Kindle Notes & Highlights
We are called to overcome because Jesus saved us from the penalty of sin and also saves us from the performance of it, by reproducing His life and the fruits of His grace in us.
Sin goes against everything he stands for, and ultimately sin is the betrayal of our Friend.
The stakes are greater than in the war against
terrorism because they are eternal, and this enemy is deadlier than the jihadists because he is not across the shores but right here, among each of us. It is the greatest battle humanity faces. It is the war against self.
Yet, this is the battle every Christian is called to fight. It is a true holy war, a battle against self, against our human nature. Losing this war signals losing everlasting life. Victory will cost everything. There can be no treaty, no peaceful coexisting with the Christian and self. One must die in order that the other may live.
Those who wrestle with addictions such as pornography, drugs, alcohol, and lustful thoughts must realize that they are battling the supernatural; thus, without the supernatural grace of God, they are hopeless.
Whatever you think, he knows; whatever your weaknesses, he is fully aware and all too eager to betray these secrets into the hands of unholy angels. He is your own worst enemy. Make no mistake—he is your personal terrorist. You have met the enemy—and he is you. No enemy but self. This is to be our understanding.
Self is often minimized, even harbored and protected. You may think, “I would never do something like that. ” This attitude of underrating your enemy is deadly.
The Holy Spirit is the warrior’s warning system that self is about to launch an offensive. Sadly, this warning is often ignored, and—like September 11 and Pearl Harbor—we are caught off guard.
battle wounds of war pierce deeply, and we all need healing. But true healing turns victims into victors.
When you rise each morning, do you see yourself as a soldier or civilian, a victim or victor? The answer will make all the difference. If you have been playing the Christian civilian, now is the time to identify the enemy, make a declaration of war, and enlist.
The Christian’s goal is to be free from the dominion of self, free from allowing the sinful fallen nature to dominate him or her. We must “contain” self.
Our wrath is tainted with self and gets us into trouble. God’s wrath is against sin (see Hebrews 1:9). We must possess and pray for this holy wrath. “Be ye angry, and sin not” (Ephesians 4:26).
The kingdom of heaven must be taken by violence, spiritual violence (see Matthew 11:12), which means we must fight earnestly, passionately, and with faith against the greatest terrorist we will ever face—and that is our sinful selves. May the spirit of the warrior Jesus Christ infuse you with a hatred for sin.
sin.
Hence, the warrior’s only hope is to connect himself with One who is also supernatural. All the warrior’s dependence must fall upon his connection with the God of heaven and earth. God will grant His warriors supernatural power, not to float or do tricks, but to subdue our fallen human nature. Supernatural means to be above nature, and this is exactly the kind of power we may receive from Christ, power to rise above our natural tendencies to sin and selfishness.
The divine nature is the only thing that will prevail against the carnal nature (see Galatians 2:20), and we can receive that divine nature only through a vital spiritual connection with God.
Our pursuit of war is our pursuit of freedom from the tyranny of self. Not only must we crave the death of self, we must also crave “the blood of the Lamb”, the only source by which we are enabled to overcome self (see Revelation 12:11). “Then Jesus said unto them,
Where there is no purpose, there is no mission, and no reason to fight. The warrior without a cause ceases to war with passion to win. Our mission as holy warriors is the conquering of our own hearts, a turning of our hearts from the kingdom of darkness to that of light.
This spirit of war against the flesh (that is, our sinful nature) is received into the soul through the born-again experience.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5, 6). In other words, the fruit of the flesh is flesh, the fruit of the spirit is spirit. This is the law of like producing like. We must be
born of the spirit if we desire the fruit of the spirit. As the flesh “lusts” against the spirit, so the Spirit “lusts” against the flesh. The word lust simply means desire. It is critical to understand that the Spirit also “lusts,” that is, it desires. The desire of the Spirit is righteousness. The evidence of the born again warrior is that he has the lust (desire) of the Spirit. “The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath” (Proverbs 11:23).
We are also told that lust “conceives” (see James 1:14, 15). If the lust is evil, it brings forth evil fruit. The opposite is also true. For the fruit of the Spirit to become a reality within us, we mu...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
righteou...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
These nine “fruits” are the basic building blocks of righteousness. They are the sum total of the character of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit received into the heart produces within us a spirit identical to its own.
A fearless warrior is one who loves Jesus with all his heart. Through the spirit of love, the warrior is willing to give all, everything he has.
Mastery of this spirit means to possess a willingness to lay down our lives, that is, to conquer self for Christ.
The sons of this world have sacrificed themselves for the love of an earthly country. The sons of heaven should be moved with a love for their country as higher than the heavens are above the earth. The kingdom of heaven must be our battle cry, our cause for which to die.
Whatever we are called to do all day will certainly become a burden unless we actually enjoy doing it.
Successful conflict with self only serves to make us better warriors, which in turn increases our joy and desire to step up the battle.
we are called to partake of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), and the joy of winning over self is just as natural to the divine nature as the joy of winning over others is to the sinful human nature.
The reason why one may so poorly endure trial, temptation, and shame is because the joy is not set before him. His weakness becomes a lack of joy. He cannot see the joy of testing, and cannot grasp that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28).
Joy moves us without thinking twice to do what is right. For the warrior, this spirit of joy enables him to ungrudgingly lay his will, his life, and his desires at the foot of the cross. It is his highest pleasure to serve the Lord.
the war to maintain our peace in the midst of the angry storms of life.
The greatest warrior is the one who can maintain his peace in the midst of temptation and trial.
Peace is our defense from offense. The appropriately maintained spiritual fruit protects us from the trap of retaliation. Peace then may be likened to our defense system. Our war becomes the war to hold our tongues, to remain calm and collected. We win or lose this in proportion to our mastery or failure to master this spiritual fruit.
Holy warriors will realize that theirs is the battle of a lifetime. They are, by their vows of baptism, sworn to war against self until death. But because the spiritual fruit of endurance is not mastered, many tire and leave. For others, patience seems as easy to lose as one’s keys.
The moment we lose our joy is the moment we lose our patience.
We are commanded to endure, to outlast temptation. We are to be the ones left standing in this holy war, not our sins.
“Death before dishonor” was the ancient code of honor for first century Christians. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11). So it must be for us in our battle against self. Only then can we fight a good fight.
Faith eliminates the damaging and discouraging power sight often has over us.
The Christian warrior has nothing to boast about, except the power of God. The fruit of meekness glorifies God and puts man’s glory in the dust. The best fighters are the meekest fighters.
As long as we are empty, the oil will continue to flow! The secret to fullness is emptiness.
It is in our emptiness that God’s power is activated in us.
“You might as well stand and fight because if you run, you will only die tired.” —Vern Jocque-Sei Shin Kan.
The spirit then not only leads us but also moves us. It is action and reaction performed in us, possessing us yet granting us freedom to move in the Spirit. Those who would be led by the Spirit must first be moved by the Spirit. Those who want to be guided by the Spirit must first yield themselves to the Spirit.
In neglecting this law, we are actually resisting the movement of the Spirit. The power of the Spirit is forceless. That is, He does not operate by force or coercion. He will not move those who resist. And the warrior who seeks to win against self, yet resists the moving of the Spirit, is a warrior who is going nowhere fast!
A body (person) then under the force of the Spirit cannot rest. Like Jeremiah, God’s word becomes a fire in his...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.” Those not under the Spirit’s law of motion are under the flesh’s law of motion. These motions of the flesh originate in the mind; what we do in the flesh is first in motion in our minds.
The direction of our thoughts dictate the direction of our action. A chess player makes his move mentally before physically. The same is true of the boxer, the martial artist, the street brawler, and the general.
