The Great Battle For Your Own Soul

 If our faith is anchored to natural things, we will be bound to The Land and we will never cast out into The Deep. The Word says that in order to SEE The Kingdom of Heaven a person MUST be Born Again. Scripture makes it clear that the natural man can not perceive Spiritual things. 

 The Lord instructs us to walk by FAITH and NOT by Sight. We are to trust in Him alone. Not man, not power, not riches, not armies, not our feelings, not even our own eyes and senses. He alone is our strong tower. He alone is our place of safety and comfort.

What are some of the the labels The Lord gave to His Children who turned from Him to find comfort in other things. How did He see those that found comfort in the ways and in the arms of The World and His Enemy.

Adulterer

Whore-monger

Idol Worshiper

Harlot

Faithless

Rebellious

What are some of the actions that led to God labeling His Children, that He loved dearly, with such harsh names? What steps did they take that caused them to move from a place of His Blessing to His Judgment?

They Saw Another Way

They Heard Another Way

They Turned Another Way

They Ignored God

The Blamed God

They Dishonored God

They Complained About God

 Let me explain more in depth. All the elements of what I mentioned above are attributes and side effects of a soul that is bound to natural things. Souls that have turned from Faith in God to find another way to meet needs and desires. They have turned their attention to things of the earth and the ways of pleasure. Just like in The Garden they trusted in what they could see, hear and feel instead of Gods Word. 

 In the Old Testament their Idols were all represented as false gods they worshiped, nations they turned to and pagan ways they embraced. However even then God made it clear the issue was their Adulterous heart and Idolatrous Souls. Very little was revealed about the issues of their souls, God exposed the issues of their souls through His description of their actions and words.

They just could not hold true and faithful to a God they couldn't see and feel. Their souls longed after the things of the world and the pleasures of the nations. The longings of their own souls  were The Idols that they just could not tear down. Their own desires became a strong fortress that even God would not tear down for them.

God had a plan to Give man a new heart, a new spirit and a new set of eyes. He accomplished all this in Christ. He gave us all things new. Made us new creatures in Christ. Yet, the soul is one aspect of our being that He will not invade, and that He can not take control of. Our souls and our bodies are ours alone to yield or to not yield. 

After 2000+ years of The Church Age it is clear that the ancient strongholds of mans soul are as in tact as ever, as well guarded as ever, and as deceitful and open to deceit as ever. Knowledge of God does not automatically conquer the dark places. "Faith" in God doesn't mean that these strongholds are not taking a terrible toll in our lives and in The Church.

  The Word says that a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. That he can not receive from God because he is tossed to and fro. He believes with all his heart and mind, yet when circumstances and natural things arise that cause him to be frightened,angry, hurt or uncertain, he turns from God and His Word and finds safety in natural things, the pleasures of the flesh, or even "Spiritual" things that allows him to fall back out of the battle without a sense of guilt. 

 Some of these strongholds of the soul are unassuming. They can be quickly dealt with, yielded and surrendered willingly to The Lord. However even these seemingly benign guarded places of the soul can rob a believer of great blessing, and worse rob the Church of her Authority and Power.

Unchecked,  these "minor" strongholds and safe places we create in our souls will begin to settle as an ancient foundation in us. They will grow on their own and effect us in ways we are blind to and ignorant to. Unlike the next type of strongholds I will expose, these allow a believer or minister to flourish and thrive, while quietly and secretly , the enemy and our own survival instinct, build a powerful hindrance that can lead to a great stumble and fall.

They can morph into a very dark, very damaging fortress within us that steal our destiny and joy.

When hard tests of faith come, or certain test of the soul come, the soul that has a hidden tower of safety apart from God, will always choose that well traveled track, offer sacrifices of spiritual things in the moat around their soul, enter through the gates and walls that they have always found safety in and abide in their well fortified tower.

They are bound to ever learning, ever praying, but never attaining all The The Lord has for them. Never coming to the full knowledge of The Truth.

No matter how much knowledge is obtained, no matter how many victories are won, no matter how spiritual we may seem, if our souls have become an Idol before God, we will always be limited in what He is able to do for us and through us. The Church,and The World we are supposed to reach, suffer greatly for that.

I want to make a statement here that will cause some to pause and hear, and some to reject it and retreat back to their safe place.

 I believe by observation, by how The Word describes what The Church should be doing and demonstrating, and by The Spirit, that a vast majority of believers, including yours truly, have some part of their soul, or a large part of their soul, mostly unknown to them, that is actually acting as an Idol before The Lord. Their soul has become an offence to Faith and Truth.

 He wants us FREE!

HE WANTS YOU FREE!

I will end this blog with this. What is an idol? If The Lord is having you face some hard things in your soul and you seem to avoid the battle every time, only to face it again, isn't whatever you are turning to the same as when His People turned from Him to idols?

He cares for you. He cares for your soul. But, apart from Him, "soul care" can become a place where we avoid anything painful in order to find comfort, when The Lord may be bringing you to that hard place, over and over, until you face your own soul, and yield even those scary,dark, painful places to Him. 

 Are you ready? I am so ready. I am so tired of facing the same battle over and over, just to turn away, give up, camp out,  or pretend I didn't know better, only to face the battle all over again. It took a long time to be able to hear The Lord tell me:

                                         "Your own soul is an Idol Before me"

I cant possible explain to you all that is packed into the words The Lord spoke to me. The battle is very real now, but, not like before. I know I can win. With His help , I can see into my own soul now. This goes beyond dying to self. It is hard. It is tough to face your own weaknesses and distrust in God. It is painful to admit you are angry with God, disappointed in God, even in some ways blaming God for all that is wrong and all that has hurt. Oh maybe not in your mind or on the surface, but deeply hidden, where only He can see, those whispers lay in darkness. 

Let Him in. Yield fully. Where there has not been full victory , where we are promised victory, go deeper and face that thing until victory is secure. No matter what you feel, see, hear, battle on until the towers are torn down and you stand in TRIUMPH!

Get ready! The Battle Is The Lords!!!!