It is of utmost importance that we know how God designed us. The importance is brought on by the erroneous teachings out there that have deceived many into following idols and being led into making wrong life choices. Choices that end up in dead-ends like failed marriages, business deals and occupations that were never God’s will.
So what does the Bible have to say about our design? The truth is that it says a lot. To start, in 1st Thessalonians 5:23 the Apostle Paul prayed: “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here he describes our design, spirit, soul and body. Unfortunately, from the human perspective we think in terms of body first, soul second and spirit third. If our perspective is body, soul and spirit then we have it backward. We do that simply because the body is our connection to this world and our soul is the main dominating component of our being while we are here. But the Bible instructs us in 1st Corinthians 15:44-45 that in the resurrected life, or, in heaven, our dominating component part will be the spirit.
The church at large today would have a huge revival if it returned to this main point that we are first spirit, then soul and then body in terms of how we are to spiritually grow and live the abundant life Jesus intended for us to have. Why is that so important? Because when God speaks to us we hear His voice in our spirit. If we don’t know the difference in spirit and soul, then we don’t know when it’s our soul or the voice of God speaking to us. It is also this very important lack of Bible knowledge that leads us to deception in our lives. Remember, Jesus said “My sheep know my voice and no other voice will they follow.” If we follow the voice of our own fallen nature then we will make choices God never intended us to make. The Bible is clear: we perish for lack of knowledge about God.
Now, more than ever, there is confusion within the churches in America today. It is exactly as Jesus described in the last days. Jesus said a few things concerning the church in the last days:
- It will be like the days of Noah. People will be looking for a sign everywhere but Jesus said that a wicked generation looks for a sign but the only sign they will get will be like the days of Noah. In other words, very few people will be pointing to the truth. Noah was a preacher of righteousness and no one listened which is why he and his family alone entered into the ark.
- Jesus said, “because iniquity will abound, the love of many will wax cold.” Friends, we are there. We are not at the curb, we’re in the house.
- Jesus said that in the last days it would be so confusing that if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived. Again, we are there. There is so much narcissistic teachings and intellectualizing of the scriptures that deception runs rampant.
In today’s world, there is much knowledge about man’s world. But if we are to live the abundant life Jesus died for us to have, we must have within our spirit a hunger for the knowledge of God and we must act according to the knowledge of God that we obtain so that we may spiritually mature. Spiritual maturity is simply coming to a fullness of the knowledge of God concerning a subject and walking in agreement with that knowledge. Jesus said in Matthew 8:18: “Therefore take heed how you hear, for whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” It is called the Law of Use. We must accept in our hearts (spirits) what we hear in order to possess it and then we must use it to obtain more, in order to keep it and get more knowledge of who God is.
So how do we first get the hunger to know Him? First and foremost, we must ask Jesus to come into our hearts and reign from within us. If we don’t have Him inside, we can’t hear Him. Second, we need to know that the term heart and spirit are one and the same. Our spirit is the innermost part of our being and that is the part within us that hungers for righteousness. It is the seat of our moral coding. If we don’t have Jesus inside then we have no correct start.
Second, as we hunger to know Him and add that knowledge of Him, we must come to an understanding that our trials and tribulations as new opportunities that bring more knowledge of Him. It is submission to the knowledge of Him rather than what our soul wants to do that does not have a will to increase in knowledge of Him. A soul that fights the spiritual hunger to know Jesus more, is the soul that is immature. The spiritually immature person only waits for trials and tribulations to be forced to learn the knowledge of God. And then, it will only grow as long as the trial or tribulation exists. After that, it’s back to the normal carnal ways of living. Living carnal is living according to the mind/intellect, will and emotion. Carnal or soul dominated living is when the soul (mind, will and intellect) have dominion over our perception and there is no dominance of a spirit that hungers for knowledge of Him. A spiritually immature individual will circle a mountain indefinitely and never accept and submit to the knowledge of God that will take him on a new path, away from that same mountain.
It is God’s will that we increase our knowledge of Him and that increase brings a closer walk with Him. It’s about communion with God and that communion is the abundant life Jesus died for us to have. But that life must be made manifest inside us so that we can show others what they’re missing when they don’t have God in their lives.
In my next blog on Body, Soul and Spirit I will get into more detail of the function of our being as God designed in order to help bring more understanding to how we are inclined to perceive our world versus God’s will for us to have His perception which brings us to increased communion with Him.
Be blessed.
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