God's Intervention

God knows the future, and will prepare us in so many ways for the unexpected occurrences in life. Sometimes, He even gives us an inner knowing about what lies ahead. Some people attribute this to moments of intuition. Others give themselves credit for exceptional wisdom and foresight. These events will happen much more often, if we testify to others about God's intervention in our life.

For instance, one lady told me that God warned her to slow down her car, and she narrowly missed being involved in an accident. Another woman told me that God prompted her to buy extra groceries; then she had enough food for her unexpected guests who showed up unannounced. A few months ago, I felt led to buy a black slip at the thrift store that I did not need; then on this week's trip to the thrift store, I found three dresses that needed that black slip.

Complaining will give us a life of drudgery, mishaps and more trials. Yet, gratitude to our Heavenly Father opens us up for more of God's blessings and joy in our life. One way to do this is to spend time alone with God throughout the day. Withdraw to the copy room at work, to the bathroom when the kids clamor for your attention and to the bedroom while everyone else is in the family room watching television.

Take a few moments to read God's Word and meditate on a verse, or to pray for your needs and the needs of your loved ones. Spend time praising God and quietly listening for His voice, by stilling your mind of your thoughts and allowing Him to speak His mind to you. Spend time all day long in worship to God for His intervention in your life.

Prayer:

Father God, You give us air to breathe, sun to warm us, food for energy, creation to delight us, work to challenge us and love from family and friends. We can never have enough time in this life to properly thank You for our salvation, our multitude of blessings and the provision You supply for all of our needs. Remind us to walk in Your Spirit, so that we will not submit to Satan or our flesh (Galatians 5:15-25). Help us to keep our focus on You, and to live a life of gratitude for Your continual intervention in our life.

Thought for the Day:

The past includes our histories; the unknown future is still one of life's mysteries; but what we have now is a present from God to be enjoyed and to spend in praise to Him for His involvement in our daily life.

Wondrous Mysteries

Prior to salvation, no person on earth can conceive of the enormous abundance, which God prepared for everyone that loves Him. If the people, who lived on earth with Jesus, understood God’s love, they never would have crucified Him. Even now, however, the unsaved, modern population has no concept of the glorious wisdom of God, because it is foolishness to them. Only spiritual people can discern spiritual concepts (1 Corinthians 2:7-15).

God gave us His Word and His Spirit to reveal these wondrous mysteries to anyone who will humble their self in order to receive His salvation. When salvation brings us into union with Christ, we no longer have a life apart from God. We willingly lay down our old life, as well as all of our intentions to live a detached or self-governing life. We surrender our independence at the foot of the cross (Romans 12:1). Christ fully envelops our spirit, saturates every cell in our body, and influences every choice, thought and emotion of our soul (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Before Adam sinned, human beings were created in the image of the Trinity (Genesis 1:27). After his sin, our spirit is dead when we are born. Since Jesus paid the price for our sin and eradicated it from our life, Born Again Believers return to living in the image of the God with a body, soul and living spirit. As the Holy Spirit transforms our life from one stage of holiness to the next, we slowly take on the mind and nature of Christ, who is the exact image of our Father (Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 3:18). We function more each day from the reality of the indwelling divinity of Jesus Christ within us (Galatians 2:20).

Without the full recognition of what it means for Christ to dwell within us, bringing with Him all the divinity of the triune God, we are powerless to accomplish God’s entire will in our life. As long as this earth makes up the sum total of our life, we are confined to the natural realm. Conversely, with our spirit, body and soul – our mind, will and emotions – focused on the Kingdom of God and sensitive to the leading of God’s Spirit, we open our self up to unlimited possibilities for our life.

Within our body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, abides all of the power of the entire triune Godhead, which is ready to change our world from the inside out. We limit this power by our lack of understanding, our doubts and our fears. Only when we comprehend that we are in a spiritual union with God through Christ, and that our humanity is already dead (Colossians 3:3), do we have more trust in the Spirit’s direction moment by moment throughout our day. With faith and obedience, we achieve what seems impossible to the analytical, human mind.

Prayer:

Father God, the amazing reality of the concept of Christ living within us reveals the truth that we no longer need to “make time” in our schedule to spend with You, but that we dwell in our union with You through each of the 1440 minutes of our day. You are always present in our life, regardless of what we say, do or experience. Your Spirit dwells in our spirit and You live out Your will through our body and soul. I want to experience more of the divinity of the entire Godhead in my life now, which is possible because Christ, Your treasure, lives in our earthen vessels (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Thought for the Day:

We do not have to wait until heaven to live the divine life, because the divine Christ is our whole life now.  - Colossians 3:4

The Soul's Place in Eternity

Read: Luke 16: 22-31

There is a longstanding issue about whether or not our soul - our mind, will and emotions - lives on after death. The difficulty of accepting the reality of the soul as a vital element in our human existence, and then distinguishing it from the spirit and the body, is one of the most important conundrums of philosophical debate for centuries. The argument is heated at times, because of the lack of proof about whether or not the soul accompanies us into eternity.

The soul is made up of our mind, will and emotions. The mind’s function is to interpret what we experience in our body. It also defines the ideas and beliefs, which we hold dear. The soul also registers the emotions, which we feel. Then, considering our thoughts and feelings, the will makes the decisions, which we act upon. The soul is intangible; therefore, it requires a body to exist. We receive our body and soul at conception; however, our spirit is dead in sin until it is rebirthed in the regenerated Christian person.

The soul cannot be the spirit of man. The soul of the unregenerate man is functioning normally. It is the spirit, which is dead in trespasses and sin. The spirit is instantly regenerated or Born Again at Justification. Then, the soul takes the center stage as the Holy Spirit transforms our soul through the Sanctification process. This takes a lifetime. Eventually, the body will be saved through Glorification in the instant when we see Jesus. At that time, we shall have an immortal body, just like Jesus does. 

Verses such as, "Fear ye not them that kill the body . . . but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28), birth the idea of the Dualism of man, which means we only possess a body and a soul and causes people to equate the soul with the spirit. However, as scholars researched Bible verses further, they broadened Dualism to the doctrine of the Trichotomy in man. We are made in the image of God. He is a Trichotomy of Father, Son and Spirit. We are a Trichotomy of body, soul and spirit.

Paul shows our 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.” Another reference is 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.”

Christ’s teachings center on the spiritual side of man's nature. Of course, the demise or the salvation of the soul is of great importance when considering our eternal existence. However, Jesus’ teaching in Luke 16: 22-31 sheds some light on this topic. Although both the rich man’s body and Lazarus’ body are in the grave, they can both perceive thoughts and emotions through their soul, as well as experience in the soul what is usually registered through 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 (touch), because I am in agony (touch and emotion) in this fire (smell).” He also experiences the sense of hearing when Abraham advises him about his request in the verses following this one.

This scripture passage 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. When Christ returns, we will all receive an immortal body, which will either experience the torments of hell or the glories of heaven for eternity, depending upon our belief in or rejection of Christ as our Savior and Lord.

Even scientists observe that the soul is independent and exists apart from the body. During our sleep, our soul carries on its work through our dreams. We express our self through our soul, not only on earth but also in heaven. Our physical life is merely temporary, while our soul exists continually. Scientists say that 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 memory and imagination. All three of these give proof that there is an existence of the soul in addition to the body and 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 of the body. What confuses me is that we dote on our physical condition, exercising and eating regularly to keep the body healthy and functioning. We feed our spirit with regular Bible reading and worship with other Believers. Yet, so many people ignore or try to crucify their soul, equating it with the “flesh”.

Peter calls us to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul (1 Peter 2:11). This clearly shows that the soul is separate from the fleshly lusts and that we are to care for our soul. 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.

Paul explains that the natural (unregenerate) man does not believe the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). 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 within resembles a ball without air…just a dud!

Don’t be a dud! When you realize your sinful condition, turn your desires and affections toward God. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and accept His grace for salvation. When the Spirit of God brings salvation to the spirit of a man, and we choose to surrender our body and soul to God, we enjoy unconditional fellowship with our Lord, and our soul cries out as the Psalmists’ did, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name” (Psalm 103:1).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, teach us to submit our Trichotomy to You. Give us the desires of our heart so that they align with the desires of Your heart. Help us to walk in Jesus' footsteps. We thank You for saving us body, soul and spirit and for giving us the opportunity to live as a completed human being in Your Kingdom for eternity.

Thought for the Day:

"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.” - Genesis 2:7

(Research done at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04744b.htm)