details of your personal journey will be lived out day by day as you pursue Him. The details are identifying, developing and putting into the practice the gifts that he has given each one of us. However, it’s only as we are saturated from the inside out with the Spirit that we can live out the will of the Father.
Jesus as the Prototype of Our Walk Of Faith
Jesus is the prototype and he was connected to an open heaven being guided by the Spirit. Paul was teaching this same thing in II Corinthians 4:13 when he talks about having the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, I believed and so I speak, we also believed and we also speak.
Faith speaks, but not like a parrot just reciting what it’s been trained to recite. Faith speaks out of the heart. It’s a heart that has been transformed by the Spirit descending from the throne of the lamb. Faith is based on the will of the Father not the whims of our emotions nor the carnal cravings of our fleshly desires.
Context, context, context. Stop now and read II Corinthians 3:7 until II Corinthians 5:5 and you will be amazed at what Paul was actually teaching. He wasn’t teaching us the wealth and health American gospel that far too many have been made to believe. He was teaching us an ancient faith that believes in the heart and confesses with the mouth like Abraham did when he believed God. Abraham was told to meditate on the stars of the heavens and ponder how the creator of heaven and earth would fulfill his word to Him.
Meditation is fixing our attention on an unshakable kingdom in a transitory world.
We are encouraged to have our minds renewed, to set them on heavenly things and Paul told us that we have been seated in heavenly places. All of these speak of the redemptive story of the cross which is the pathway of our journey of faith. God’s Word Translation says faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see. It’s seeing the unseen as more real than the seen. The understanding of the life of faith taught to us is in Hebrews chapter 11 is part of Hebrews chapter 12.
Hebrews 12:1-3 says Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted. It’s faith that helps us to turn from sin and push forward in the fight of faith pursuing the will of God. We do it by focusing on our covenant with Christ and identifying with the cross walking by faith through love. It is the exact same message that Paul is teaching us in II Corinthians chapter 3 thru 5.
Meditation is where we have our hearts formed so we need to make sure we are thinking, pondering, mulling over and over the right thoughts.
Paul talked about being renewed in the spirit of our minds. Jesus told us that what we put into our hearts is going to come out of our mouths. It’s why it is so important to store up the word of God in our heart and to hide it in our hearts. Faith is taking the word that is written upon our hearts through meditation and bringing it into the seen. Whether for good or bad we do that which we have meditated upon. We don’t just get up and do something. We first spend time thinking about it, before we do it, even if we don’t realize that’s what is going on.
The truth is that we are going to habitually think about something. It’s the way God has created us to be, which is contemplative worshipers. We are shaped by that which we set our affections upon.
Inner motivation and affections that make their impact on our conduct are the result of the meditations of our heart. The strongest principle which shapes and influences a person’s thought patterns is the meditations of the heart. Jesus said it’s out of our heart that we are justified or condemned.
How does the person who robs a bank become a successful bank robber? Do they just one day walk in and rob a bank? No, they meditate on the idea, imagine themselves doing it over and over until they master the technique. People who are fearful or have panic attacks are spending time meditating on the worst-case scenarios. It’s why fear overcomes them and paralyzes them. The pro baseball player that hits home runs or the pro golfer who makes golf look easy both spend an enormous amount of time pondering their technique and seeing themselves hitting the ball.
The power of meditation is a key to transformation. It’s how both good and bad habits are formed.
It’s part of being made in the image of God because it is the creative power of God at work in the heart of man. The victory of faith, is allowing the immovable things that you can’t see to capture the eyes of your heart. The word of God is unchangeable, but our circumstances are subject to change and we live in a transitory world that is subject to change.
We have to put our faith in the unshakable kingdom of God. We have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken. It’s here and now within us, but we are living in the tension between two ages. We are tasting, longing earnestly expecting the full realization of the coming age when death shall be swallowed up by the victory of our full redemption. However, until that full realization we are overcoming this world by faith.
The beauty of the gospel is that in this age God is using corruptible vessels to display his glory. Paul called man’s body a clay jar which is frail dust that fades away and Peter said all flesh is temporal like grass that withers. It’s why we must walk in humility and the daily renewal of the inward man.
In the last lesson I talked to you about pathos which is the diseased condition of the soul. We all have areas in our souls that have been damaged and it can create what Paul called a stronghold. Paul said in II Corinthians 10:3-5 that though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
A stronghold is a thought pattern keeping us from obeying God. We all have developed patterns of thinking and we all have patterns of thinking that oppose God from time to time. It happens as a result of walking in this corrupt world. It’s why Paul told us to not be conformed to the pattern of corrupt thinking of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we can do the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. It’s not three separate wills of God, but the one purpose of God along our journey that grows in stages.
We don’t get victory over this world all at once, we grow in grace and we grow in faith: in the same way that we grow in the natural world as children, then young men, then mature to fathers. It’s through spiritual growth that we find more and more freedom standing in the presence of God. II Corinthians 4:16–18 Paul says that though our outer self is getting older through the frailty of our humanity, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. It is the same terminology that the author of Hebrews used in chapter 11 describing faith.
I’ve walked through some difficult days in my life where if I did not have this perspective, I would have had no hope.
Hope is an anchor to the unseen God for our souls. He promises us that He will never leave us nor forsake us, no matter what situation we find ourselves in and that He will always give us victory over this world. The teaching of faith from Genesis to Revelation is that through our covenant with Christ we have a refuge from the storm. We have a rock to stand on when the waves come crashing in upon us and when everyone leaves us. Our creator is still standing with us, through every storm and every trial nothing can separate us from the love of God. If we have a little money or a lot of money our lives are dedicated to worshiping Him.
Faith is not about getting what you want, but about giving our lives to God and allowing him to captivate our hearts so that his will is done in us. The victory of faith is about aiming, focusing and being persistent along our journey because it’s the only way we are going to fulfill it. Paul called our journey through this age the good fight of faith because it’s going to be a struggle and to have victory we must aim. To hit a target, you have to see clearly what you are aiming for.
Hebrews 12 and the entire theme of the Bible says our main aim is to look to our covenant partner. Our identity in Christ is our aim and what we must intently focus upon. Peering deeply into the finished work of the cross. It’s making the main thing the main thing.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:21–23 that not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ I am going to talk about prophesying, laying on of hands for healing and deliverance from evil spirits in later lessons. Yes, I think these things are important and are part of our walk of faith, but they are not the main thing. Jesus said that we can do all of these things, not knowing him and be workers of lawlessness.
In Acts chapter 8:14-24, Luke tells us about the story of Simon the sorcerer who wanted to buy the ability to release the power of the Holy Spirit from Peter. Peter told him his heart wasn’t right before God because he wanted monetary profit and power from the gift of the Holy Spirit. The main thing is knowing God, walking in love and producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. If we don’t keep the main thing the main thing then we can be shipwrecked in our faith and if you have members aboard the ship, you are in charge of directing along the journey then those people are going to get hurt too. To have the victory of faith we have to stay focused on the main thing.
James 1:6–8 talks about focusing. To focus we must put away doubting which distorts our focus.
Doubting is having two competing thoughts and it’s having a divided heart. Doubting is turning back in our hearts like the children of Israel turned back to Egypt in their hearts while going through the wilderness. It makes us unstable, like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. Doubt is usually because we lose hope in the promise coming to pass.
Hope is an anchor to the soul that keeps our faith stable between the promise given and the promise fulfilled. It’s why Paul told us to take every thought captive and to take up our shield of faith because the enemy is going to resist our walk of faith. If he succeeds by captivating our heart causing us to lose hope, it will quench our faith and cause us to be unfruitful. We become double-minded, unstable and won’t walk as a covenant partner. A united heart in full surrender is where the victory of faith is obtained.
The final key to victorious faith is patience which is closely tied to hope. Hebrews 6:12 encourages us to be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. The word patience means continuance. The root word means...to stay under. You have to stay under the yoke of the Spirit because He united with the word in our hearts gets us through on our walk of faith. Patience will take you where God has promised. When difficulties come and they will, patience doesn't quit, but undergirds your faith, until you fully walk in the will of God.
Success from the Bible's perspective is not having a million dollars, a large home, three cars or anything we desire. Success is doing and completing the will of God.
As Paul was sitting in prison and it seemed as if all his life’s work was under attack, he was an overcomer. John the apostle wrote the book of Revelation on the isle of Patmos as a prisoner for his faith and he was an overcomer. Daniel lived as an adviser to the greatest ruler of his time. He lived in the royal palace and had access to all the amenities of wealth and power during this time. He chose to worship the God of heaven and refused to bow to the idols of Babylon and he was an overcomer. Moses rejected the riches, sexual pleasures and power of Egypt choosing his identity as a child of God and he was an overcomer.
Hebrews 12 encourages us to follow the example of those who have gone before us along this journey of faith. We don’t live in a vacuum, but throughout time, the victory of faith is the road less traveled, by those, who like Abraham have acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles in this present age. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking or meditating on that land from which they had gone out, they would have had the opportunity to return.
We not only start our Christian walk by faith, but we are to run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends, from start to finish.
Let’s review as we finish up this lesson. Faith pleases God. God is the God who operates by faith and He expects His children to follow His example. Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Faith brings us into a relationship with God. Faith is trusting God as our 'Heavenly Provider'.
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot see. As the God’s word translation says faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see.
Where does faith come from? Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. Faith brings us into a relationship with God and is the channel by which we fellowship, worship and have a relationship with Him. Paul the apostle says that the life which we live in the flesh we are to live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and delivered Himself up for us. In Ephesians 3:17 we are told that by faith Christ dwells in our hearts.
The Greek and Hebrew words for salvation imply the ideas of deliverance, safety, preservation, healing and soundness. We need to trust God to be involved with our necessities of life because He wants to meet our needs materially, physically and emotionally.
I want to encourage you to do the 21-day challenge I’ve given you which is spending at least 15 minutes in the morning or evening meditating on scripture. Meditation is an active participation with the word of God. It’s where we participate with the word and it becomes more than a fact in our head, but a part of our hearts.
Meditation is not a parrot just repeating, but more like a cow ruminating.
Cows take time digesting their food. In a nutshell when cows eat they go through a process of digesting their food so they can get the most nutrients out of it. Cows have 4 stomach areas. Cows eat it and the food goes into stomach one. Then they regurgitate the food back into their mouths to chew again and repeat this process 3 more times.
It’s called chewing the cud and it is a good example of what we are doing with the word of God. It’s what Paul called setting our minds on things above. It’s not staring off into space, but internalizing the word of God through memorization, confession and application.
It’s like when you watered your yard and you use a soaker hose. The best method of watering is soaking and that’s what meditation is soaking in the word. Let me end with this scripture from II Corinthians 3:17–18 Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
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Next Lesson: Lesson 13 - Baptism into the Body
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