The Laws of the Spirit
(A
sizable portion of the work in this teaching is credited to Watchman Nee and
his monumental three volume set; “The Spiritual Man”. Apart from the Bible, in my opinion, it is
the most important contribution ever written to the understanding the workings
of the Holy Spirit.) Jose Alvarez
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is
quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the
dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
2 Cor 7:1 ¶ Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in
the fear of God.
·
Let us
wash ourselves off, from every defilement so that all actions that affect the
flesh and spirit can become thoroughly matured into God’s standard. This
standard is the absolute separation from all that is common to this world into
a devotion to what is sacred and precious to God.
1 Thess 5:23 ¶ And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray
God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
·
The God
that brings “shalom peace” bring it into your life. This may He do by separating you totally through, and through,
from all common and profane things, and bringing you to an absolute devotion to
the sacred things of God. This
sanctification is accomplished by your spirit, soul, and body each made
complete, whole, and without defect, so that your life might not even have one
source of just criticism placed upon it. May you be guarded and kept in this
condition until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:19
Quench not the Spirit.
·
Do not
extinguish the Spirit.
Acts 18:25 This man was instructed
in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things
of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
o To boil with heat, be hot
`and it is used with the boiling of water.
Boling when it comes to liquids or glowing when it comes to solids.
Romans 12:11 Not slothful in
business; fervent in
spirit; serving the Lord;
Not irksome in what has to be dispatched for the Lord’s but fervent in Spirit. Bond slavery and service to the Lord must be in the glowing and boiling of the Spirit.
Mark 14:38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye
enter into temptation. The
spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
·
The spirit
is always willing and predisposed because it is always found in a state of
strength, eagerness, and readiness. The law of a predisposed
spirit is the law of the eternally forward Spirit. This is what the Greek means by the word “ready.”
·
The world of
the Spirit is as that of a “continual ready mind” or a mind that is in
perpetual state of readiness, while the world of the flesh is weak and infirm.
Philipp 4:13 I can do all things
through Christ which strengtheneth me.
·
Greek- For all
things I become inwardly strong in the one who constantly funnels His dunamis
power into me.
·
The verse above teaches us that our spirits are always receiving a
continual funneling of God’s dunamis power into it. If our spirits reign in the
high position of supremacy over the soul and body, we will find ourselves being
imbued with a continual flow of dunamis power as it is funneled into our
beings. Secondly, we will find
ourselves in a constant strength of strength, eagerness and spiritual
forwardness.
Col 1:29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working,
which worketh in me mightily.
o We live and minister in the energy put
forth by the flow of the river of God’s rhema words within us. Our labor occurs
within in this flow to bring forth God’s kingdom.
o Labor: To the point of exhaustion brings forth
the work of God.
o I
labor in accordance to the energy (THE FLOW OF THE RHEMA WORD) put out by the
river of God. This energy is always working in me effectively with the purpose
of making the invisible things of God within me, functional and visible as I
minister them into the external world.
o Let
us understand more about the rhema word.
o
Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds
were framed (equipped) by the rhema word
of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do
appear.
Greek: The worlds
were framed by the rhema word of God, so that the things that we presently see
with our eyes were made out of things that cannot be seen by the eye. In other words, God always creates what is
physically evident to us, out of things which are physically invisible, through
the rhema word. This is the title deed
of the rhema word.
q
q
The word “framed” is the same word used
for the mending of the fishing nets by the apostle Peter. It is also defined as the full equipping
towards the successful carrying out of a mission. The “framing” of the United States armed forces in the Persian
Gulf Crisis tells us that they were furnished with the quality and quantity of
armaments, food, gear, and clothing that were needed to furnish them a total
victory.
Hebrews 6:5 And have tasted the good rhema word
of God, and the powers of the world to come,
q q Greek: The rhema word of God brings the dunamis power of the coming ages into this present one.
q q The more that we can operate by the rhema word, the more will be the availability of the glory and power of God that pertains to the coming world for us now, in our ministry. Hallellujah!
John 7:38 He that believeth on me,
as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
·
Greek- Potamos- A river, flood or torrent. A
flood can sweep down torrentially and even carry houses away. How can we stop
the gushing of springs or the flow of a river?
·
This is the
flow that is found within our spirits.
The stronger our spirits, the more evident will the flow that is already
there present within them.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which
they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given;
because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
John 4:7 There cometh a woman of
Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
8 (For his disciples were
gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
9 Then saith the woman of
Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which
am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10
Jesus
answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that
saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would
have given thee living water.
11 The woman saith unto him,
Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that
living water?
·
In the Greek, the well described in verse 11 is a regular
well.
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life.
·
The well that Jesus describes in verse fourteen is a spring
fed well, showing to us the continuous action of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 3:8 And he leaping up stood,
and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping , and praising
God.
·
In
John 4:14, the word “springing” is the same word for “leaping” in Acts 3:8
·
From the word which means to leap. A well, or spring, continually fed by springs of water which
continually leaps and gushes within us up into a constant flow of Christ’s life
within us.
·
A buoyant, unencumbered and unblocked spirit is needful flow the
action of God’s river of life to flow through us.
·
In the next three verses the highlighted words all come from the
same Greek word. All of these words are
defined as issuing, flowing, departing, and emanating, further describing the
flow of the river of life within us.
Mark 5:30 And Jesus, immediately
knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said,
Who touched my clothes?
Luke 6:19 And the whole multitude
sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.
Luke 8:46 And Jesus said, Somebody
hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that
in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits, and doctrines of devils;
·
speaketh
expressly- signifies
a flow
·
“Spiritual work often flows with the current of the Holy
Spirit without any constraint and without the strength of the flesh” Watchman
Nee.
·
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said,
It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word ( The rhema word) that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God.
·
The believer must live moment by moment by every rhema word
that flows out or departs out of the mouth of God. The mouth of God
here is described as the root system of a tree. We are the tree, and our root
system of life is the flow of God’s rhema words. If we live in this flow, we will find true life, if we don’t, we
will miss out on the life of God.
·
The supremacy of the spirit is kept by continually walking in the
Spirit. To walk in the Spirit is to
abide in the Lord Jesus. Abiding in the Spirit is the prerequisite to being
filled with the Spirit. To walk by the Spirit is to continually walk by the
rhema word, of God and not by what appears to our natural senses. The Spirit of
God has His own set of spiritual senses.
This must be our bread and food.
·
Our walk in the Spirit can only be executed in a military fashion.
One moment that we are not walking in the Spirit is one moment that we are
walking in the flesh. There is no gray
area here. We must walk in a military
fashion with the voice of the Spirit so as to not allow the flesh to come
in. Please look with me at the verse
below.
Gal 5:25 If
we live in ( Instrumental (By)) in the
Spirit, let us also walk
(Greek word which
is defined as “marching in the footsteps of a soldier”) in (Instrumental (By))
the Spirit.
·
Greek paraphrase) (It is a
given that we should be living our lives not in the present day world system,
but in the domain, influence, and sovereignty of the world of the Holy Spirit. Because
we are being continually affected and influenced by the Spirit, in that influence
and effect we must march in step as soldiers so that the Spirit’s influence can
go on, deepen, intensify, and continue interrupted.
·
As we
continue to march obediently to the voice of the Spirit, the Spirit Himself
will mortify the works of the flesh.
·
In Galatians five and twenty five, we then
see the apostle Paul telling us that it is a given that we should be living in
the world of the Spirit. In Galatians
five and twenty-five we find a wonderful example of location and instrumentality. We live in the world of the Holy Spirit, and
must march as a soldier in step to the Spirit’s workings back through us as He
instrumentally influences and affect us.
·
Paul exhorts us to live continually in the
world of the Holy Spirit, so that every action of our lives becomes permeated,
influenced, affected, and controlled by the work, power, strength, and liberty
of the Holy Spirit.
·
Victory and liberty in the Lord is found
in proportion to how much the Spirit can control and take over our every
action. Victory is not found in our
trying to overcome. It is found in our being submerged deep enough into the
world of the Holy Spirit so that He can influence and affect us at ever point. We are filled with the Spirit, in proportion
to how much the Spirit is working back through us to influence, affect,
control, and overtake our every action of ours.
·
Paul tells us in Galatians five and
twenty-five that our lives must be lived BY THE INSTRUMENTALITY of the Spirit’s
actions.
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk(
The totality of
our daily activities and the way that we conduct ourselves in them) in the Spirit) (Instrumental
(BY), and
ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Greek double negative: and it will be impossible for you to
fulfill the flesh’s strong desire through act of your will
·
Let us now look at Galatians five and
sixteen. The Greek word for “walk” is the sum total of our daily
affairs, and the ways in which conduct ourselves in them.
·
Paul commands us TO BAPTISE every affair in our daily life
into the world of the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit through His
instrumentality can affect, influence, reconcile, control, and overtake every
one of those affairs.
·
THEN, AND ONLY THEN,
shall we not fulfill the lusts of the flesh!!
Luke 4:14 And Jesus returned in the
power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all
the region round about.
·
Everything must happen through the spirit. Spiritual work must be initiated in our
spirits and traverse through our spirits.
·
ANY WORK ACCOMPLISHED,
WHICH DOES NOT HAPPEN, BY THE FLOW OF GOD’S LIFE THROUGH OUR SPIRITS, IS
USELESS.
·
Romans 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind (The focus of the mind; its thoughts and
purposes) the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the
things of the Spirit.
·
They that
are according to the flesh put their intellectual focus and thoughts on fleshly
lusts, or trying to serve the Lord in fleshly ways. The believer serves God in the flesh when he or she does it self
righteously, or outside of the voice of the Holy Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded
is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
·
The flesh is
comprised of sin and self-righteousness. Any time that we are focused or work
by the flesh it brings death (THANATOS)
to the spirit, soul, and body.
10 ¶ And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the
Spirit is life because of righteousness.
·
The Spirit
is the giver of the “God kind of life.”
11 But if the Spirit of him
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
·
Arouse,
invigorate, the germination of the “God kind of life” which springs up, filling
us up to affecting to our physical bodies.
·
The
spiritual believer enjoys even to the “God kind of life” quickening,
invigorating and healing his or her physical body.
Phillip 3:10 That I may know
him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection
of the dead.
·
The “out
resurrection” from
the dead. Paul here talks about
experiencing the power of God quickening his mortal spirit, soul, and body
while one earth.
Matthew 6:22 The light of the
body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body
shall be full of light.
·
The lamp
of the body is the eye. If your eye is
pure and single in its purpose, by being totally focused upon God and nothing
else, your body will become bright and shining.
1Peter 3:18 ¶ For Christ also hath once suffered for
sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit:
·
Christ is
aroused, invigorated, and brought to life in this world by means of the Spirit.
1 Cor 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul;
the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit.
·
Christ is a spirit who arouses and an
invigorates by giving forth the “God kind of life.”
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh
profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they
are life.
1 Thess 1:5 For our gospel came
not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in
much assurance(CONFIDENCE); as ye know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake.
Luke 1:17 And he shall go before him
in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the
children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people
prepared for the Lord.
·
By the
Spirit and the power of the Lord a people is prepared and fit for every
spiritual work, by thoroughly equipping them with all that they need
spiritually.
Rom 1:9 For God is my witness,
whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I
make mention of you always in my prayers;
·
Praying
without ceasing can only occur by the Spirit.
2 Cor
13:3 Since ye seek a proof of Christ
speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.
· The Christ whom has been given to live within us, is always mighty and powerful in ability. His might and ability becomes a reality in proportion to His revelation.
4 For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.
·
The
Greek further tells us in verse four, that in the same way that a tree lives
from its roots as they obtain nutrients found in the soil, we must live our
lives rooted in the power of God, as it is released in proportion to the
revelation of Christ.
·
The fullness of
spiritual power and spiritual work is for the sake of other people and not us.
¶1Tim 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
Romans 8:26 ¶ Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
·
Helpeth our infirmities- The Greek tells us that the Holy Spirit comes
face to face with us to take a hold together with us of our infirmities and
frailties.
· The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us – Greek: “To hit the target above and beyond what is normal.” I.E. “to do the right thing and do it with skill.”
· The intercessory ministry of the Holy Spirit, as He comes to take a hold of our weaknesses, is to give us the breakthroughs, answers, and deliverances that we need with bull’s eye accuracy. This is called the sword of the Spirit at work, which is none else than the rhema word of God. The rhema word of God is the Lord’s surgical weapon (or sword) as it is wielded during intercession to discover, isolate, and spiritually operate upon the specifics of an ungodly situation that has been brought before you by the Lord in prayer.
·
The purpose of intercession is to sound
out the depths of God so that He reveals and isolates the specific roots of the
malady, and we destroy it in prayer with the same sword of the Spirit all while
in the same time of intercession.
Intercession is the revelation of the ungodly roots of a problem. We
pray back in accordance to the specifics of what the Lord shows us warrants the
situation. In all situations, and
especially serious ones, the surgical work must be done in the Spirit and the
results in the physical will always follow. The devil keeps us locked in the
physical and psychological, and the roots continue to bear bad fruit.
· As we discussed earlier on, it is only when the Lord intercedes that He knows how to hit with perfect accuracy the bull’s eye of the roots of any problem that we bring before Him. He reveals it to us in the third heaven and we use this revelation as the sword of the Spirit to pierce, destroy, sever, and deliver.
Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and
supplication for all saints;
·
Greek:
Using all general prayers and specific petitions at all times in the Spirit to
accomplish the state of being awake and attentively guarding all saints. This guarding in the Spirit for all saints
is executed through the means of a constant steadfast devotion and individual
petitions for them.
· Strength of
spirit is needful so that we can keenly hear the voice of the Lord.
Mark 2:8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that
they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these
things in your hearts?\
·
Perceived: The word for perceive is defined as having a thorough, accurate,
and precise knowledge of an object. Jesus’ strength of spirit was so complete
that the clarity of the Father’s voice was so precise within Him, that His
discernment of the rhema word was thorough.
Mark 5:30
And Jesus, immediately knowing
in himself that virtue had
gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my
clothes?
·
Knowing: As with the word perceived in Mark
2:8; Jesus knew in this same accurate and through knowledge of the rhema word,
that dunamis power had gone out of Him.
1 John 2:20 ¶ But ye have an unction from the
Holy One, and ye know all things.
·
You
have an anointing continually abiding that lets you know by intuition all
things (given to you by the Spirit) in a perfect tense.
27
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye
need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all
things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall
abide in him.
·
The
anointing abides by walking in the Spirit.
1 Cor 2:11For what man knoweth the things of a
man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God.
·
The Holy
Spirit has a perfect intuitive knowledge of the things of God
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of
the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that
are freely given to us of God.
Because we have received the Holy Spirit, we have the same ability to have a perfect intuitive knowledge of every thing that God has given to us graciously and freely
1 Cor 13:2 And though I have the gift
of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have
all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am
nothing.
·
Perfect
intuitive knowledge to prophecy out
of God’s mouth; progressive knowledge to prophesy by the word of knowledge, and
faith in every situation in which you prophesy by both of these two modes, to
see the fulfillment of prophecy as miracles.
·
According to the spirit of separation from what is profane is the
Lord Jesus marked out in power
1 John 5: 20 And we know that
the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know
him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God, and eternal life.
·
Secondly, the Spirit has also given to His
mind of understanding, to interpret the intuitive knowledge that we
receive. This is called
revelation.
·
Revelation is our
understanding of spiritual intuitive knowledge
Eph 1:17 That the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of him:
·
A spirit
of knowing God’s ways, wisdom and timing, resulting in a spirit of revelation,
which is the knowledge of what God gives us through intuition, in the full
accurate and precise knowledge of Christ.
·
This precise
knowledge comes out of a strong spirit and strong spiritual senses.
·
The full and
precise knowledge of the Christ can only come out of a strong spirit.
18
The
eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope
of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints,
·
That the
thoughts of your mind being in an enlightened state (REVELATION) (spirit/ cooperating with
mind) that you may understand the intuitive voice of the Lord as to what is the
hope of His calling for you and the riches that will mold that calling and the
exceeding power to bring all of this about.
19 And what is the exceeding
greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his
mighty power,
·
And
that we may intuitively know and operate in the power, which is conformed, to
the standard of the energy put out by the dominion of the strength dwelling
within Him.
Strength of
spirit is needed so as to become free.
Philip 3:21 Who shall change our lowly body, that it may be fashioned like his glorious body, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself
·
To subdue, is a
military term comparable to a general with an army in perfect submission, hierarchy,
and order, beneath him.
·
One of the most
important desires of Christ is to subdue all that is not of Him in this
military and hierarchal order. The verses immediately below, all use the very
same Greek word found for the subduing in Philippians 3:21; thus showing
a vital part of the mind of God towards us in the finished work of Christ.
· The amount of God’s dunamis power working in us is measured as to how much are we allowing the Lord to subdue or bring the dominion of all things unto Himself. The fullness of revelation of the Son is the fullness of the Lord’s power. The fullness of revelation is the Christ dwelling, and not struggling, or competing with something else in our hearts.
· The more that we live out of the dunamis power of the Lord because we have yielded our life in all meekness to the Lord the more that we shall see the Lord subdue all things underneath our feet. This is the reality of our taking up the full armor of God.
1 Cor 15:24 Then cometh the
end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1 Corinthians 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he
saith all things are put under
him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1 Corinthians 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also
himself be subject unto
him that put all things under him, that
God may be all in all.
Eph 6:10 ¶ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the
Lord, and in the power (dominion)
of his might (inner
strength).
Be empowered in the Lord and in the outward strength or dominion, of His inner
strength.
· Christ ability to subdue is an absolute necessity for us, since it is the work of Christ to set us free. Subduing however, can also have a very negative connotation. Dictators, such as Hitler, Castro, and others, focused their whole lives on the subduing of people. Christ, likewise, focuses much of His work in subduing, but only of things that are evil and harmful to humanity.
· In the case of evil dictators, the subduing of peoples is called dominating, or exercising dominion over them. This evil exercise of dominion accomplishes a power as it is carried out, called the power of dominion or domination, in proportion to the strength of the dictator.
·
In Eph 6:10 we find this exact principle at work. Translated for us it commands us to be
empowered in the Lord and in the domination or dominion exerted by His
strength.
·
This dominion or domination
is what gives the Lord the ability to subdue all things unto Himelf.
·
Are we beginning to get the
picture? The revelation of Christ
within us, triggered by the law of the cross through our obedience, reveals the
Christ who dominates and subdues all, thus setting us free!
· Ephesians chapter six and ten commands us to continuously receive this dunamis power of the Lord so that He can be progressively revealed in our lives as the Christ that dwells in our hearts. This is the fullness of revelation.
· The dunamis power of the Lord in verse 10 is defined as the display of the Lord’s outward dominion brought about by His inward strength. This is what it means by “ the power of his might.” This is sort of what happens to Pop Eye when he eats the can of spinach. The tremendous inward strength that is multiplied within him at the eating of the can of spinach is translated into a manifestation of outward strength which caused him to dominate and conquer all, even Bluto the bad man who ran after beautiful Olive Oil.
· This domination of external circumstances is called “dominion” and is in indeed the same as Lord’s dominion over all His creation.
· The Lord’s dominion or manifested expression of the strength that resides within Him is found in His dunamis power. The extent of the Lord’s dominion that is transported by his dunamis power is His ability to subdue all things unto Himself.
·
.The
whole armor of God is an expression of the outward dominion of His inner
strength. This expression is manifested as dunamis power.
·
Do you older folks remember the episodes of Popeye and
Olive Oil? This scripture is a perfect
representation of what always happened to Popeye. Popeye in himself was a fairly weak guy. When he ate the can of spinach however, he
became inwardly strong; his external arm muscles popped out, he then rang
Bluto’s neck, and took the lovely Olive Oil as his priced possession. Right?
·
God’s might is His inner strength. Because God is inwardly strong, His strength
is then exercised outwardly in what is called dominion. God exercises dominion over His creation
because of this inward strength! Let us
say that for the matter of simplicity, that the inner effect of the spinach on
Popeye is the same as the inward strength that God possesses. Popeye’s bulging muscles, by which he
clobbered Bluto, is God’s outward and bulging dominion over all of His
creation.
·
So what is Paul commanding us to us? His exhortation is for us to be empowered
with this powerful combo of God’s inward strength and outward dominion. What for? The following scripture tells us.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
·
Is defined in verse eleven as having enough
of God’s dunamis power manifested so as to allow us to hold our ground against
the “methods” of the enemy and to never to lose it again.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of
God, that ye may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having
done all, to stand.
·
We can
translate verse thirteen like this. Take
(aorist tense) therefore the fullness of the revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ into your lives so that you will have the dunamis power to stand face to
face against (the whole of the demonic hierarchy) in the evil day…
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
·
The sword of
the Spirit is defined in the Greek as the “rhema word” of God and not the logos
word. I believe that this is
self-explanatory to all of us.
Eph 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened(dominion) with might (dunamis power) by his Spirit in the inner man;
·
Greek:
That God’s power deposited into your inner man through the Holy Spirit will be
seen or translated as Christ’s dominion within you.
·
The
results of this subduing or dominion whisk us right into verse seventeen.
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts
by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
·
To dwell, is defined as a inhabitant being in comfortable control of his
home, thus allowing him to live in the peace and authority which has been
purchased through that control.
·
Christ desires to dwell in
this very fashion within our hearts. He
can only do so in believers that fully obey Him, allowing “the Christ
that dominates and subdues all evil” to set them free, so that
He may dwell and exercise the full authority of the kingdom, through them.
Eph 1:19
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe,
according to the working of his mighty( inward strength)
power,(outward dominion)
Greek paraphrase. The exceeding
greatness of this power is funneled into those who continuously believe. The inward strength of God, which is
displayed as His outward dominion, is translated as the exceeding greatness of
His power, which is funneled into the believer. This funneling is limited to
the continual believing of the Christian, which in turn is defined as the
uncompromising moment-by-moment obedience to God’s rhema word.
20
Which he wrought in Christ, when he
raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the
heavenly places,
·
He wrought This is very powerful!
·
The Greek perfect tense is used with this
verb. As we know, the Greek perfect
tense is an accomplished event in history, having an eternal impact.
·
Which He wrought, can be defined, as the working
through, or the accomplishing of something with absolute effectiveness,
resulting in its becoming now fully operational.
·
The
exceeding greatness of God’s power; the translation of the dominion of the
strength found within God, is fully and eternally operational inside the Person
of His Son. The standard of our spiritual
strength must come up to this place.
21
Far
above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that
is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
·
Might:
Dunamis power. Every created work of God has its own inherent dunamis power or
the power that that makes it what it is, and gives to its life. Every type of disease, for example, has its
own inherent dunamis power.
·
Power: Authority: Speaks to us here about
everything that would have a wrongful authority over us, thus bringing us into
bondage. Like wise similar to the word dominion or that which dominates.
·
The power
of the resurrection, absolutely accomplished in the Son of God, is defined as
His sitting far above in distance to all of these things which He has
subdued. This power has been funneled
into our spirits.
· God wants our
spirits to be strengthened to this very standard.
1 Cor 15:24 Then cometh the
end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1 Corinthians 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he
saith all things are put under
him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1 Corinthians 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also
himself be subject unto
him that put all things under him, that
God may be all in all.
·
This very
standard is what is required to bring the works of the kingdom in a fully
effective fashion through our lives.
The kingdom is delivered to the Father when all has been subdued which
is not of God. Likewise, we work the works of the kingdom in proportion to how
much the power of God subdues through us.
Revelation 12:10
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and
strength, and the kingdom
of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night.
I John 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye
have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong,
and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
·
Because ye are strong is once again, the word for
God’s inner spiritual strength.
1 Peter 4:11 If any man speak, let him speak as the
oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God
in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and
dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
·
“The ability which.” For a third time we run into this word, “inner or spiritual
strength”.
·
We were never supposed to
minister out of our own strength!
·
The enemy has absolutely no respect for our programs, and our
agendas if they are done in our own power.
He laughs at us, knowing that our mind and flesh outside of the voice of
the Holy Spirit, is simply no match for him.
·
The devil through his methodologies will continue to incite us to
create more committees, spend more money, plan out more church growth programs,
and build bigger and more luxurious church structures and so forth. Anything that he can to do to keep us as
believers dancing in the flesh he shall do.
·
Instead of being on our knees
and beneath the shadow of the cross, we run to and fro laden with Christian
activities. It is just a matter of time
that the devil will attack.
Luke 11:20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the
kingdom of God is come upon you.
21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are
in peace:
22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome
him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his
spoils.
·
Casting out
a demon can only be affected through the “finger or power of God”. The finger of God can also be defined as the
rhema word of God .
·
Verses twenty-one and twenty-two use the word strong man and stronger than.
·
Only the man or woman of God
that possesses more inner strength than the devil, through by the infilling of
the Spirit, can be used in deliverance, by and through the finger of God.
2 Thessalonians 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
·
Greek; He
shall render the Wicked one useless and non-operational with the manifestation
of His presence.
1Cor 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them( taking the lid off) unto us by his Spirit:
for the Spirit searcheth(sounds out) all things,
yea, the deep things of God.
1 Cor 2:11For what man knoweth the things of a
man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God.
·
The Holy
Spirit has a perfect intuitive knowledge of the things of God
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of
the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that
are freely given to us of God.
·
Because we
have received the Holy Spirit we have the same ability to have a perfect
intuitive knowledge of every thing that God has given to us graciously and
freely.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the
words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing
spiritual things with spiritual
·
“Those
things we continually utter prophetically
·
We
speak out the spiritual things that God has given us, using the inward
spiritual means (prophecy, visions, revelations, knowledge and so forth.) “Comparing” is defined as joining together,
compounding, and combining. We must minister out as closely and accurately as
possible to what the Lord shows us within.
Our ministry must be a compounding, combining, and a joining together
with the rhema word of the Spirit, and a compounding, combining and joining
together of the means that He wishes for us to execute that rhema word.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth: for he
shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
·
he will guide Guide as a
teacher; show the way and instruct
·
you into all truth : More accurately:
Into every type of truth that pertains to us.
·
but whatsoever he
shall hear; as many things that He will hear, all these He will utter
or declare . (The confidence of the prophet)
·
and he will shew you
things to come. The prophetically coming things the Spirit will rehearse
and makes known to us. (The confidence of the prophet)
John 5:19Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth (To habitually glance at what the Father
does in the Spirit. This is not
discernment with understanding) the Father do: for what things soever he
doeth, these also doeth
the Son likewise. (
Greek word “homos” INTUITIVE
SEEING OR GLANCING
Intuition brought about seeing
in the Spirit.
John 5:20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth
him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than
these, that ye may marvel.
·
For the Father is fond of the Son and shows Him all things
that He does in a way that can be proven and for proof, and greater than these works will he show
you with the goal in His mind that you may wonder.
· We must know that continually, at all moments, the Father is exhibiting within us all that He does in way that we can understand and confirm what he says, and then manifest it outwardly as proof into the world.
John
5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto ( My Father never ceases working in
the Spirit) and I work.(and
I work externally, using exactly the same procedures and in exactly the same
manner in which I see instinctively the Father working within me.)
·
Worketh is defined in
exactly the same way that a company strives to be successful in producing the
services for which it is in business for.
· Hitherto: Until now. My
Father has been continually at work, producing the services that pertain to the
business of the kingdom of God in an unbroken flow, right through all of your
Sabbaths; and even now as we speak, He works.
· And I work:
I, in like manner.
·
This
is a tremendously important point of instruction for ministers who desire to
work in the Spirit.
·
Jesus
tells us that we are to work out into the world, what the Father works
into us with exactly the same intentions, intensity, and procedures used by
the Father. Our ministry must be a carbon copy of the Father’s ministry in
us. Remember that every work of the
Father is translated into a rhema word that we can understand.
·
John
5:19Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The
Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth (To habitually glance at what the Father does in the
Spirit. This is not discernment with
understanding) the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these
also doeth the Son likewise. ( Greek word
“homos”
·
Glancing in
the Spirit to what the Father does, gives us that momentary intuitive
knowledge, which on many occasions, is enough for us to step out in faith and
do with identicalness what we have acquired instinctively in our spirits.
·
Our right to
do so is based on the fact that we have an equal inner spiritual nature to that
of the Father, giving us identity with Him in our outward actions. We are responsible to work with
identicalness to what we see on the Spirit.
This is what the term “homos” means.
Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in
my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am!
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25
I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh
the law of sin.
1 Cor 14:15 ¶ What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray
with the understanding
( NOUS)
also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding( NOUS) also.
Romans 7:25 I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind(NOUS) I myself serve ( ENSLAVED) the law of
God; but with the flesh the law of sin.