body, soul, and spirit
In our early rounds of the good fight, we match the spirit against the lusts of the flesh. But before long, this should mature into a battle between our spirit and our soul. At the outset, we fight the law of sin in our members. But as we grow in grace, it should no longer be a matter of good versus evil. No, the real battle should be our natural, soulish good, versus God’s goodness. We ought to outgrow contending for the quality of things…choose quality…and then engage our life-long struggle for the source of things. In the end, we will either settle for the good intentions of our soul, or we will demand the much more difficult, perfect will of God. This is college Christianity.
For example, the bible tells a story of a certain king named Nebuchadnezzar. He was a king of great power and authority. But in his glorified state, he forgot the grace of God…and who it is, that sits upon the circle of the earth. God chooses to restore this great king to reality, by humbling him for seven years. Nebuchadnezzar is consigned to the forest, to live as the wild animals, and with them in their dens. His nails curl for length. His hair grows long and matted. He is unshaven and unclean. But this is the will of the Father for him. It is this king’s path to redemption…to restoration…to salvation. Were we today to pass by this humbled king, an urge would well up within us. We would feel compelled to reach out to him. Maybe a $100.00 bill slipped into his hand…or the offer of a meal, a shower and a shave. Some act of compassion for this poor soul. But in so doing, have we accomplished the will of the Father? Or rather, have we frustrated it? What is the source of our kind deed? Our Holy Ghost inspired spirit, acting out the will of the Father? Or is this the soul of man, at his very best?
Today, much of Christianity operates on this soul unction. How often I’ve said “the Lord spoke to me“, or “the Lord showed me this or that“, or “the Lord impressed upon me to do this, or to say that“. Without ever knowing our own soul and spirit, the source of these movings can be hard to discern. As with the humbled king, are my unction’s from the mind, the will, and the emotions of my soul? Or has God truly chosen me, to abort the seven year sentence of the humbled king? It is our nature to be sincere, passionate, and professional gentlemen, in all we do. But is man’s goodness a suitable replacement for God’s will? If we occupy in these wonderful efforts until He returns, are we really fulfilling the sought-after will of God? Certainly, there is a world around us who believe so. In fact the Lord foresaw such a movement in his earthly ministry.
…Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?
Have you ever asked yourself; “just who are these fine folks?” These are people who know, and call upon, the name of Jesus. This is that small handful that makes it to prayer meeting on Tuesday night, and door-knocking on Saturday. They’ve prophesied in the name of Jesus. They’ve cast out devils in the name of Jesus. I mean, can you even imagine the celebrations…the hugs and tears of joy after these spiritual warriors have cast out Satan in the name of Jesus? And what about their many wonderful works? They’ve invested time, and money, and resources in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, tending to the broken hearted and the lonely. Were all of these wonderful works for nothing? What could these fine Christian folks have possibly missed, to deserve so harsh a rebuke from the Lord?
I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
How is it, that prophesying, and casting out devils in the name of Jesus, could be called works of iniquity? How can such wonderful works as teaching Sunday school, or preaching the gospel to the lost masses, or emulating the love and compassion of Jesus, be called works of iniquity? What is it that these fine Christian folks have missed? Our Lord here gives us a yardstick, to measure the gulf between soul-willed good works, and the perfect will of His Father:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
When these folks cast out devils in the name of Jesus, were they sincere? Oh yes, very! When they went about their many wonderful works in the name of Jesus, were they effective? No doubt. Successful? Exceedingly so…even boasting of their success to Jesus. But accept it or not, these were all works of the flesh. Their ideas and motives originated in the soul; the impassioned will of man, and not the spirit-led will of the Father.
But, isn’t it the will of the Father to preach the gospel to every creature? Isn’t the will of the Father to prophesy, and cast out tormenting devils, and evangelize the world? Maybe Paul had the same question, as he set his sights on Asia. At the end of the day, the soul…man’s mind, man’s will, and man’s emotions…are incapable of discerning the will of the Father. That dubious task is reserved for the spirit of man…and only that spirit of man, which has been born again by the Spirit of God.
The spirit of man is that innermost part of his triune nature. It is the Holy of Holies in his earthly temple. Anything that comes to a man from God originates here, and migrates outward. Conversely, anything that comes to a man from Satan, approaches from the outer chamber…the flesh…and migrates inward.
Your spirit has three main functions: conscience, intuition, and communion. Of the three, conscience is easily the most familiar. It was that thunder in your bosom when you stole your first candy bar. It was that lump in your throat back when you told your first lie. Remember when mom and dad lined all of you kids up, and demanded to know: “who broke this?“ Conscience was that angst that tore you up in your silence. Your conscience doesn’t care, in a room of 10,000 people, that all 10,000 people say it’s okay to kill. If killing is wrong in the eyes of God, conscience will not be swayed by opinion, trend, or numbers. As children, the sermons from our conscience were clear as a bell. But as we grow older, our soul engages this godly function of our spirit; arguing, rationalizing, dismissing, and finally silencing its unbiased judgments.
Intuition is a bit harder to recognize. Simply put, intuition is the spirit of man’s sensing ability. No input from the mind is required. It’s that part of you that says: ”wait a minute…something’s not right here”. All of the facts may say otherwise, yet there is this nagging “something’s not right” that oozes outward from your spirit. Remember that jerk you met? He wowed everyone in the room. He had charisma, and his credentials were impeccable. Even the folks you hold dearest thought he was the greatest thing since popcorn. But from somewhere deep inside, you knew he was a rat. This is your intuition…a function of your spirit. No input from your soul required.
Say a friend lays a doctrine on you that’s new. He’s convinced it’s an essential spiritual truth. So, in due diligence, you pull out a concordance, dictionaries, lexicons, cross reference translations, and make every effort to see his point. In the end, you find that it is stubbornly lodged in a gray area of scripture. It could go either way, with nothing concrete to support his position or your own. Yet, with unrelenting persistence, a sense deep inside is telling you: ”something isn’t right about this doctrine”. Again, this is that function of your spirit called intuition. The spirit knows; the soul, using the brain, tries to understand that knowledge. The spirit perceives, that the apostles are wondering why a man decimated with palsy receives the forgiveness of his sins, instead of a healing.
Communion is that part of your spirit which is able to apprehend a spiritual God. It works hand-in-hand with intuition, and transcends languages. Communing in the spirit is a very intimate affair, not a loud and showy yelling spree. It encompasses the sum total of your relationship with God. Your experiences on the path, are the very foundations for communing in the spirit. It can be passionate and intense, silent, or verbose. But it is always bathed in naked honesty….always intimate…and always within the framework of your personal relationship with God.
Communing in the spirit can start with words of praise and prayer, or a period of meditation. But at some point, the reborn spirit moves beyond these limited efforts. Varying degrees of spiritual communion soon follow. It is an exchange far above languages, and even defies trying to explain it. It may manifest as weeping, speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance, or even guttural groans and moans which cannot be uttered. This is man’s innermost being…his spirit…in deep, intimate communion with He who created the spirits of men.
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