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Gemstone Foundation
Chalcedony
Man
Spirit, Soul, Body
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)
This verse
shows us the triune creation of man. It is a reflection of our God in
whose image we were made. Did you ever wonder how we were made in the
image of God? Well, this is it -
spirit, soul
and body.
We are one,
yet we are three.
Now let's
talk about sanctification on these three levels.
First, we'll
assume that the God of peace has a dwelling place in you. This dwelling
place will be only in your reborn spirit (John 3:3-8), unless you also
present your body (all that resides in your soul and body) as a living
sacrifice unto God (Romans 12:1-2).
In other
words, your soul and body must be brought into subjection to your reborn
spirit.
The Old
Testament type of this is in Exodus 21:5-6 in the piercing of the ear of a
bond slave. This happens when a freed slave chooses to stay and serve his
master. He was brought before God, and his ear was pierced at the door,
as a sign that he would serve permanently.
We choose to
be brought into subjection unto Christ. How we do this becomes the
question.
First, we
choose His ways - not ours;
we obey His
voice - not ours;
we ask for
His decisions,
we listen
for His direction,
we choose to
walk in love, forgiveness, and peace with others, and on and on.
This is how
you bring the soul and body into subjection.
We make Him
a temple of more glory, or less glory, depending on our obedience and
cooperation with the Holy Spirit.
So far,
we've concluded that we must bring soul and body under the control of our
renewed spirit.
Now I want
you to look at the differences between
the three
parts of man.
Body
This is the
outward clothing of our soul. Our body simply reflects our heredity, our
care, its damage or health, and its purpose is for the executing of the
real life lived in our soul and spirit. The bible calls it a vessel, of
honor or dishonor. (1 Timothy 2:20)
Soul
This is the
seat of our personality, with its likes and dislikes. Our feelings,
emotions, will, our past with its successes and failures, and our thought
life are included here. This is the seat of self. It can be the seat of
demons or God. When you decide to make God the ruler of your soul - get
ready for the mother battle of all wars! The successful outcome is
perfectly described in Galatians 2:20.
I have been
crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The
life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me. (NIV)
Spirit
Ephesians
2:1 tells us that we were dead by reason of our trespasses and sins and in
Ephesians 2:5, that we are made alive by salvation through His love and
grace. It is our spirit that is made alive. Our spirit is what is in
communion with God and is where we receive the things of God. When you are
led by the Spirit of God, your spirit receives impressions, leading,
knowings, words, etc.
We need to
have the soul and body life crucified with Christ, so that we can be led
by the Spirit of God without interference by our mind, will, thoughts and
reasonings. If our soul life is not yielded to God, it will filter and
pervert the things of God, and we will not be accurate representatives of
our Lord in this earth.
We will be
bad ambassadors!
When the
body, soul and spirit are in alignment with the Spirit of God, there will
be no hypocrisy between what we know, what we think, and what we do. We
will know the will of God, we will think (or pray) as God thinks, and we
will do the will of God gladly.
This is how
Jesus did the will of the Father on the earth. We will do those things
that Jesus did when we walk like this. Romans 8:19 tells us that the whole
creation eagerly waits for the manifestation (revelation, disclosure,
appearing) of the sons of God, and (Romans 8:23) for the redemption of our
bodies. After our walk, we also will receive new bodies like Jesus did!
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