What Are You?

For the past 2 weeks I have been teaching about the make-up of man. I know the teachings are rather technical (someone told me it's rather scientific) but hey, sometimes I need to move from inspiration to serious learning. So here's what I taught in summary.

Man is a 3 part being (1 Thess 5:23). Essentially YOU are a spirit being made in the likeliness of God and God is spirit. You possess a SOUL which is your mind, your intellect, your will power. You live in a house called the human body. With the spirit of man we connect with the spirit world. The soul of man connects with the intellectual realm and the body of course allow us to connect with this physical world. The spirit of man (which is the real you) never dies but need to be regenerated (bornagain). The soul of man need to be "saved" by the renewing of the mind with the engrafted word of God. The body need to be presented before God as a living sacrifice ... not in the literal sense of course! It needs to be taken care of so that it is presentable before God, that it glorifies God.

Unless the spirit of man (i.e. you) is regenerated, you will never know God nor understand the things of God because you have not yet receive the life and nature of God (i.e. eternal life). That's why Jesus said of the Pharisees and Sadducee (religious men) "you have eyes but see not, ears but hear not". They were spiritually blind not able to discern spiritual truths because they were not born of the Spirit of God. Today, you are bornagain. That's why you are able to understand the Bible, know Jesus in personal, intimate way. You are able to experience God and deep down on the very inside of you, you have the peace, joy and love of God and you know you are a child of God and heaven is your home eventually! BUT not those who are not regenerated (born again) because they do not have the life and nature of God infused into their spirits ... i.e. they are not bornagain. So basically in this world,the blind is leading the blind!

The spirit of man, just like the soul and body of man, have a voice. It's called INTUITION ... CONSCIENCE. The voice of the soul is REASONING (you hear that all the time)and the voice of the body is FEELINGS. So the question here is ... are you more body conscious, or soul conscious or spirit conscious?

Most people are soul and body conscious. They are being led by their emotions and reasoning. Remember the disciple of Jesus, Thomas? When the rest of the disciples told him that they have seen the Lord and that He is alive? Remember his respond? He said, "Unless I can see the nail marks in his hands and put my fingers where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." Thomas was listening to the voice of his soul and body and turned a deft ear to his spirit. That's why he was not able to grasped the spiritual reality of Christ's resurrection even though he had been with the Lord Jesus 3 years!

Now I am not saying here that we must not take heed to our intellect and emotions. Our intellect and our emotions are all part of who we are. My point here is the real us (we are spirit beings) has a voice. We must learn to listen to it because in the Bible, God said it is in and out of our human spirit that God is going to speak to us and guide us! (Read Rom 8:14,16; Prov 20:27). Paul said our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and within us, in our spirit, is where God dwells! God does not dwell in our minds, or our physical bodies, but in our spirits. So, here's the deal ...

If you want to be led by God; if you want to know God's will, you have got to learn to look not at the mind or the emotions. You have got to look into where it all started ... in your spirit because on that day you received Jesus into your life and you were bornagain, God (by His Holy Spirit) made his abode in your spirit. And so Proverbs 20:27 reveals ... "the spirit of man (not the soul nor the body) is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts." Right inside your spirit God is going to illuminate (like a lamp) your paths! That's why in the world, they tell you to "listen to your heart ... look out for that gut feeling." They are not bornagain. We are. Christians are to be led by the voice of their regenerated spirits.

When God lead us by our spirits, often times the mind and the emotions do no agree. They are saying something else. For example, when in our innermost parts (or being) the Spirit of God moved us to forgive, our mind says, "No way man" and our emotions says "I cannot forgive". In a given situation where there is a conflict between the voice of your spirit, soul and body, which will you heed? I think you know the right thing to do.

Interesting? I will still be dwelling on this subject but this week we have a speaker. If you are reading my blog, take heed to what is to come. I am just scratching the surface ... so to say.

Cheerio!!!