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Fighting The World, The Flesh, & The Devil

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Fighting The World, The Flesh, & The Devil

How do we fight?

For millennia, apprentices of Jesus have spoken of the “three enemies of the soul” - the world, the flesh, and the devil. But all three have dropped out of the conversation in the modern, western church. So often we struggle to experience the life God had for us and our world, there’s a sense of opposition and pushback and even violence, from within and without. This ancient paradigm has the potential to unlock a new sense of victory and freedom and growth in our life.

Teachings

Before you begin the practices with your community, listen through these teachings to understand why this practice is important and discover what it can do in your life.

1

The Truth About Lies: Part 1

The secular world laughs off the idea of the devil. “Now we know better” is the mantra of the progressive west.

2

The Truth About Lies: Part 2

For Jesus, the devil’s primary strategy to ruin the soul and society isn’t what most of us expect. It’s lies.

3

God, the “gods”, and the Spiritual Backdrop of the Bible

An interview with Dr. Tim Mackie about the spiritual realm all around us.

4

The Devil’s Disinformation Campaign

Listen as we unpack what the Scriptures mean by “Elemental Forces.”

5

The Man Who Silenced Satan

Unpack the humanity of Jesus, the devil’s tactics, and how we can follow Jesus in spiritual warfare.

6

God of Evil

Our lives and the world around us are often riddled with all kinds of evil, injustice, and suffering.

7

Footholds vs Faithfulness

The Devil doesn’t overpower or coerce us with his lies, instead he utilizes the seductive allure of influence.

8

The Slavery of Freedom: Part 1

To follow Jesus is to resist the disordered desires of our flesh and to live into the new, redeemed desires of the Spirit.

9

The Slavery of Freedom: Part 2

Our habits either sow to the flesh, and reaps slavery, or the spirit, and yield a destiny of life and freedom.

10

The Way of the World

Much of what our generation calls “culture,” Jesus and the writers of the Bible call “the world.”

11

Self-Denial in an Age of Self-Fulfillment

The cross is more than a song or piece of jewelry, rather than a way of life.

 

Practice

Follow along with each part of this practice. We recommend you work through it with your community, a small group triad, a weekly meal with friends or neighbors, your roommates, whatever works. Get a group of people, set a time each week to share a meal, then talk and pray for about an hour. Transformation happens in community. 

Fighting The Devil

1

Fighting Lies With Truth

For Jesus, fighting the devil is about believing truth over lies, rewiring the maps in our mind to adjust to reality.

2

Reading Scripture

In the words of Paul, to follow Jesus in our time and place we have “to take every thought captive.”

3

Memorizing Scripture

Knowing scripture allows us to employ the deeper reality and power of these words to combat the lies of the enemy.

...

Pause & Reflect: The Devil

Taking time and space to pause and reflect is an integral rhythm in the life of an apprentice of Jesus.

 

Fighting The Flesh

4

Confession

Life in apprenticeship to Jesus involves an internal tug-of-war, a battle between our good desires and our broken desires.

5

Fasting

When you choose to fast, you relinquish nourishment from food in a focused effort to instead draw nourishment from God.

...

Pause & Reflect: The Flesh

Taking time and space to pause and reflect is an integral rhythm in the life of an apprentice of Jesus.

Fighting The World

6

Silence & Solitude

Rather than being formed into the image of our culture, followers of Jesus seek to be re-formed into the image of God.

7

Idea Audit

Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

...

Pause & Reflect: The World

Taking time and space to pause and reflect is an integral rhythm in the life of an apprentice of Jesus.

Recommended Reading

Follow along with the recommended reading. We want to continually expand our minds and understanding of the way of Jesus. God wants us to love him not only with our hearts, souls, and strength, but with our minds as well.