My child, My love for you is everlasting and I treasure our time together. Anytime, anywhere, know that I am right here with you. Rest in My Presence, walk in My Spirit and commune with Me continually. this is My desire for you.
My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring says the Lord from now and forever. I the Lord, will hasten it in its time.
Isaiah 59:21 60:22
Sin doesn’t stem primarily from our physical body; it’s a heart problem rooted within the soul. We know that our soul cannot change until it is influenced by a healthy spirit. And nothing happens until our spirit is first empowered by the life of God. But when it is, the soul, mind and body are pushed automatically toward their purpose. Ultimately this is the answer to the dilemma of the sinful weakness of the flesh.
This, of course, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t consciously try to curb sin in our flesh by saying no to it. It would be pretty foolish to let sin run rampant in our body while waiting for change to happen within our heart. Rather, these strategies are designed to work hand in hand with each other. Only when we renounce sin in our flesh and then couple it with the pursuit of healing and change in our heart do we stand a chance of experiencing transformation in our behavior.
Put God in charge–and then cooperate with Him. He has a plan!
Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself
Although an attempt to produce genuine change in man’s behavior through discipline of the body may have some minor value, it ultimately never produces the desired effect.(Colossians 2:22-23) This is because it merely treats the symptoms rather than the disease, and only leads to heaping on a load of guilt when it fails to work. By its very nature, this strategy is doomed to failure because it simply bucks God’s design—His life flows not from the works of the flesh, but from the Spirit of God surging through the panel of our spirit.(John 15:5)
And here’s another prevalent misconception: the belief that we can transform ourselves by acquiring knowledge about the things of God. Can’t we? I hear a chorus of voices shouting, “Of course we can; how else can we grow in the knowledge of God and thus renew our minds?” The fact is that this too bucks God’s design. When Paul admonishes us not to “be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” he doesn’t mean merely the intellect. Rather, he means the transformation of our mind defined as the inner man—our immaterial nature integrated with the physical mind.(Romans12:2)
But doesn’t gaining more knowledge about God mean that our heart will change in the process? Well, in a sense it does, because knowledge of the things of God and His kingdom are certainly vital to our growth. But such knowledge must be pursued from the right motives if it is to be effective. Why? Because true change in the heart does not come from the direction of the intellect. Rather, the genuine source of change in our heart is the result of the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God bringing our spirit alive to Him. Jesus said, “But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.”(John 16:3) He does this by disclosing to us—Spirit to spirit—revelatory truth within, as well as spiritually quickening what we learn through our intellect.
Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself
Paul tells us in Romans 8:10-11, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
How can our body be spiritually dead because of sin and alive at the same time? Does this merely refer to our glorified bodies when resurrected? I think that may be part of it, but I believe it also means that our physical bodies are being made alive in the here and now. How? By being given the capacity to fulfill our purpose here on earth, in our flesh, by the power of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence. It’s His power that makes it all possible!
Man’s soul, his mind, and his body are designed in such a way that they cannot fulfill their purpose unless the his spirit is alive, and thus capable of action. So movement in our spirit can only take place when it is securely fastened to God and thus enlivened by the power of His Spirit.
All the elements of our nature (body, mind, soul and spirit) are interrelated—they are progressively hinged to one another, each changing automatically as its neighbor changes. Progress in the spirit changes the soul, in turn affecting the mind which dictates the behavior of the body. It is impossible for our elements to operate effectively independent of one another, because they are all securely hinged together.
Now, what happens if our spirit is not securely hinged to God? Tug all you want on the body and it won’t effect our mind and soul much at all. The sad fact is that the purpose of man is totally lost when his connection to God severed.
Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself
The new birth is God’s vehicle for entrance into our spirit. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God…That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”(1 Corintians 15:42-44) Christ’s death on the cross—His sacrifice for our sins—paved the way for each and every person on earth to experience His indwelling presence. But though He offers it as a free gift, it doesn’t just happen automatically.
We may receive His gift only by our willingness to turn from our own selfish desires—our sin—and then put Him in charge by making him the Lord of our life. If you haven’t already taken this step, do it now! God will keep His word, and will allow you to enter a life you never dreamed possible. Only through the life-giving power of the Spirit will we ever be able to experience the interaction of the elements of our nature as they were always intended to be.
God never meant for a single one of us to forge a life devoid of His presence. Only in Him can we ever arrive at the zenith of God’s purpose and plan for us—this great gift of all-embracing personhood in Him. For those of us who have entered into the very life of God through Jesus, it’s easy to see those who don’t know God as stumbling through life much like zombies (the living dead, right?).
Here’s what Paul tells us about the destiny for the physical body for those who are in Christ: “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”(1 Corinthians 15:42-44)
Thus the destiny of our threefold being is to be transformed into some sort of spiritual being—don’t ask me just what, but no doubt something much like Jesus became upon His resurrection.(1 John 3:2) My point is this: our ultimate destiny is not simply to throw off the baggage of our physical body when going to be with the Lord, but a melding of the elements of our nature into a glorified being who retains the original stamp of humanity.
Our body is to be transformed into that which is capable of enjoying a full and eternal union with our Creator.(Philippians 3:21) Our spirit is the starting place of that union here and now.(Revelation 3:20: “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him, and will dine with him, and he with Me”.)
Without question our spiritual nature is the supreme gift of God to man. Why do I say the supreme gift? Because through our spirit, and only through our spirit, has God given us the opportunity to commune with Him. We need to realize that the opportunity for His indwelling presence is the primary purpose for the existence of our spirit. God actually takes up residence in our spirit as we allow Him to do so.
It may sound a bit presumptuous to say that He indwells us only as we allow it, but that is exactly the case. Because He has given us the capacity of free will, God lives within us only as an invited guest. Our spirit has been formed by God in such a way as to provide His Holy Spirit a dwelling place within our nature.(1 Corinthians 3:16: Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?)
I’m sure you’ve heard it said that within each person there is a God-shaped vacuum which only He can fill. That place is our spirit. Without the inhabiting presence of God, our spirit is simply dead—and therefore purposeless. So in one very large sense, our spirit is the essence of our being.
While Scripture often uses the term flesh to describe the physical body, it is also used to portray that part of our nature which encompasses body, mind and soul. This definition of flesh is epitomized in Jesus’ warning to His disciples, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”(Matthew 26:41). Here flesh is used to describe that part of our nature which stands in contrast to our spiritual nature. It is the carnal nature of man, the seat of sinful passions and affections.
Our flesh, then, is that part of our nature which is able to live and function freely without any submission to God—although it’s obvious that it can exist only as His sustaining power allows it. And it’s very important to understand that the flesh follows us into our new life in God. It continues to have a life of its own even as our spirit is reborn and brought alive. As a result, we find ourselves constantly embroiled in a battle with the desires of our flesh as we seek to fulfill the desire of the Spirit.(Galatians 5:17 “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another…”)
The Bible also uses another term for the flesh: the natural man. The term natural man is synonymous with the flesh—but only the flesh as it pertains to the unregenerate man. Once we have received Christ and become a child of God, though still saddled with the flesh, we are no longer a natural man but a spiritual one.(1 Corinthians 2:14-16 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.15But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.16For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”)
Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself