Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23
Do you feel like your life is out of balance? Are you concentrating on one part of your life, but things are falling over in other areas? It is not surprising that God has made us in three parts. Each piece needs to function well for us to be able to be successful in life. In three short videos from Andrew Wommack explains how getting a healthy function of the body, soul, and spirit happens when we feed our spirit and learn to see and operate in the world as God's children. We read in Romans 8:14 that:-
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."
Before the spirit can lead us, we need to understand how God made us function in three parts; body, soul and spirit.
Andrew Wommack has put together three excellent animated videos that explain how the Soul, Body and Spirit function for us. At the end of the blog, there is a sermon by Robert Morris that teaches us why we should stay in the Word of God. It is imperative to read to understand.
By understanding your soul, body and spirit and how they interrelate, you will realise how important time in the Word is in understanding what it means and applying it to your everyday life.
Video 1: Our body is made up of three different parts.
Part 1: Body
Our body is what we can see in the mirror. We can physically feel and touch our bodies.
Part 2: Soul
Our soul is what you speak to. It includes our mind, will, emotions and conscience. From our soul comes our personality. Our words impact the soul of others. Through our words, we can cause people to be sad, glad, angry etc.. Words said can hurt a person.
Part 3: Spirit
We are in constant contact with our body and soul. For our spirit, we cannot feel it or touch it. Our spirit is totally different. In John:3:6 Jesus says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Therefore, our spirit operated differently, but it can also only be accessed in a supernatural way. God communicates to us through our spirit. Most importantly, the power of God flows through our spirit. In James 2:26 we read, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." When our spirit is alive, our body comes alive, which is evident through our works through faith.
How do we discern spiritual truth? The only way to do this is through reading and then believing the Bible. Jesus spoke to His disciples in John 6 about the Spirit. In verse 3, he said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.". The words of Jesus and the wisdom of His Word bring life to us. Not only do tell us about God's Spirit in us, but as we read, understand and do what the Word says, there is a great power. In James 1:23, we read, "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;" We must enact spiritual truth.
Video 2: When we are born again, we are totally transformed.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17
As we have read, we become a new creation when we come to Christ. We are made totally new. When we understand what this process is, then we can learn to live in a new way. When we come to Christ, our body and soul are not renewed; just our spirit. In Galatians 3:3, Paul says we are only made perfect by the Spirit, not any works of the flesh.
Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Galatians 3;3.
When we become Christians, our spirit dies and God places in us the Spirit of His Son. In Romans 8:9 Paul says, "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His." God's Spirit should be the part of us that controls our body and soul and should be a hallmark of all believers. We could say that our spirit and the spirit of Jesus become one, and therefore, our spirit becomes identical to the spirit of Jesus.
God is Spirit. We can only worship Him through our spirit. (John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”). As we have His spirit in us, we are made righteous and Holy. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead wells in us! (But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 1 Corinthians 1:30.) As this is the truth, then our soul needs to come into agreement with what has taken place in our spirit. We are called to live a life where our spirit flows through our soul to get to our body.
It is easy to close our minds to this truth. It is vital to look into the mirror of the Word for the truth, not the mirror of the body. I need to learn how to have the spirit of God flow from my spirit to my soul and body, I need to train my mind to walk in the spirit. This involves not believing what the body sees and feels, but understanding the world through the mirror of the Word. In fact, our spiritual journey is about being transformed as we are constantly renewing the mind. In doing so, the physical body AND our spirit will benefit.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2.
Video 3: Our Christian walk starts with renewing our minds.
Trying hard to live a Christian life will lead to exhaustion, failure and often causes people to abandon their faith. Our walk as God's children must start with renewing our minds. Only then will our physical bodies benefit.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1-2.
Being conformed is like having something take the shape of something else. A jelly mould is an example of this. We are no longer shaped or look like the world but transformed as we read the Word of God and know and understand God's will for us and His world. Transformed comes from the word, "metamorphosis" which is the process a grub or caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. The caterpillar is totally broken down in the cocoon and becomes a creature that looks, acts and behaves differently to the caterpillar it was. For Christians, we go through a metamorphosis process where we change from being sinful, angry, self-centred and bitter to a person that displays the fruit of the spirit which includes love, joy, peace, patience self-control etc.. We move from being defeated to being victorious. This transformation comes as our minds are renewed through reading, understanding and enacting His Word. In Ephesians 4 we are called not to walk vainly in our minds and as a lost man. We are urged to think spiritually not carnally.
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; Ephesians 4:17-18.
In Romans 8:6 Paul shows the readers that when we live in the spirit, we encounter life and peace. Therefore when we live in the flesh, we experience death. (For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:6) God is calling us not to have our minds controlled by our senses. There is a greater reality beyond our flesh and what we can see.
Finally, in Philemon 6, we read "that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus." When we acknowledge every good thing in us is through what Jesus has done through giving His Spirit, we live a life of thankfulness and awareness that only through His Spirit will be able to live a life that He has called us to.
It is evident, then, that our Christian walk can work when we learn to operate in our spirit. This comes as we spend time in the Word of God, understand what it says and then, through His enabling, live out what we read. This takes time, effort and a real commitment to understanding and living life through God's eyes which is His Word. Each truth we encounter, believe, and walk in will change our lives and cause us to metamorphosize into living as God's children.
Importance of the Word of God
Robert Morris gives an excellent sermon on the importance of staying in the Word of God. I pray this is encouraging!
Read David's psalms and learn how David took control over his soul. He was able to understand his emotions but see things through his spiritual eyes.
In Psalm 42, David talked to his soul (his mind, his will, and his emotions):
Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
For the help of His countenance. Psalm 42:5
For a shepherd, a cast sheep is one that has fallen down and cannot get up. If the shepherd does not find this sheep, the animal will die. David calls his soul a fallen sheep and tells it to get back up and hope in God and praise in Him. In Psalm 103 David tells his soul to praise God and profess His love, mercy and faithfulness"
1 With my whole heart, with my whole life,
and with my innermost being,
I bow in wonder and love before you, the holy God!
2 Yahweh, you are my soul’s celebration.
How could I ever forget the miracles of kindness
you’ve done for me?
3 You kissed my heart with forgiveness, in spite of all I’ve done.[a]
You’ve healed me inside and out from every disease.
4 You’ve rescued me from hell and saved my life.
You’ve crowned me with love and mercy.
5 You satisfy my every desire with good things.
You’ve supercharged my life so that I soar again
like a flying eagle in the sky!(Psalm 103:1-5)
At the end of the psalm, he exhorts all of God’s creatures to bless Him:
(Read more about David talking to his soul by going to https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=9333. )
May God bless you as you continue to grow in your desire and ability to feed your spirit, so you can walk as children of God. May your life be an adventure as you are led by His Spirit and fulfil the good works He has made you for. My prayer is people will encounter Him as they experience God's words, actions and love through you. May you be imitators of God.
Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. Ephesians 5:1.