Getting to the Root of Our Problems – Part 1 | Sorting Out Spiritual Confusion

Many of us start out the new year setting the goals we want to accomplish in the next 365 days. In fact, the Apostle Paul references the act of goal-setting as we move upward in our call.

“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”—Philippians 3:14

So then, what is your goal? How will you set up your year of success?

Think about this… Is your goal as a Believer to discover and fulfill your purpose—the one the Lord tailored specifically for you?

We all desire to know what we are made for and where our godly talents can be manifested here on earth. We want to see God’s hand at work in our everyday lives.

And if you’ve discovered that purpose—your unique mission—then what? Now it is for you to decide what you will do with this knowledge and awareness.

Understanding God’s will for your life is the first step, and to do that you claim your identity as a new creation.

Don’t be taken in by Satan’s attempt to throw you off course with confusion. While the Lord’s mission is to bring heaven to earth—glorifying who He is, what He has done, what He is doing and will do—the enemy’s goal is the opposite.

God’s clarity provokes Satan to introduce confusion. God’s purposes ignite Satan’s goal of causing problems.

As you get further into the year, we want to encourage you to get deeper into the Word. Being grounded in the foundation of God’s Word protects your purpose! Then you can fight spiritual confusion with biblical clarity.

We do need to take some accountability when it comes to spiritual confusion in our lives. There comes a time when we must come before God with an honest and humble heart when our marriages, jobs, families, health, and finances are in chaos.

King David, a man after God’s own heart, exhibited the beauty of a repentant prayer…

“For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight—that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge…

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me… Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.”—Psalm 51:3-4, 10, 12

We undoubtedly live in a broken world, and there will remain brokenness until Christ’s return. There are things that happen in our lives that we have no control over. Pain is present and loss is real. But how we choose to respond and move forward needs to be covered in covenant prayer.

Now that we’ve established what our two-part goal is…

• Discovering God’s will
• Fulfilling our purpose

…let’s move on in our journey.

Stepping into Our Assignment

When we decide we are fully committed to our assignment, we are essentially saying we desire to be fully immersed in and aligned with His presence. Studying and understanding the mystery of immersion and its Hebraic roots sheds light on the purpose and power of this experience.

Christ’s Mikvah and His Promotion to Ministry…

Immersion in Hebrew is mikvah, which means the collection or gathering of water. Many refer to Jesus’ immersion experience in the Jordan River as His baptism.

On the surface, it seems Jesus did this solely as a symbolic example of how our old life of sin is washed away. But let’s take a closer look. Yes, Jesus’ immersion was about being obedient to the Father but, like anything in the Bible, you need to read and study the scriptures as a whole—both the Old and New Testament.

It is about washing away the old and ushering in the new, and this isn’t to be taken lightly. When we step into our assignment as a completely new creation in Christ, we are no longer citizens of this earth. Our home is in heaven.

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”—Philippians 3:20-21

When you accept Jesus as your Savior and believe He consumed your debt, your sins are removed. The immersion promotes you into your destiny. Jesus didn’t need to be baptized to wash away His sin—He was sinless! Take note of what He did after His immersion; He began His assignment—changing the world with His ministry.

“When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’”—Matthew 3:16-17

Being promoted into your divine calling and position means embracing your Father, your new home, and your new identity—completely. And thus, begins the journey of a lifetime.

The next step is to examine how to move forward and protect your assignment. Don’t you agree that once a new revelation is received from the Lord, another exciting chapter is opened in your story? This is when it really starts getting good. Promotion and prosperity in faith are just ahead!

Be Aware…

The enemy is going to bring every case he can against you in the Courts of Heaven to derail your assignment. Both seen and unseen roadblocks will pop up. We are going to continue on in the journey that will help us identify and sort out spiritual confusion.

Then we are going to deal with it, just as Christ dealt with it—with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (see Ephesians 6:17). Understand that being transformed into the image of Christ is a process.

After Jesus was baptized, several extraordinary events took place that led to Him to be seated at the right hand of God. We will take a look at how He overcame temptation, and what we can pull from His example to apply in our own lives as we step into our destiny.

Temptation and spiritual confusion started in the Garden, but Jesus overcame it, and He gave us the power to do the same! The Bible does not say testing and trials are easy, but God does promise blessings to those who endure.

As we continue on our journey of protecting our assignment, let us be fully aware of how we may be tempted to trade in our calling for things that moth and rust can destroy.

It is our prayer “…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”—Ephesians 1:17-21 (emphasis added)

Other articles in this series:

• Part 2 | Experiencing Temptation in Life
• Part 3 | Three Temptations of Jesus Christ
• Part 4 | Lust of the Flesh
• Part 5 | Pride of Life
• Part 6 | Lust of the Eyes
• Part 7 | Your Character and Purpose

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