THE WARFARE WITHIN

Part 1:  The Separation of Soul and Spirit

This is a study about putting on our Spiritual Armor in light of Hebrews 4:12.  I will address each piece of armor in the first part.  The second part concerns the piercing of the joints and marrow as it relates to the Lord and to the body of Christ.  Hebrews 4:12 reads:  For the word of God is living and active and sharper that any two-edged sword-piercing right through to a separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  It was a during a season of intense spiritual warfare that this verse took on new meaning.  After all, the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.  It’s the last item listed at the end of the letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians.  He tells believers in Jesus what we need to put on to fight the battle with all the evil influences in the spiritual realm.  Over the course of almost 35 years of studying the Bible I had always focused on the external battle but recently the focus shifted to the warfare within my soul.  Our soul is made up of our emotions, will and intellect.

The Hebrew’s verse made me wonder why does the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit, need to separate my soul from my spirit.  Why must the Sword of the Spirit pierce the joints and marrow?  We will start with the separation of soul and spirit and then cover the piercing of the joints and marrow in Part 2.  The answer to why our soul and spirit need to be separated came as a result of putting on my armor in prayer.   It’s important to say all the corresponding verses out loud as you put on your armor.  Starting with the Belt of Truth, what does the Bible says about truth?  A concordance is a great way to find verses for a particular word.  Here’s just a few as I personalize and paraphrase them:  The truth will set me free.  John 8:32;  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.  John 14:6;  The Spirit will guide me in all truth.  John 16:13. I am made holy by the truth.  John 17:17.  It’s even more important to give the Holy Spirit some of our quiet time to reveal to us the truth we need to know about ourselves.

Paul instructs us to gird up our “loins” with the Belt of Truth.  The  New King James version uses the word “waist” instead of “loins.”  It loses some of the power in the translation even though it is correct.  Biblehub.com is a great online source for Hebrew and Greek understanding.  The Greek word means the hip (reproductive area) otherwise the seat or center of generative or procreative power.  If we are to guard our loins it is in regards to our sexuality.  The enemy of our souls has done so much damage by perverting the sacred union of a husband and wife as one flesh in marriage. Far too many have suffered sexual abuse!   It can hinder one from knowing the spiritual love of the Triune God. The church, the body of Christ is called the Bride and Jesus is called the Bridegroom in Revelation.  Jesus prayed in John 17 that we would be one with Him just as He and the Father are one.  I believe that it’s a prayer for us individually in our relationship with the Lord as well as corporately for the body of Christ.  That is why it is so important to know the truth about emotions and how they influence our sexual identity.  We are to guard them so that we are not ruled by them.   Instead we are to use the self control that is a gift of the Holy Spirit to help us in our temptations.  Galatians 5 tells us to walk in the Spirit so we do not satisfy the lusts of the flesh.  If you don’t think Jesus understands, remember the Bible tells us He was tempted in all ways but didn’t sin.  He is our sympathetic High Priest who constantly intercedes for us before the Father.  There is no other love that can compare with the perfect love of God.

The Belt of Truth supports the Breastplate of Righteousness which protects the heart. Consider the Sword of the Spirit’s work is to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  What does the Bible say about the heart?  The Lord spoke through Jeremiah in Chapter 17 verses 9 and 10:  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?  I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his way, according to the fruit of his doings.  That is our starting point but by the grace of God, by the death of Jesus on the cross for our sins, we are given the righteousness of Christ to cover our hearts.  The word heart in the Greek means the inner man, mind, will.  I once read a tiny book called My Heart, Christ’s Home.  It changed my life.  Imagine all the rooms in our homes and then think of our heart that way.  Does the Lord have access into all those rooms?  The places where we sleep, eat or view entertainment.  Then there’s the rooms we try to ignore like the attic, basement or garage.

Jesus didn’t die for our sins so we could stuff our hearts with all we want to forget or are too ashamed to admit.  He might need to go in and clean out those places by Himself.  He wants to do it so we can be cleansed from the inside out.  Even in Leviticus as they prepared the sacrifice they had to wash the inside of the animal.  We are those living sacrifices and He wants us to live in freedom from unnecessary shame or guilt if we will just open up to the washing of His Word.  Here are some promises in the Bible regarding our hearts:  Moreover I will give you a new heart, I will put a new spirit within you.  I will remove the stony heart and give you a heart of flesh.  Ezekiel 36:26;  …then I will give them one heart, I will put a new Spirit within them…Ezekiel  11:19;  Adonai is my strength and my shield.  My heart trusts in Him, and I was helped.  Therefore my heart leaps for joy, and I will praise Him with my song.  Psalm 28:7;  My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast.  I will sing, yes, I will make music.  Psalm 57:8.

Next we cover our feet with the “preparation of the gospel of peace.”  There’s a lot packed in that phrase but just think of the these verses of peace:  Jesus is our peace.  Ephesians 2:14;  He gives us the peace that passes understanding to guard our hearts and minds.  Philippians 4:7;  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…Colossians 3:15;  He keeps us in perfect peace when we keep our minds focused on Him.  Isaiah 26:3.  (my paraphrases)  Consider that Jesus said, “I give you My peace, I leave you My peace…it was the peace that He was chastised for according to Isaiah 53:5.  That makes me determined to not let any person, place, thing or circumstance take away His peace in me.   

But it’s not just the peace Paul was talking about, it’s being prepared with the gospel of peace.  It reminds me of the warning he wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:3, it reads:  But I am afraid that somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds might be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion and purity to the Messiah.  We were commissioned by Jesus before he ascended to preach the good news-the gospel to all.  What is the simplicity of the gospel message?  It is that Jesus was born of a virgin, did miracles, lived a sinless life to be our perfect sacrifice on the cross, died and spoke deliverance to the believers in captivity, resurrected from the dead on the third day, ascended to heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand and will return to establish His millennial reign before creating a new heaven and earth to live with believers for all eternity.  Of course every word in the Bible has purpose and meaning but if we only have the time to share the good news while standing in line at the post office or grocery store we need to be prepared.  Why?  Because the time is short and the days are evil and people need to hear that Jesus came to give them eternal life.  That way they will know truth that will set them free to give them the peace that’s beyond understanding, to be able to share the gospel themselves.

Now we get even more serious as we put on the Helmet of Salvation.  In Hebrew the word for salvation is Yeshua, a word used for Jesus in Messianic Judaism.  In Greek it is “soteria” and means deliverance or salvation.  The helmet is used to cover our minds.  If ever our minds needed to be protected, it is now!   Technology has captured the minds of our culture.  It epitomizes the knowledge of good and evil, exactly what tempted Adam and Eve in the garden.  It’s a door to information and entertainment which can be used for good and honest reasons.  Tragically, it is also the door to every form of lie, violence and perversion.  And therein lies the danger.

God told Cain before he killed his brother, Abel, “If you do well, it (his countenance) will lift.  But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the doorway.  Its desire is for you, but you must master it.”  Genesis 4: 7.  The message of the prophets may have sounded like doom and gloom but they were meant to warn people to avoid punishment.  The Lord even told the prophets if they didn’t sound the warning that the blood of those who perished was on their hands.  I write to warn those who swallow up information as if it were truth when the Bible is the grid by which we need to process what we learn.  I warn because I wish someone had warned me.  The seventies have been glorified in our present time, while what I remember is many were being steeped in learning all about New Age religions and philosophies.  Many of those false religions and lying philosophies have taken hold of our culture through media.  Mind altering drugs open the door to the occult and those pathways cannot not be shut without the power of the Holy Spirit and the renewal of the Word of God.

The story of the Good Shepherd in John 10: 7-10 reveals this truth.  So Yeshua said again, “Amen, amen I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.  All those who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.  I am the gate!  If anyone comes in through Me, he will be saved.  He will come and go and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal, slaughter and destroy.  I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly!  The false religions and drugs are the thieves and robbers.  True enlightenment comes by knowing the Light of the World.  John 1:1, 4 & 14 tells us:  In the beginning was the Word.  The Word was with God, and the Word was God.  In Him was life and the life was the light of men.  Jesus is the Word become flesh.

Our brains interpret all our five senses and that is why we need to cover our minds with Salvation.  Taste and see how good Adonai is.   Psalm 34:9.  Ears that hear and eyes that see, Adonai has made them both.  Proverbs 20:12;  Hear, therefore, O Israel and take care to do this, so that it may go well with you and you may increase mightily, as Adonai the God of your fathers has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.  Deuteronomy 6:3.  For we are the aroma of Messiah, among those who are being saved…2 Corinthians 2:15.  Touch no unclean thing.  2 Corinthians 6:17.  We must purpose in our hearts not to defile ourselves just as Daniel and his friends did.  We must posses our vessel in dignity and honor because it is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  1 Thessalonians 4:3.  Another area of concern regards the mind and all the different types of mental illnesses from depression, anxiety and stress disorders that sometimes lead to homelessness, addictions and tragically even suicide. Then there is the increasing numbers of our aging population with dementia or senility along with the number of people with bipolar and multiple personality disorders.  I believe this to be a spiritual attack.  The Bible tells us:  For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and self-discipline.  The King James Version says “sound mind instead of self-discipline in  2 Timothy 1:7.  In 1 Peter 1:13, the KJV reads to “gird up the loins” of our minds.  So just as we “gird up our loins” with the belt of truth to control the center of our physical emotions, we need to guard where our thoughts originate by taking them captive to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5 paraphrased)

Now it is time to lift up the Shield of Faith.  Not in my faith but faith in Who God is.  Isaiah prophesied of the Lord in Chapter 9 verse 5:  For to us a Child is born, a Son will be given to us, and the government will be upon His shoulder.  His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, My Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace.  He is the Mighty King of Glory, The Most High God, The Holy One of Israel.  He is Jesus, the Son of the Living God.  I could write a book on Who He is but it’s already written.  The Bible declares Who He is.  The Great I AM!  The truth of Who God is extinguishes all the fiery darts the enemy sends our way.  I have committed to memory Colossians 1: 15-20 because it is one of the most powerful declarations of who Jesus, the Messiah is.  It says:  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created- in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen, whether thrones or angelic powers or rulers or authorities.  All was created through Him and for Him.  He exist before everything and in Him all holds together.  He is the head of the body, His community.  He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead- so that He might come to have first place in all things.  For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross- whether things on earth or things in heaven!

So we finish where we started by taking up our Sword of the Spirit.  What the Word of God says about me and about Himself.  That’s how we win the warfare within so we can stand in the gap for our loved ones and for all those who are unprotected from the lies of the enemy.  We are told when all our armor is on to stand, stand, stand and intercede for the saints.  Too often we battle with people and that is not what this walk of faith is about.  Our weapon….the Word of God is meant to get rid of every imagination or vain idea that tries to exalt itself above the knowledge of God and we need to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.  Satan and his demonic entourage will have no authority when we are under the authority of the Holy Spirit of the One, True, Living God, Who became man in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.   That is why we read in the book of  James to submit to God and He will draw near to us, resist the devil and He must flee, and I always add, because the blood of Jesus is over me.  When we read the Word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to divide our soul from our spirit we are no longer ruled by our emotions, our will and our own understanding.  Rather we allow all of those responses to be sifted by the Word of God and governed by the Holy Spirit. When Jesus guards the door to our soul then we can have the abundant life He promised.  A life that fully enjoys His presence and fellowship with the Father through the Holy Spirit.  The verse from Hebrews 4 is in the context of entering into God’s rest.  It should pleasantly surprise us that when we allow the Sword of the Spirit to do it’s work in us by being faithful to study the Word of God that we find rest for our souls.   When we walk in the Spirit our flesh no longer controls us because Jesus, the Word made flesh, has shown us how to overcome the enemy of our souls.  Then we can help others learn to win their own warfare within.

Part 2:  Piercing the Joints and Marrow

How does the piercing of our joints and marrow by the Sword of the Spirit, the word of God, affect us?  How did it affect the Lord when He was nailed to the cross and pierced by a sword on His side?  And how does this piercing affect the body of Christ?  Here are a few verses that talk about the piercing Jesus endured for our salvation:

John 19:34

But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

John 19:37

And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom the have pierced.”  (Referring to Zechariah 12:10)

Isaiah 53:5

But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities.  The chastisement for our shalom was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed.

Psalm 22:17

For dogs have surrounded me.  A band of evildoers has closed in on me.  They pierced my hands and my feet.

Zechariah 12:10

Then I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, when they will look toward Me whom they pierced.

When I wanted to understand why the Sword of the Spirit needed to separate my soul from my spirit, I learned my spirit needed to be controlled by the Holy Spirit not by my soul.  The distinction is so clear now that I’ve gone through a season of applying my armor on every morning by using the Word of God to reveal me to me.  I was amazed at how much the Lord showed me I needed to change.  The “peaceable fruits of righteous” came when I submitted to Him for His gracious discipline.  I learned His supreme care for me as my heavenly Father.  I also came to know how deep the love of Christ is for me individually.  And how important it is to belong to a congregation of those who love Him and the purity of His Word.  I have never felt so loved and secure as the Holy Spirit counseled me and comforted me through the pain of my past and the grief over all the layers of losses with the passing of loved ones.  The love of God washed over me with His Word.  The presence of Jesus through His Holy Spirit became tangible through miracles and healing.  I grew to learn of my total and forever acceptance in the “beloved.”  I write to encourage others to go deeper than ever before to be able to stand freed in the TRUTH.

Now, we will look closely to find out why the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God needs to pierce our joints and marrow.  First of all, the context of Hebrews 12:4 is all about rest.  We are told in that passage we can’t rest if our hearts are hardened to God’s word.  So what hardens our hearts?  I think being hurt is the main reason we harden our hearts.  Being hurt by loved ones hurts the most.  When I read the brothers of Jesus did not believe Him I can’t imagine how crushed He was.  Then how must He have felt as a Jewish man to be rejected by His own people.   Then think of how abandoned He must have felt when His disciples left Him the night He was betrayed. He was the Word of God made flesh, yet the Torah scholars and teachers not only questioned Him but mocked Him and ultimately conspired to crucify Him.  All the while, He learned obedience through the things He suffered.  He despised the cross but endured it because He saw the “joy that was set before Him.”  That is the fulness of joy that is found in His presence.  He was the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the earth.  As creator, He knew his creation would disobey, rebel and even seek other gods before He formed them and breathed His life into them.  Yet, He wants us to be one with Him and the Father through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus willingly laid His body down on the wood of a tree to be pierced through His joints and marrow with spikes sufficient to bear His weight.  How could anyone conceive of such brutality?  Jesus, the Messiah, offered His sinless flesh for sinful flesh as the ultimate expression of the Father’s love.  So I have to ask, how can anyone turn away and reject the ransom of their souls? the redemption of their life? the reconciliation of their guilt? the covering of their sins? the forgiveness of the Father? He took the judgment and wrath for the sins of all.  In believing and receiving that free gift He gives us the the promise of an abundant life in the present and eternal life in the presence of the Holy living God.  He loved us to death, to the very core of His being, to the piercing of His body, to the piercing of His bones.

What is significant about the piercing of joints and marrow?  Bone marrow is where blood is created.   The new blood is transferred into the body through the joints.  Well, for me it took cleaning a chicken, baking it, taking the meat off the bones, then boiling the bones to find out.  I usually spend about 30 minutes cleaning the cavity of the chicken with running water and lots of paper towels.  There are 4 pockets of blood near the spine and I think that’s what makes fowl taste foul.   That area is where the hips connect to the spine.  It’s called the Ilium and the Iliac crest on humans.  It is the main site for extraction of bone marrow, bone for transplants and stem cells in healing many diseases in people.  After baking the chicken, I take all the meat off and then boil just the bones to get a bone broth which is rich in marrow.  The bone broth will look like gelatin when cooled.  The more congealed the bone broth is the more bone strengthening marrow will be in the soup.  Its rich in collagen protein which helps keep joints flexible.  I’ve also learned that if we don’t give our bodies good nutrition our joints will suffer.  God designed our bodies to heal themselves but we have to be good stewards of our health.

The imagery of the body of Christ helps explain why the joints and marrow are intricately connected.  Paul wrote in Colossians 2:19, it is from Him (Jesus as the Head) that the whole body (the Church), nourished and held together by it’s joints and tendons, grows with godly increase.  Ephesians 1:23 also says, God placed all things under Messiah’s feet and appointed Him as head over all things for His community- which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.  Putting on the armor makes us stand strong in the battle so we can intercede for other believers.  As the “body of Christ” we need to have our joints and ligaments strong so that the whole body can be nourished and held together by the “blood of Christ.”  The piercing of the joints and marrow by the Sword of the Spirit is the inner and outer working of the life of Jesus in us.  His joints and marrow were pierced so that we could be one body of believers.  In Ephesians 5, before Paul tells us about our spiritual armor, he wrote in verse 29:  For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it- just as Messiah also does His community, because we are members of His body.  As Romans 6:5 explains:  For if we have become joined together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also will be joined together in His resurrection.

I believe we should strive to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace among all believers in Jesus as the only begotten son of God.  Our commitment and devotion to Him and His Holy Word is the only way we can accomplish this through the power of the Holy Spirit.   When we can worship Yeshua with one voice His glory will come.  When we love Him with all our heart and souls, mind and strength and love others as ourselves we will experience the rest our souls need.  Before we learn that the Word of God is active and living and sharper than and two-edged sword, we read in Hebrew 4:9-13:  So there remains a Shabbat rest for the people of God.  For the one who has entered God’s rest has also ceased from his own work, just as God did from His.  So let us make every effort to enter into that rest, so that no one fall through the same pattern of disobedience.   Hebrews 4 begins with these verses:  Let us fear then!  Though a promise of entering His rest is left open, some of you would seem to have fallen short.  For we also had had Good news proclaimed to us, just as they did,  But the word they heard did not help them because they were not unified with those who listened in faith.  For we who have trusted are entering into that rest.

(All Scriptures from the Tree of Life Version except otherwise noted)

Lily Alvarez Dolan

2.22.2019

Revised

7.17.2019