The TREE OF LIFE is a weekly teaching summary. Going AWOL in the spiritual realm is the act of reversing or being so reversed to a former state or practice. It is a disorderly retreat and is the status of the believer who fails to execute the plan of God for his life. Whether it be due to a lack of spiritual growth or due to the lack of application of doctrine, if the believer is not going forward he is going backward. This is what prevents the hostile invasion of negative thoughts and prevents them from expanding outward via the tongue.
Spiritual warriors are to be utterly ruthless about what they bring into their souls.
They do so by taking the sword of truth and cutting swiftly and clearly through all the extraneous, all the superficialities, the mindsets and addictions that hold them back. Only when our souls are uncluttered with the negative by way of human viewpoint and filled with divine viewpoint do we have the option of the power it takes to resist the devil. God has provided for us a defensive position because Satan will do his best to attack and take us out of the plan of God. It is necessary not to fight Satan on his terms, but to oppose or resist him using God's perspective and power. We are called to obedience in spite of opposition.