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Lassoing the Mind of the Flesh
Episode #510
September 11, 2016
With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
Special Guest: Jennifer Wentzel and Carole Nelson
(J) In this podcast I wanted to do something a little special. We’ve never done this before, and I wanted to just give an excerpt from the newest CD of the Month entitled “I Think Therefore I Know,” and then we’ll enter into the conversation about the message. The message is just absolutely amazing, and I wanted to give you a good taste of where she’s going, and then like I said, we’ll start to discuss it afterwards between ourselves and share how it affected us. So, I hope you enjoy this.
(Martha) The Amplified says, “In as much as we refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we lead every thought and purpose away captive to the obedience of Christ, the Messiah, the anointed One.” I remember thinking that’s impossible to do, to “bring every thought captive.” And Oswald Chambers says somewhere – didn’t look it up – but he has one of the devotionals, he speaks to this. And he says absolutely you have to do the work. And you do it by stopping a thought that goes down a path by surrendering your mind to the Lord, by letting Him own your mind. Nee has great help in his book, “The Spiritual Man,” when he speaks about the mind. And basically it’s, you can just throw off every demonic assault on your mind and take authority over it. You can take authority over distraction and destroy it. You can take charge of your mind and be aware of what you’re thinking and not let yourself… It can be done. You have to do it. Hello!? You have to do it if you’re going to live a successful Christian life. You have to bring every thought captive to obey Christ. Your mind has to be filled with obedience, and it’s a work, yes. But when the flesh is dominance, the scripture is twisted to support the beliefs of the flesh. You can read the Bible through the lens of the flesh. I heard someone do this recently and quote a scripture in the way that it was not ever meant to be. Satan deludes you and flatters you that you can know, that you know what you read. You don’t have to ask God what it means. And so many times was my failure to go back and say, “What did You mean by what You said?” “I know what You said. Yeah, I’ve got it.” No, not at all. We have to be here and then hear what we’ve heard. So Romans 8 defines flesh in this chilling way. “Flesh is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit.” See, we would consider that conflict is always Satan. No, what has to be discerned is soul and spirit, flesh and spirit. This verse is very common, so much that we don’t really get it. God said, “My thoughts are not your thoughts.” Very simple. My thoughts are not His thoughts. His thoughts must become my thoughts. Our thoughts are permanently in opposition to each other; two irreconcilable mindsets, two permanent clashes between reality and delusion. I think justice, God thinks mercy. I think it should be mercy, and God thinks it should be justice. So, I’ve said to myself and to many others, “Don’t go down the street of thinking, because you’ll get lost. Don’t even start down that street.” Take a thing and let it be a mystery. I had a situation with one time and a friend was there when it happened. I started kind of pacing and listening, and she said, “Well, you could do this, or you could do that.” And I said, “Wait a minute. I’m not thinking. I’m listening, because the solution has to come down. It can’t come out,” meaning… You got it. It can’t come out of me or out of you. It’s got to come down.”
(J) You know, often after we have recorded the CD of the Month, we, as a group, the people that were present for the recording want to talk about it; want to reflect on it; want to share about it, and this is one of those months that we were all listening together, and we really wanted to reflect on it and reflect how it reflected on us. And so, I really wanted to do a podcast on that and share, because the message is absolutely priceless. So, Jennifer, how did the message impact you?
(Jennifer) Well, I think Carole actually put it best. How’d you put it, Carole? You said it was piercing, but what’d you say?
(Carole) Yeah, I said it was piercing but it was not heavy. I was sitting here thinking, “That is a real encouragement. It can be done by the Spirit,” but… And watching Martha, she was delivering this scorching message with a smile on her face and joy in her spirit. Wasn’t she? Wouldn’t you say that?
(J) Absolutely.
(Carole) And that, you know, that was imparted; that spirit.
(Jennifer) Let me pop in here real quick to say that we were talking about soul vs. spirit and how to spiritually discern between those. Otherwise we’re talking, and maybe a lot of you don’t know what we’re talking about, because I don’t know how many of you are actually getting the CD of the Month. Imagine a message on spiritual discernment that does not entirely nail you to the wall, only partially.
(Carole) You know, there was that nailing to the wall aspect to it, and the reality of it is I just walked through my own dealings in these last few weeks over this very issue of dividing soul and spirit and the death that soul brings and the life that the Spirit brings, and the contrast of that. But the spirit of the message was encouragement and a lifting of a burden, if you will. It really was the lifting of the burden of the soul and the flesh. And I need that burden lifted, truly, truly, I need that burden lifted.
(Jennifer) I think that’s why I said partially nailed. There is a piercing, really in every one of your messages, Martha. There’s no question about that. But I think with this one, what really struck me, and I’m not really giving anything away in saying this. I had such a picture in this one of how much is available to me if I will ask, if I will ask Him, if I will ask for wisdom when I need it, if I will ask for direction when I need it, if I will ask for His will when I can’t seem to find it, if I will ask. And I think about that. And I tend to go off and get bogged down in what is soul, what is Spirit? Let me make a list. Now, every morning I need to… Does that make any sense, that sometimes a teaspoon full a day if you approach it that way really adds up quickly until you’re so stressed out in your relationship with God that He gives you a word and you start screaming, “I can’t take any more. What are You doing to me. You’re killing me.” You know? Because when you’re the one who’s responsible for carrying it and for knowing it and for parceling it out, and for making it go into your heart, and for writing it into your life and planting and blooming and all these things…. It’s just too much. It’s just all, it’s so, so much, and it’s so heavy. And when you told me what the subject of this was, I really was a little bit prepared for that, because I tend to receive some of the deeper, heavier, you know… And spiritual discernment, that’s a deep water to me anyway. And you did, you had such hope when you were giving it. That’s what it was. It was a message, it’s a hard, deep, and it is really only for the spiritual mind. You can listen to it with a mind of the flesh, and you can get wisdom. I’m not saying you can’t, but you’re not going too far, you know what I mean? You’re going to be like those old water bugs skimming across the pond. Have fun up there, because that’s it. You’re not going anywhere else, you know? But, so you introduced this whole under water world really, but it was with such hope, and it didn’t put anything on… It was so anointed with the roles of the Holy Spirit, with Him carrying it. It was so anointed with a “burden is light, My yoke is easy.” I don’t know how else to put it. There was something very restful in the anointing on this message, which I need for something that deep. It was a real gift. As a result, I feel charged right now as opposed to, “Guys, I need to go get quiet and…” You know? I mean I, that kind of a stereotype when I go rub some ashes in my hair, spend some time getting a little dramatic but yeah. But this, you know, I’m excited to go make dinner with Him and think about it with Him, and that’s just it; to say, “Show me some more.” Or just let it be! That’s fun too, a little percolation.
This is honey and life to my soul today.
#510 Thank you for this beautiful message. The Lord has been pulling me out of my mire AGAIN. Our Father asks nothing of us that He hasn’t provided. He reminded me recently that just as I claim The Blood of Christ for protection, I can claim The Mind of Christ for Discernment and to dispel invading thoughts. (1 Cor 2:16) He has affirmed through your ministry for me like no other lately. Mighty blessings to you, and much respect.