More Intimacy with God

As human beings we long for deep connections and we attempt to discover this link with other human beings, a career, a pet or a cause. We can try for a lifetime and find fulfillment in many ways, but we are still left unsatisfied and wanting more.

As a single person, our life is not deprived; and as a married person, our life is not automatically fulfilled. Our social, occupational, financial and marital status, nor the number of children or grandchildren in our life, cannot bring us true and abundant fulfillment.

Our greatest human need is to intimately connect to the family of God, because we are all one Body of Christ with each of us linked in as an integral part of the Body. When one member is not there, the whole Body suffers.

We start by forming a love bond with God, our Father, through the sacrifice of Jesus, our Brother, by the connection to them afforded to us by God's Holy Spirit through salvation (Matthew 22:37-40).

Following our own or Satan's plan for our life will leave us lifeless and depleted; but walking in the Spirit brings fullness of joy (John 10:10). Only God can grant us the premier and most fulfilling rewards in this life and the next.

God does not require that we make our self holy before experiencing this intimacy, which He makes available to us. However, we do grieve and quench His Spirit through disobedience to His Word (Ephesians 4:30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5:19).

The greatest gift of all is Christ in us in whom we find abundant life in spirit, soul and body. He wants no competition for our affections and is jealous of our time spent away from Him pursuing things of this world (Exodus 34:14).

God is always there within us (Hebrews 13:5), comforting us in our tears, nurturing us in our fears and insecurities, turning us from sin, loving us unconditionally and guiding us by His Spirit.

Prayer:

Father God, You speak to us in our soul when we read and meditate on Your Word; through Your Spirit in our spirit during prayer; and in our body, soul and spirit through the circumstances of our life (John 10:27-29; 1 Peter 5:6-8). Teach us to pay attention and to obey Your every prompting; so that we do not reap the destruction of disobedience (Romans 12:2).

Thank You for Your mercy and grace, which cover a multitude of our sins (1 Peter 4:8); and for not making us reap everything which we sow in disobedience. Only You can save and perfect us (Matthew 27:1-66; 1 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:1-3). We desire intimacy with You more than anything else this world has to offer; because only through Your presence in us do we find a truly fulfilling life.

Thought for the Day:

Being in intimate fellowship with other Believers helps us to develop more intimacy with our Father and His Son by His Spirit.

A Higher Level of Spirituality

Jesus is our personal Savior, sitting on the throne of our soul (Hebrews 12:2). We are in Him and He is in us, and we are both one with our Heavenly Father (John 12:21). All things are from Jesus, through Jesus and for Jesus; so no matter where we are or what we are doing, He is our all in all (Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:17). He is everything to us and He works through us in every activity He calls on us to perform. We never want to live for one second outside of His presence.

The goal of Christianity is to abide in a contemplative existence by continually focusing our soul – our thoughts, choices and emotions – on Jesus, the object of our affections. We no longer value things from the world or the flesh (Galatians 5:24), and our soul is totally focused on God and His Will for each moment of our life. It starts in a place of physical and mental stillness and then proceeds throughout the rest of the day with His peace permeating each moment of our day.

When we first start to enter this reflective state, we are distracted by a myriad of details, which demand our immediate attention. It is so hard to fight Satan’s attempts to sidetrack us. However, with persistence, we enter into God’s presence and we never want to leave. We find a higher level of spirituality with intimate love, gentle peace and confident direction, which no other process in life ever afforded us. We abide in union with Christ in pure serenity and rest.


We see God as the source and cause of everything pertaining to our life. Each trial is an adventure in Him, which He promises to work out for our good. Each sickness is an opportunity to share the gospel of Christ with those in the doctor’s office. Each loss is an occasion to learn to live without; so that when God restores our wealth, we can share with others who live in need. With each person we meet and every place we go, we seek God’s perspective and will.


Prayer:

Father God, You are the great teacher of our soul. You remove the dross in our life until we are as fine silver and You see Your reflection within us. You give us wisdom, which is skill for living. You give us Your mercy and grace both in our life and to share with others. We walk with confidence in Your faithfulness and we do not even dread the inevitable trials of life on this earth. We surrender our life to You and thank You for controlling every part of it for our ultimate good.

Thought for the Day:

God harmonizes our life with His grand purpose, and He causes us to fulfill the works He prepared for us before we were even born.

– Ephesians 2:10

God's Perfect Plan

Read: Romans 8:5-39

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” – Romans 8:37

Our finite view of life is so limiting. We get so bogged down in the problems, issues, hindrances, illnesses, and negativity inherent in life in this world. Freedom from these issues is just a prayer away, however. God has a perfect plan for each of our lives.

 

Our whole perspective changes when we live in His will and set our affections on things above rather than things of this earth (Colossians 3:2-3).  

The battle does not belong to us. It is God’s (2 Chronicles 20:15). We have no need to be afraid or discouraged over life’s problems. We can focus our thoughts, emotions and beliefs on God. His words are totally trustworthy. Our faith in Him to have a perfect plan no matter what situation we are facing is not in vain. We are God’s children and co-heirs with Christ. Although we share in His sufferings in this life, we will also share in His glory (Romans 8:16-18).

Even God’s creation groans to be liberated from the bondage and decay of this corrupt world (Romans 8:19-20). Creation looks forward, as we do, for the glorious freedom of the sons of God to be revealed (Romans 8:21-23). We have hope in His coming and this gives us patience to endure the trials in our life (Romans 8:24-25).

The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness, and even when we have no idea how to pray. The Spirit hears our groans and understands exactly how we feel; therefore, He intercedes for us according to God’s will (Romans 8:26-27). The Spirit also gives us the confidence that God is working all things, even the worst of afflictions, out for our good (Romans 8:28).

God knows our heart and He conforms us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, through the process of Sanctification. Through His Spirit, we have assurance that He called us, justified us and will glorify us when Jesus returns to take us to glory. Having this assurance helps us to live life from God’s perspective. Earth is a miniscule orb in relation to the rest of the universe. From God’s perspective our issues are not as insurmountable as we think. If He can keep the planets aligned and the universe ordered, He can certainly take care of our concerns.

At times, it does appear as if our world is spinning out of control. We master one aspect and another one flies off into outer space! Some of us have more troubles to face than others, but no matter what is happening, the Lord promises to deliver us out of them all (Psalm 34:19). God uses our circumstances to give us hearts of compassion (Ezekiel 36:26), to give us the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) and to create Jesus’ image in us (Romans 8:29).

2000 years ago on Calvary’s cross, Jesus already won the war with Satan and death (Hosea 13:14; Ezekiel 37:13; Isaiah 26:19). Now, He makes us conquerors because He lives within us and is our hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). When we view our trials from God’s perspective He helps us to focus on His will for them. He reminds us that He is rich in mercy and loves us with an everlasting love (Ephesians 2:4; 1 John 3:1).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, no person and no amount of tribulation, stress, persecution, hunger, vulnerability, danger or life threatening concerns can separate us from Your love (Romans 8:38-39). We overcome all of these things because of Your presence within us. Even in death, you are with us and You send Your angels to escort us to abide with You forever (Luke 16:22).

Thought for the Day:

Since God is for us, nothing will ever separate us from God’s great love.

 

The Importance of the Soul

Read: Luke 16: 22-31

There is an age-old question about whether or not our soul - our mind, will and emotions - survives death. The question of the reality of the soul and distinguishing it from the body and spirit is among the most important quandaries of philosophical debate over the centuries of time. The question is made more difficult because the soul is also entangled in the doctrine of eternal life.

In the past, philosophers disagreed on the existence, function and description of the soul. Various cultures did take separate notice of the soul as distinct from the body. Archeologists and anthropologists discovered that even uncivilized people groups entertain the concept of the soul.

The Old Testament asserts or implies the distinct reality of the soul. Three terms are used for the soul: nephesh, nuah, and neshaman. Now, however, we know that these are three separate functions. The first was taken to refer to the animal and vegetative nature (body), the second to the ethical principle (soul), the third to the purely spiritual intelligence (spirit).

The soul’s function is to interpret the stimulus, which is experienced by the body. It also defines the ideas and beliefs by which we think. Another function is to register the emotions, which we feel. Then, it makes the decisions, which we carry out by our will. The soul is intangible, and requires a body in order to exist. We receive our body and soul at conception; however, the spirit is given to the regenerate Christian alone.

The soul is different from the spirit of man. The human spirit, dead in trespasses and sin, is instantly regenerated at Justification. Then, the soul takes the center stage for our Sanctification process, which takes a lifetime. The body will eventually be saved through Glorification the instant we see Jesus, for we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2).

According to this viewpoint of the Trichotomy of man, a perfect man (teleios) consists of three parts: body (soma), soul (psyche) and spirit (pneuma). Paul employed psyche and pneuma with great consistency. He used psyche to refer to the purely natural life; while he used pneuma to refer to the life of the supernatural nature of the Holy Spirit, dwelling and operating in the spirit of the born again Believer.

Paul takes this view when he showed his belief in a Trichotomy of man in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul also shows the Trichotomy in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow (body), and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Even Jesus’ teaching in Luke 16: 22 –31 sheds some light on this topic of the soul. He relates to us the story of the death of a rich man and a beggar. The beggar, who receives the crumbs from the rich man’s table during his lifetime, was a Believer. He has a born again spirit, as well as a soul and body. When he dies, his soul and spirit go to heaven. The rich man who lived in unbelief and selfish debauchery all of his life has a spirit that is dead in trespasses and sin. Therefore, only his soul goes to hell.

Although their bodies are in the grave, they can both perceive thoughts and emotions through their soul, as well as experience in the soul what is normally registered only by the five senses of the physical body. Read with me from Luke 6:24…“So he called to him, 'Father Abraham (sight), have pity (emotion) on me and send Lazarus (thoughts) to dip the tip of his finger (taste) in water and cool my tongue (physical sensation), because I am in agony (physical sensation and emotion) in this fire (smell).” The rich man also experiences the sense of hearing when Abraham advises him about his request in the verses following this one.

This scripture gives us a clear picture that our soul “feels” all of the physical sensations, which our body feels. When our body goes to the grave, the soul goes to heaven or hell for eternity. The soul is the essence of mankind.

Even scientists observe that the soul is independent of and existent apart from the body. During our sleep, our soul carries on its work through our dreams. The physical proof of the soul’s existence comes from facts such as: the mysteries behind birth and death, the cessation of conscious thought during sleep, and the imagination and memory. All three of these are unassailable proof that there is an existence of some solid entity within us in addition to our vital organs and our spirit.

Yet, even with the obvious importance of the soul, mankind treats it with passing notice, sometimes even bordering on disdain. Some Christians insist that when we take up our cross daily, we crucify the God-given aspects of the soul, right along with the carnal, “fleshly” appetites. In my opinion, we need to pay equal amounts of attention to developing and nurturing our soul as we do with our body and spirit. Otherwise, we are like a stool with only two legs: unbalanced and virtually useless.

Genesis 2:7 illustrates the distinction between the body, spirit and soul, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground (body), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (spirit), and man became a living soul.” God told Adam that if he ate of the tree in the garden, that day he would surely die. When Adam disobeyed, and the angel of the Lord drove him from the garden, he did not die physically, but he did die spiritually.

Paul explains that the natural (unregenerate) man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. His spirit is dead. I like to visualize our triune state as a basketball. The outer pigskin is the body, the thin inner tube is the soul and the air inside (if one is born again) is the spirit. A person without the Spirit of God resembles a ball without air, lifeless and unable to bounce.

Our desires and affections are turned toward God when we realize our sinful condition, believe God and accept His grace in salvation. When the Spirit of God illuminates our spirit with divine light and life, we yield our affections and faculties - our whole body, soul and spirit - to God. The Christian who is enjoying unbroken communion with our Lord is able to say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name” (Psalm 103:1).