What Are You Warring With?
3 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV
Even though we live in this flesh and we wake up every day and face the battles that this flesh brings, we must always remember that we do not war in the flesh. Every day will bring with it some challenge from the flesh. It might be a temptation in the flesh to compromise the standards of the Lord, or it might come in the form of an attack from the enemy by someone in the flesh. The natural response when we feel the sting of the flesh is to respond in the flesh and that will always result in more battles from the flesh.
We are tied by Jesus Christ to the spiritual realm which is superior to the carnal realm of this flesh. We have the weapons of the spiritual realm to combat the things of the flesh and defeat the flesh. As ambassadors for Jesus, we must remember to respond to all carnal attacks, not with a carnal response, but with a spiritual response. If we try to fight our battles with physical weapons and in our own physical strength, we will always fall short and abjectly fail.
You have weapons that are mighty in Him, but it is too easy to respond to the attacks of the flesh with a natural, carnal response that relies on our own strength and wisdom. Unless we are built up in the Word and as such focused on the spiritual realm, we will by default respond to the things of this world with our natural responses of the flesh and that only deepens our afflictions. It will only create more strongholds in our life.
When we have allowed strongholds to develop, how do we overcome them? If we attempt to overcome them in our own strength, in our will and trust in the flesh we will always fail. If you feel like you cannot overcome the battles that this world brings, the things of the flesh, stop trying to overcome them in your own wisdom and ability. Stop warring in your own flesh and choose instead to utilize the spiritual weapons of warfare that are found when we understand the Word, its promises and who we are in Jesus and the authority and victory He has invested in us.
J Todd Hostetler
www.cityonahillTC.org