Greetings. Psalm 56:5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. We wrest God's judgement in our own minds and respect the opinion of a wicked person counselor. Deuteronomy 16:19 Thou shall not wrest judgment, thou shall not respect persons. Sense the biggest wrestling match occurs in our mind, and our stage name is very wicked counselor. Suppose you get a thought that you should study God's Bible by comparing scriptures with same word in them. Then comes an opposing thought justifying you have something more important to do you have just lose the match. One of the early Bible character of the old testament had a wrestling match that latest all night. Genesis 32:24And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.Man is born in darkness unless God regard us and reveals to us that we have been in spiritual darkness until : breaking of the day. The Biblical figure Job knew this and spoke on his darkness. Job 3:4Let that day be darkness; Let God not regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Millions have imagined they are walking in God's light, but this is impossible until God reveals His words unto us. Job 17:12 They change the night unto day. Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities; against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. If we are going to inherit the kingdom of God then we are all got to wrestle spiritually. The high places in the above verse deal with our exalted high-minded thoughts. 2 Timothy 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Thus if this wrestling match is not against flesh and blood it’s a spiritual match which takes place in the mind. Would carnal man wrestle against God's holy word? Yes! Psalms 56:5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. In the above verse, thousands of years ago King David, who wrote the book of Psalms saw that man’s thought against God were only evil. Matthew 10:36 And a man's foes [ his thoughts]shall be they of his own household. The above verses is often widely quoted but not often spiritually understood. Many a carnal minded people have used it to justify getting a physical divorce. Did you know God can spiritually divorce us if we refuse correction of the carnal mind. Zephaniah 3:2 She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her GOD The foes in: Matthew 10:36 are in the carnal mind. The Spirit of of truth verses the spirit of err or the carnal mind. First the spirit of truth: John 16:13Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. Notice it say the Spirit of Truth will not speak of himself in other words man’s thoughts. And God Spirit is a guide to the meek if we allow His Spirit to do so. Psalm 25:9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. God has to teach us His ways! Why? Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. Isaiah 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Now a little on the spirit of error. 1 John 4:6We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.The carnal mind we are all born with is alienated against God's Holy word. Colossians 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled See that our enemies are in our mind wicked thought, and of course there are physical wicked works that we see every day: lying, stealing, killing. But once the you have gotten past all things physical, you may be able to see we are only self-righteous. Right by men standard of what is good or bad but not by God's Laws. So now two laws are at work here: First man law or the law of works Romans 9:32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.For they stumbled at that stumblingstone.THE LAW OF WORKS, which require no faith and it can keep you out of jail and the divorce court. When we are in the law of works and you fail to see there's something deeper that God wants to reveal to us. We become self-righteous and you are now a Bible carrying Pharisee. The Pharisee were the religious leaders of Jesus day and they still exist today you see them on any given Sunday. Dressed in self-righteous garment of pride. Psalm 73:6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. This group refuses to work on Sunday or demand Sunday off from work so they can be in the house of the Lord. But after Church demand other people cook, clean and to service them because it the Lord’s day: modern day Pharisees. The Shabbat has nothing to do with anything physical only a day of Spiritually rest in our minds; against wrestling against the scriptures: you have a interpreter in your corner. Luke 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. Now for years I was a modern day Pharisee and to the public I looked pretty, but not to GOD. Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.Please note in the above verse it say your righteousness. Have we ever met anybody whose righteousness exceed the Pharisees? Isaiah 64:6But we are all as unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. The sad part about our struggle with our carnal mind, is we thought we got rid of it when we went to a physical altar. All I got when I went to the altar was sin, I went and started to make the word of God sin: my wicked thoughts. I would have to wrestler with the old man in my thoughts, to overcome sin. Let's call this old man the Persecutor of righteous, now If as a wrestler I knew I had a match coming up I would train. Michael Rudolph Hodges 8/23/2016/ amended 5/26/2019/ amended 5/7/2021/ amended 4/29/2022
THE WRESTLER