People
© 2005 Mekizedek’s Treasure
Artists: Vocal & Bass: Kerry Giles
with Qadash and guests
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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, our 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 earth-life, we also will receive new bodies like Jesus did!
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