Happy Sunday!
"May the God of peace set you apart for Himself. May EVERY part of you be set apart for God. May your spirit and your soul and your body be kept complete. May you be without blame when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again." (1 Thessalonians 5:23 New Life Version)
This scripture makes it clear that we are tripartite beings, we have three parts.
The body is very obvious. When I talk to you face to face, I'm looking at your body, but I am talking to your soul. The soul is your mental emotional part. Some people define the soul as the mind, the will, and the emotions. The soul also includes your conscience, and your personality. If I touch your physical body, you can feel that, but I can also touch you by my words. You can say words, and hurt a person. Many of us are still suffering because of words that were spoken to us in our childhood. The words didn't hurt our body, but they hurt our soul. The body and the soul are easier to understand, but the spirit tends to be misunderstood.
John 3:5-6 says, "Jesus answered, “For sure, I tell you, unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit of God, he cannot get into the holy nation of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit."(New Life Version). Jesus was attempting to explain the "Born Again" experience to Nicodemus. He wanted Nicodemus to know that you cannot feel your spirit in a physical natural way. The spirit is different from the body. If you want to know how your body is, you can just think and your body will tell you. You can feel whether you are tired, energized, or sick. You can do an inventory on your soul as well, whether you are glad, afraid, depressed, or sad. The spirit however cannot be contacted through feelings. The spirit cannot be accessed in any natural way!
This is the problem! The spirit is the part of us that was changed, the spirit is the part of us that God communicates with, and the spirit is the part of us that all of the life and the power of God flows through. It's important that we understand that we cannot feel, or discern spiritual reality through our normal senses. If you can't taste, hear, see, or feel what the Word of God says, then immediately there is a conflict. It may make you think the Bible is hard to understand. Many times we give up and think the Word must not be true because we can't relate to it with our senses. John 6:63 says, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (KJV). The Word of God is spirit. In order to know what our spirit is like we must go to the Word of God.
James 1:23-25 says, "If you hear the message and don’t obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror and forget what they look like as soon as they leave. But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don’t just hear and forget."(CEV). This scripture compares the Bible to a mirror. Not a mirror used to see your physical face, but a mirror to see your spiritual face. Do you realize, you have never seen your face? You have only seen a reflection of your face. Even though you have never seen your own face, you have come to a place where you trust the reflection you see in the mirror. It's the same thing with the Word of God! The Word of God gives you a perfect picture of your spirit, and it's the only way you can know your spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."(KJV). This scripture is not talking about your physical body! If you were fat before you got saved, you will still be fat after you get saved. Your body didn't pass away and become new! This scripture is not talking about your soul either! If you were ignorant before you got saved, your will still be ignorant after you get saved unless you renew your mind. Thank God, he can empower us to change our physical and mental state, but it's important to know it was our spirit that was made new.
The change takes place in the spirit, and has to work it's way out into the soul and the body! If we don't understand this it can cause us to doubt whether we were ever really saved. Everything you will ever need in your Christian life is already in your spirit! We aren't trying to get anything from God. God has already given us ALL we could ever need! 2 Peter 1:3 says, "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness," (KJV). In our Born Again spirit, everything is complete. The rest of our lives is spent learning to believe this Fact. As we get our soul in agreement with what is already in our spirit our lives and bodies will change.
Pastor Duane Sheriff describes it like this, "2/3 of you is going to rule your life! Your spirit is fixed by God Almighty, born-again, and in union with Christ himself. Your flesh is decaying it ain't any good, and never will get any better. There's one guy that gets the final vote! If this guy votes with the spirit, the soul and the spirit, (the heart) override the body. But if this guy votes with the body, the body and the soul will override the spirit." The Apostle Paul described the struggle like this, "So you see how it is: my new life(spirit) tells me to do right, but the old nature(soul) that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free." (Romans 7:23-25 Living Bible).
Love and prayers, Cynthia
