Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

What can I do? I’ve said it, and I think you have also. It is common among people who care to exercise their faith in an effort to see good in this world. After many efforts to help we are often left with this one thought when things do not turn out as we hope. What else can we do? Here in a great set of instructions about spiritual warfare Paul encourages us to stand, having done all.

That still leaves us with a lingering doubt as to what doing all contains. Perhaps it is the lingering doubt that Paul wants us to escape. I don’t have all the answers. I wish I did. I hate to see others in pain, suffering physical and emotional pain. I’ve been there, I know what it feels like. No one likes to feel helpless, yet we often do, not just for ourselves but for others also. Love compels us.

Do we have all gifts? No. We can only use those we have. Have you called in others whose gifts might be useful? Nothing says you have to do it all yourself. Have you gathered prayer partners and set your sights upon the issue? Did you begin with prayer? Often times it helps to begin with prayer. Have you exhausted every human and spiritual avenue available to you? If so, now what?

Stand! It means to not get down. Trust God for the rest. The fact that we haven’t seen the results that we are looking for does not mean God isn’t at work. If you are still not at peace, then look within yourself to discover what God is doing in you to resolve that troubled heart.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Do you ever ask yourself why certain passages are written in this manner? We see first that the contrite and humble are connected together with spirit and then as He speaks to revival they are separated. First He revives the spirit of the humble and then revives the heart of contrition. Do you ask yourself why? Perhaps you come up with an idea as to why. Perhaps not. Do you ask the Lord why? I did.

Consider the first state or condition of the spirit and heart to be equal and alike. Both are dead and in need of being born again. Dead in our sins, we have exhausted every human effort to attain to righteousness, so we turn to God. We place our faith in Jesus Christ and we become a new creation. Now we are quickened in spirit and obtain a new heart, one after God.

The spirit and the heart are not the same. One is spirit, the other flesh. They both have access to the truth but only one is subject to infection, the heart. The spirit is subject only to the Holy Spirit, the heart, because it is flesh is subject to fleshly influences. The heart can be filled with Godly influences and constantly needs to be revived as it is spent. We sin and repent over and over again. Not so the spirit.

Hebrews 6 clearly states that it is impossible to renew one who has tasted of the Holy Spirit to renew itself by repentance, because the spirit is not subject to corruption, and needs not repent. But not so the heart which is influenced by the world in which it resides and has to subject itself to continued repentance.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.