One of the most powerful things you can do is to dedicate specifically every part of your body to God. When we first come to the Lord Jesus we may have prayed asking Him to come into our heart yet His purpose is not to be confined to your spirit only, but to completely fill your soul and and body with Himself. Again I refer to Israel conquering Canaan. If Israel only crossed Jordan taking Jericho, but stopped there allowing all the nations of Satan worshippers to carry on sacrificing their babies to demons then they would have failed to possess the land.
Many of us believers have not realised that God wants more than just a small part of our spirit. His goal is to fully possess us! Some imagine that by saying a “sinners prayer” in a church building that that is all that is required to “go to heaven” when they die. They have no understanding or do not want to think seriously about such an understanding, that without holiness no one will see the Lord. NO ONE!!
In the previous chapter I wrote about perfecting holiness in the fear of God. It means we are to complete our holiness. The holiness in our spirit where Christ is joined to us, must spread all through us.
What is this holiness in our spirit? It is the Holy Spirit Himself. He is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ.
To be Holy is to be set apart. The Holy Spirit is a spirit of sanctification—set apartness- if I may use that made word. Sanctification is another word for Holiness. When Jesus walked the earth He walked in Holiness by the same Spirit of sanctification as given to us. The Spirit yearns jealously over us to separate us from ALL OTHER gods and idols. God’s Spirit is always wanting to bring us to choose Jesus over these other lovers. When we do choose Jesus we have grown in holiness.
Now do not think I am saying things like…I choose Jesus over going to the beach. No, being holy or separate is first of all a heart issue. It is as we look to Jesus for all life and favour and our needs that we are weaned off the other gods. We progressively become more holy, growing to more like Jesus every day. The Holy leads each one of us in this process.
Asking Jesus into the heart/spirit is the first step in holiness. It is imputed holiness that His presence brings to us. This can be likened to the feast of Passover. Through partaking of Christ our passover lamb, we are separated from our sins. Then at Pentecost we receive the baptism into the Holy Spirit whereby our souls begin to be sanctified as we obey the Spirit’s leadings. Then comes experiencing the Feast of Tabernacles which is to do with making these corruptible bodies Holy and separate from sin. We are awaiting that day when He appears and we are changed to be like His glorious body.
There is a progression to our journey. It is not simply a matter of being born again. God has given us the downpayment of His Spirit to work in us to will and to do for His good pleasure. Are we yielding to Him or are we saying no to His leading. Without holiness no one will see the Lord. You may protest and say, “But I am born again!!” Yes so am I, but that is the first feast, go on to the next feast and receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit as at Pentecost. Learn to hear Him yourself and obey what He shows you to do. Do it and see your soul begin to come into fruitfulness. His love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control will manifest through your life(soul) to others.
But you may say, ” I have the Holy Spirit and I am barren of His fruit, I do not manifest those qualities at all.” Aaah I am glad you were honest and said that! The answer is that you have an enemy who is Satan even as Israel had many enemies in the Land to conquer. There would be no peace while there was harlotry in the land. No joy, no love while there remained cities of hateful people….no self control while there were cities given over to sexual lusts. They had to destroy these cities and their populations, they had to take out the Strongman in each city.
This age we are in is still the age of Pentecost where we ahve been given the opportunity to receive the immersion into the HOLY Spirit. This is not to make us feel good with a warm fuzzy although that is wonderful, but that we would partner with Him to deferat every area of sin in our lives. Hearing HIs voice and obeying is essential to growing in holiness. Personal Holiness is what the Devil does not want you and I to come into. He is upset that we came to Jesus and received a new spirit….so he fights to keep us from receiving the Holy Spirit….if he fails there, then he fights to keep us from communing and learning to walk in the S/spirit.
What Satan fears most is if we come into full obedience to the Spirit of Jesus and actively obey Him in our personal affairs. It may be things to do with parenting our children, our habits with food and drink, our habits in clothing, our financial affairs. The Lord will instruct us in all areas of life bringing all under His dominion. It is not legalism, it is done in relationship with Jesus between you and Him alone. Then the Lord will begin targeting the areas in your soul that are issues in your life.
The soul is made up of mind, will and emotions. God wants to fully manifest Himself through our soul. This is the purpose of Pentecost. Many suppose Pentecost was only to have power to heal the sick and speak in tongues….as great as those things are, the greater purpose is to conform your character, emotions and will, your thought patterns and desires to God in every way. If we ask the Spirit to shine His light upon us we can examine our lives to see where there may be hindrances and blockages to His fruit. This is inner healing and deliverance which sadly many have never had because they have been taught that it is not necessary.
It is amazing how the enemy throws us a smokescreen and excuses in the mind of a Christian to stop him or her discovering the dark thing that hides within them. All sorts of doctrinal excuses are given as to why we are perfect now and free from any defilement. It is said that we are fully holy and fully righteous by the blood of Jesus. Yes that is the sarting point for all of us. Then we are to overcome the enemies in the land. Have you been deceiving yourself with such talk, while trying to ignore the ongoing strongholds in your soul and flesh? Ignoring sin like unbelief, doubts, self pity, fear, lust while outwardly declaring that you are Holy and righteous is a scam the Devil is running on you. The enemy mocks you and you have absolutely no authority against Him! So sad. But that is the case with many of us.
A brother I love and respect often says that nothing not Jesus vanishes until we speak only Jesus. I beg to differ here. Maybe I have misunderstood his message. But again I defer to the example of Israel in Canaan. If they came into Jericho and declared, “We are victorious! We are in Christ and Christ is in us! We are holy and righteous! We are blood washed and redeemed sons of God!!” Do you think that the enemies on the wall would have been afraid? What if after 3 years of hearing this declaration and nothing had happened tangibly, the citizens of Jericho opened the gates and came out to the Israelites who were still declaring heavenward that they are Mighty in God. The citizens of Jericho may simply ignore the Israelites or they may put a binding rope around them and lead them into their city as a captive slave. They may poke them with their swords, or punch them in the head. Even though Jericho abuses them, they still carry on declaring that they are holy and righteous , triumphant saints of God.
How ridiculous!! Yet that is exactly what is happening in many lives today. He has given us His Spirit to attack those enemies that are in the land of our soul and to defeat them thoroughly. We are to take the land for our Master and King. Anything less is a dishonour to God and to ourselves. We are righteous so we must live righteously! We ARE holy, so we must live and act in a holy way. What does that mean? Many things to each of us and in each situation. But what it means to me here is that we are not controlled or pulled this way or that way by strings attached to wounds in our souls.
It is not enough to declare by faith that “I am love and love flows out of my spirit.” Oh really says the Devil? Examine yourself. When faced with people do you love them? If not ask the Father why not? Ask Him to show you why you are unable to love that one or anyone. No doubt He will show some issue from your past where you were wounded and made vows that have shut the doors of your soul. It is amazing what the Lord will show us if we will step back and ask Him to.
I shared a story elsewhere of how God showed me that because I held a grudge against a school friend that I had fought against in the playground over who was the better sports hero I have broken off every friendship with men named Steven ever since. Suspicion, competition, slander and then estrangement would always follow when involved for any length of time with any man named Steve or Stephen. I was able to repent of the unforgiveness and forgive that Steve in prayer and break every soul tie to him, to the land we fought upon and to the demonic attachments to both of us.
Roots of rejection in our soul are very real as well. Roots of fear, unbelief, pride, lust, witchcraft and many more can all hide deep within us blocking the flow of God’s love and nature. We are saved, but you would not know it if you saw our behaviour and heard our words in private. This is not to condemn anyone, we do that pretty good ourselves! God loves us and He knows our inner turmoil and struggle to be like Jesus. It is these hidden areas of sins and vows and hurts done to us which we have not forgiven that must be located and removed and healed. Each of these things has demonic powers attending them and keeping them in place. Once we locate the area we can take away the legal right for these powers to control us. We can be free!!
The soul is a deep well and a large land. But our Father knows every square inch of it just as He knew where all the nations lived in Canaan. The enemy really has no chance of remaining in us IF we will partner with the Holy Spirit to see them all evicted and lose their ground. It does not have to take years and years either. The Holy Spirit can lead you and locate each thing that is attached to a stronghold or wound.
You will see deliverance and fruit appear where once there was none for I am able to do it in you says the Lord. I have the means and the ability in you to locate every stronghold and every citadel and to dismantle them completely bringing you forth into the light when once you dwelt in darkness. Trust Me, Listen to me and have a mind to see the land clear of all these things and I will partner with you to do it. Fear not for the enemy is already defeated and it is he who fears what you shall discover and how this shall affect you. Mighty things are in front of you as you step past these things like dead men on the ground fallen at your feet. I am doing a cleansing work and I will fully reclaim what is mine and then you shall see Me fill you with holy fire to set others free for I am the Lord who does this, do not doubt the calling and the anointing I have placed upon your life it is there, I am there.