Again this is a live interaction with a living person who heals our souls in every area of our lives. God made man to surrender to His presence because; this was the only authority that man can say yes to. Only God Himself can meet the needs of His creation; who don't know Him very well. Our strength to fight the good fight of faith can only happen as we learn to be obedient to what Jesus said in John 4:24. "God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

In the book of Genesis 2; it states. God breathed into man the breath of life and he became a living soul. Man is an extension of God Himself and was made a spirit man with a will of his own with emotions and with an intellect to think and make choices which makes up his soul. It was the deception of Satan that infected the spirit of Adam and Eve to not be able to worship God in their spirit and know the real thoughts of God. There is no truth with power if it does not come from God's own lips. The born again believer must recognize that the spirit man of who we were made by is the only way we can communicate with the Holy Ghost and be exposed to the truth of God's words.

We must be born again so our spirit and God's Spirit could reconnect and so we can have true fellowship with him as Adam and Eve had before they were deceived and enchanted by Satan. Our fight of faith is the same attack that Adam and Eve experienced in the garden when they surrendered them selves to live their lives under the curse. Satan's plans haven't changed and he is determined to paint a picture in our mind that; God is a liar and can not be trusted. Now we have just touched the surface of the foundation that must be in place in us if; we are going to have the strength to fight our fight with purpose.

The spirit world has an arena of its own and we must learn to walk in heavenly places with Christ Jesus and think with His mind now while living in our physical bodies. Anything other then God's truth is a lie and deception. We know that Satan is the Father of liars. Being born again and God's children; you can still be mislead by the devil and make your decisions of life on his lying spirit. Jesus had to rebuke the apostles a time or two because; they wanted to bring judgment on people rather then loving them into wholeness. He told them that the spirit that was operating in them was from their father the devil. Our learning how to fight the good fight of faith is us growing up to rightly interpret the word of God and realize that; God our Father never gets disgusted with us because; of us not knowing how loving and caring He is.

Just recently on a Christian television program; I heard a well known preacher who I have listened to for years tell people that God gets disgusted with His children when they are not hot or cold but indifferent in their relationship with Him. He used the scripture in Rev. Chapter 3 of the Laodicea church being in this condition and God said He wanted to spew them out of His mouth; which he interpreted as; they made God sick to his stomach. In forty three years of walking with the Lord; I have heard this same interpretation time after time after time from many preachers of the gospel. I sorry that is not the good news gospel that I read and how God my Father loves me and wants me to grow up and spew or speak His love words of wisdom into my heart and mind so I won't stay a child all of my life.

When we stay as infants or children in our understanding of God's love for us; we haven't learned how to fight any thing and, we stay focused on our baby needs for food and survival needs. Infants or children are takers not givers and lovers and fighters. They haven't learned how to put other peoples needs before their own yet. They haven't learned that they can raid their Father's store house of their inheritance and get enough for themselves and some extra for others. They are self centered orientated. Now that's O'K' for a while however, to live their whole Christian life like that; makes them live with a shame based nature with low self esteem rather then the way their Father sees them as blameless, free from evil and set apart from the world and belonging to Him.

In Eph. 4:14-15 it tells us, " We are to stop acting like children being tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind and doctrine by the cunning craftiness of men; whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, we may grow up into him in all things, which is the head even Christ."

Not trying to break the continuity of this article: I can't help taking a side bar and say that this word even that the writers of the bible put in here; is something to meditate on for a while. It gives the connotation that Christ being God Himself; and us being in the process of being transformed to be like Him; is something our natural mind can not comprehend. No one can be like Christ with out the Holy Ghost living in their being. Some times I am challenged and constantly being persuaded by God; to take a step up and believe Him for more of his presence. As we become persuaded to trust God's coaxing; it makes us hungrier to get to know Him better.

When there is no loving spirit in our thinking and conversations, there is no truth. The Holy Ghost's whole motivation is love based because; God's who is love is what motivates His purposes. Us recognizing and allowing His love to have full access to our soul; is what empowers us to fight the good fight of faith, and any thing else is self ego centered nonsense and it puts demands on others and a spirit of obligations on our self. Experiencing God's love; keeps us free to make choices with out intimidation and anything else is us living in fear, agitating passions and moral conflicts.

Our deliverance from fear is by us heeding what Isaiah the Prophet stated in Isaiah 1:18. "We should come to God and spend time reasoning with Him. If we will to do this, He will take care of our lack of receiving our share of his kingdom by our faulty thinking, and persuade us that His way of thinking is better. In turn, our soul will become as white as wool." In other words, He will clean up our thinking and make us walk in victory knowing that our steps are being ordered by Him.

Receiving Godly wisdom must be the first priority of our lives if, we intend to over come our fleshly appetites and pass on God's wisdom to others. With out us function under His wisdom; everything else is meaningless. Experiencing God's wisdom is not us keeping the Ten Commandments as our first priority and having a check list every day to see if we have broken one or two of them. God is alive with in us and we are the house He lives in. Where we go; He goes. If we live a life in the pit of hell in our un-rational thinking; He is there. If we decide to live in the mountains or on the river; He is there.

David the King said it right. "Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will walk in the presence of the Lord." It is only the Holy Ghost that can give us His vision and the knowledge to attain what He has ordained for our lives.

When we turn our life over to God; to direct our thoughts and actions; this causes us to feel at first insecure because; God is a Spirit and we can not sense Him with our natural mind. Our fighting the good fight of faith has to be by an inner witness of a substance that our natural physical senses can not see. When we say substance; we are not talking about a physical thing but the actual presence of God and a word of wisdom from Him on how to get our needs and wants met. For many; this is very difficult because; our natural mind has a will power of its own and wants to be in control. That's why our relationship with the Holy Ghost has to be a real friendship of identifying His voice with an inner witness of God's Spirit.

Mankind has an inherent need to submit to God because; He is the one that created us. When our true righteousness is not being preached and taught according to God's interpretation of scripture; man becomes mesmerized and looks for love in all the wrong places in his attempt to find his identity and fulfillment. It is with a deep sadness that I must say; this can happen in different church assembling where the true gospel of our righteous position in Christ is not being taught. Man in his own flesh will try to mimic the Holy Ghost with a lot of hype, emotion and ritualistic endeavors however; this will never strengthen our resolve to fight the good fight of faith. When we learn to identify and define what righteousness is and what it is not as far as God is concerned; then we will be able to know who are enemy is and who isn't.

Our basic fight is us leaning towards our own understanding of how to handle choices of life; verses surrendering to the Righteous Spirit of God who lives in us. There must come a total abandonment and surrendering to God's favor and given to us with out judgment on God's part what so ever. Our Righteousness in Christ is defined from the Greek translation as us being blameless, free from evil and set apart as God's own elected children. Our own thinking says "I am not perfect and I make mistakes; I don't understand how God sees me as blameless and not addicted to evil in some area of my life and in turn, why would He set me apart unto Himself as an elected son or daughter." He can only do this because; GOD IS LOVE and His love doesn't judge in right and wrong concepts as man does in study their behavior and the behavior of others. Man is the one that judges behavior.

Since God is the author and finisher of our faith walk, only He defines right and wrong concepts. He does it through His first born Son Jesus the Christ who now lives in us since; we have become born again and entered God's family as Jesus did when He came out of Mary's womb; a born again believer. We had to be born twice; once from our mother's womb and then be born again spiritually by being impregnated with what the Greek defines as the sperm of God; and now we have become God's child because He sired us. Not only did Jesus act of dying on the cross lift the curse of eternal damnation off our lives, He also covered and blotted out and gave us the power to stop thinking in right or wrong concepts of having to work to gain God's favor. A born again Christian has to be sitting under anointed Holy Ghost teaching if; they are going to be grounded deep in the love of God and understand God's way of reasoning and His holding power of love.

This is the true battle that is taking place in our minds and heart of having a double minded consciousness of "God loves me and He loves me not." There is a total difference in reasoning and making a decision with our own consciousness verses; being spiritually awakened to God's way of thinking and learning how to come into agreement with his decrees for our lives.

The Apostle Paul reached two thirds of the world of his time to Christ. He went through a persuasion process with the Holy Ghost before he could claim victory and become an over comer in his life. He describes his battle that he went through in Romans chapter seven. I will paraphrase it as I believe the whole body of Christ is fighting the same battle in their mind. As I said, for ten years I fought the same battle until I came to the knowledge of the truth and Jesus delivered me from my ignorance and taught me how to reason with His mind and, I became aware of how the spiritual kingdoms of God and the devil operate.

Paul in the book of Romans chapter seven, with great logic and plain language explains the warfare he was going through in his endeavor to break this curse in his own life and live by the faith of Christ. Living by the faith of Christ verses living by having faith in Christ is the difference between having the power to fight the good fight of faith verses us leaning towards our own understanding of how the kingdom of God operates and stay in a inner dilemma and conflict.

Paul states. "If I had not known the law of God; I would have had no consciousness of breaking it and I would have felt no guilt. But sin (me leaning towards my own understanding) had the opportunity to flourish because of me reasoning in wrong and right concepts. I lived in freedom until I recognized I was doing wrong and breaking God's commandments. By me knowing God's commandments, it was suppose to bring life to me, but it really caused death to begin to operate in my life. Therefore the Ten Commandments are just and holy however, did me knowing God's commandments bring death to me? It certainly did not.

However, it was sin working death in me by using this good thing as a weapon that by me knowing the Ten Commandments sin might be clearly shown to me that I was breaking God's law. The law is spiritual but I am a creature of the flesh and I have been sold into slavery under the control of sin. I am having a serious problem because; I don't understand my own actions. I can not accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe (I pass judgment on my self.) For if I do what is contrary to my desires. I acknowledge that the law is good and I take sides with it.

However; it is no longer (I) who do these deeds but, the sin principle which is at home in me and I have become a slave to it.

I have learned that there is nothing good in my own self. I have the urge and good intensions to do the right thing, but no power with in myself to get it done. Now if I do what I don't want to do, it is not I doing the act, but the sin principle that has control and is operating in my mind, will and emotions. = (SOUL) I delight and agree with the Law of God in my inner self with the new nature I have received when I became born again. But there is something not clear to me that is influencing me in the cravings of my will power and a different law at work and a warfare between what I want to do and me having no power to do it. This has made me a prisoner with in myself and has caused me to feel insignificant and feeling inadequate.

I am despicable and I am ashamed of myself. I have become imprisoned with in myself. Who will delivery me from this imprisonment? O thank God He will through Jesus Christ, the one who has the anointing to set me free. So then indeed with in my mind and heart I serve the Law of God, but in my flesh or immaturity the law of sin.

This is the inner battle we all face in our lives because of the shame based nature and the curse of the sin principle living entity we inherited from Adam when he realized for the first time that; he was naked and ashamed of himself; which caused him to hide from the presence of God. We inherited his nature and were born a sinner with a cursed soul that said, "I can not obey." There is one thing in saying we do not want to obey verses us not having the will power to obey. As we received Adams curse which made us fall away from living in the presence of God; Jesus one act of righteousness led to our acquittal and put us back in right standing with God permanently. This simple truth should have long ago been understood in the body of Christ. When we concentrate on trying to live up to the Ten Commandments; our awareness of transgressing His law is expanded in our inner mind and the warfare in us becomes intense and we never walk in the freedom of our righteous position in Christ.

Unless we know how to tap into God's grace which has the supernatural power to set us free from this inner struggle of being tossed between these two dilemmas, we will never realize how totally secure and pure we are in God's sight and have the power to fight the good fight of faith. Jesus one act of dying on the cross and us accepting His sacrifice and becoming born again and making Him our Savior is the first step because; our spiritual eyes have become opened however, we then have to go on and make Him Lord over our lives and participate in the kingdom.

This happens by us knowing how to give the Holy Spirit sovereign power with intensity and purpose. This is what gives us the stamina to overcome all of the obstacles that the devil puts in our way which stops us from having the loving and friendship relationship that; God the Father wants to have with his children.

Once Paul recognized that he was being controlled by an entity working against his desire to walk in obedience in God's will; it was then that he could abandon himself on God grace and make the statement with surety in Romans 8:1. "Therefore now; there is no more condemnation to those who walk not according to their own reasoning but walk in God's Spirit of righteousness."

Unless all of God's children who are born again, anointed Spirit filled people; come to this conclusion as Paul did by a inner personal witness from the Holy Ghost; they will never truly walk in heavenly places in Christ Jesus while living in their physical bodies now while on the earth. If we intend to not be in bondage to condemnation in our life; a Christian must be discipled by the Holy Ghost and people around them who are anointed and have the Godly wisdom to teach what it means to be righteous in Christ and nothing else.

Our walking in God's righteous Spirit is what kills our fleshly cravings of depending in our own efforts of how we are suppose to walk with the Lord and in turn; God's righteous Spirit puts to death us reaping condemnation and the accusation of the devil. Our true battle for fighting the good fight of faith is us being persuaded by the Holy Ghost that He has a better plan for us then by our own plans and reasoning; which makes us look for love in all the wrong places. Our lives are the most prized possession that God has given us and we have but one chance to make the most of the talents God has given us. We need to cast all of our care on God and ask Him to give us the strength and tenacity to live the fullest life that is possible by his commands. Let's now talk a bit about what being righteous in Christ represents in our lives. Continued in part 4