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Post 58 – The Human Spirit
The Human Spirit
Because we are spiritual, we’ve been talking about spiritual influences upon our lives. In the last post we talked about the fact that we can hear the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and because God is Spirit, He communicates with us spiritually. God has a purpose and plan for your life and uses a variety of means to make His will known to you. Show More
Recall that I also said that we can be influenced by the spirit of other people, or the human spirit. Last but not least we can be influenced by the spirit of the Devil.
One of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12is the discerning of spirits. “8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills”.
As a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, we have the ability to discern the spiritual realm! We also have the ability to distinguish which voice we are hearing, Jesus, the Devil, or the spirit of other human beings.
We’ve said in previous posts that our human spirit communicates with the spirit of other human beings. This is what we are talking about when we are in a relationship with others. This communication with other people is what makes us human.
That relationship may be casual, deep, familial, or romantic. It is an aspect of a human relationship that will cause you to be attracted, non-committal, or repelled by another person. It is not so much what that person looks like, does, or says, but it is a sense
For instance, in a relationship between a man and a woman, there is at first the physical attraction of “looks”. As the relationship goes deeper, there is the attraction of common interest, eventually, there is the connection of the soul, which is the connection of spirit to spirit!
There are some people who are able to overwhelm your spirit with an irresistible influence. We often referred to this as a magnetic personality, hypnotic personality, or dynamic personality. In any case they seem larger than life!
I have met people like that. They walk into the room and all attention turns to them. They are mesmerizing in their speech and influence. They can be either a positive force or a negative force. That is because they can be motivated by good or motivated by evil. Sometimes it can be difficult to discern what kind of influence they are until you are under their influence or control. That is why it is so important to exercise your ability to discern spirits.
For example, I happen to be a very trusting soul, that is I tend to believe what people say. I will have to admit that I may not be the most discerning person. My wife, Dee, on the other hand, has a very keen sense of spiritual discernment. The world would call it “woman’s intuition” I call it spiritual discernment. She has proven to be accurate more times than I would like to admit. As a result, I have come to trust her discernment! That is why it is so important to have Godly people in your life, to help you see things as they are and not as you want them to be. This is especially true if you are a new believer.
I am not going to get into Demonic influence today, that is for the next post, but realize that the Devil can influence you through the influence of the souls of others. Make no mistake about it, there are people motivated by evil and the most obvious evidence of that wrong motivation is when others try to manipulate and control you.
With so many voices in our minds can you see how important it is to recognize the voice of God! It takes practice and faith to recognize God’s voice, but remember the promise that Jesus makes in John 10,” My sheep hear my voice and they follow me”. As you spend time in His Word, the Bible you will learn to hear His voice. It might be through the illumination of the scriptures, or by personal revelation, or by prophecy or that “still quiet voice” that says follow me. Remember you can always trust the Bible it is a compass that points to the truth.
If what you hear, or sense is against what Jesus would do… beware. I personally like to use the Fruit of the Holy Spirit found in Galatians 5:22 and 23 as a guide, and it describes God’s spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Allow these character traits to guide your decisions and you won’t go wrong!
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Post 57 Hearing From God!
In the last post I mentioned that because we are spirit, soul, and body, we can communicate with the physical world, the souls of other people, and with the spirit realm. Today I want to focus on the spirit realm. Show More
We can be spiritually influenced in one of three ways.
- The spirit of the Satan or the Devil and his demons.
- The spirit of other people (I don’t mean the spirit of the dead).
- And of course, the spirit of God.
I had hoped to cover those areas last time but ran out of time. So here we go…
1 John 4:4 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world”. The “He who is in you that is greater” is, of course, the Holy Spirit of God, and He will enable you to overcome all the evil in the world that may come against you.
The Holy Spirit of God.
The spirit of God or the Holy Spirit is always motivated by love. When I say love I don’t mean the emotional sentimental type of love but Agape love which is unconditional love. God is committed to seeing to your well-being because that is what unconditional love means. In a practical way, I like to define Love as living your life for someone else’s good. God is interested in your good!
The fruit of the Holy Spirit which is listed in Galatians 5:22-23, is what God is trying to build into us, but at the same time, it describes the character and nature of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and, self-control. When you are motivated by these attributes you can be sure that God is at work in you.
Remember that we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). We are being changed to become more and more like Jesus. Romans 8:29 says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren”.
We are able to hear God.
We know that our human spirit has the ability to see, hear, and understand God’s spirit. 1 Corinthians 2 beginning in verse 9 states: “But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit”. Then verse 12, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God”.
Jesus Himself, tells us that He knows us and that we are able to hear His voice and follow him. John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me”.
What does Jesus mean when He says they will hear my voice?
Let me use an analogy to describe the spiritual in concrete terms. In a sense, your spirit is like a radio. You are able to tune in to a variety of spiritual channels, so to speak- the spirit of God, the spirit of the Devil, and even the spirit of other people. Your spirit then conveys these voices to your mind as thoughts.
How will I know God’s voice?
Remember, now that you are born-again you are able to discern or understand the Holy Spirit of God, something you could not do before. The scriptures are clear that you now have spiritual ears to hear God (2 Cor 2:9-16).
As an assurance that you are in fact hearing from God remember that what you hear can never contradict the Word of God, the Bible. Because God inspired the words in the Bible contradicting His own word would be a lie, and therefore can’t be from God, because God can’t lie (Titus 1:2, Numbers 23:19). So, when God speaks through His Holy Spirit to you it will be based on love- Agape love which is unconditional love. It will “ring” of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit found in Gal 5:22-23, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control.God does not speak confusion, doubt, or harshness. James 3:17 says, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
Familiarity…
Over time you will be able to recognize God’s voice among all the other voices you may hear. Let me give you an example:
My wife’s name is Dee and over the years I have come to recognize her voice. When she calls me on the phone, I never ask, who is this? I instantly know her voice because of our relationship and years of communication. It is exactly the same discerning or recognizing God’s voice. As you build your relationship with Jesus and communicate with Him, you will be
hearing His voice.Follow me…
Recall John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me”.
It goes without saying, that in the beginning if you don’t take a chance and actually obey what the Holy Spirit is saying, you will never come to the place of having confidence or trust that you are in fact hearing God. That is what it means to follow Him.
Learning to become familiar with His voice is the key to making good decisions in your life and accelerating the transformation of your soul to live in love, peace and, joy.
Expect to hear the Holy Spirit speak to you, if it sounds like something God would expect of you- then do it. Only doers are blessed by God.
In our next post, we will look at the influence of the human spirit on our decision-making process.
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Post 56 – Love and Fear in Spiritual Warfare
You have an Adversary!
In the last post, I said that you have an adversary, the Bible calls him Satan or the Devil. Satan is the enemy of God and therefore your enemy too. Satan wants you to deny God and if he is unable to do that, he wants to make you ineffective as a Christian. I closed in the last episode by saying, “which spirit are you listening to? The spirit of other people, the spirit of the devil, or the spirit of God! Show More
Influence
This is an important question because we are influenced by so much around us and most of it, we are not consciously aware of. For example, the entire advertising industry is based upon name recognition and repetition of ads and commercials. It’s called branding a product in the business. The idea is that when you shop for an item you will, often without thinking, choose their product. Advertisers are trying to create name recognition even for products you don’t use… now! Think about It, 15-20 minutes of a one-hour TV show are commercials! Because of the repetition, the message becomes subliminal- you’re not even consciously aware of it.
The same thing is happening on a spiritual level. The three areas of concern are the influence of other people’s spirit, the influence of the Devil, and of course the influence of God through the Holy Spirit.
We are Spirit, Soul and Body!
What do I mean by the influence of the human spirit? Remember what I said in a previous post. “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but we are spiritual beings having a human experience”. How you see yourself is so important in this regard. John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life”. You are spirit, soul, and body, not simply soul and body!
Remember:
- Your physical body communicates with the physical realm through taste, sight, hearing smell and touch.
- Your soul, which means your mind, will,
and personality, communicates with the souls of other people. This is the issue when we talk about the influence of the souls of others.
- Your spirit, which has been born again and is able to communicate with God’s spirit now but has always been able to be influenced by the Devil, who is also spirit.
Factors in Making Decisions in Life- Love or Fear!
In general, people are influenced in their decision making in one of two ways, love or fear. Keep in mind what the Bible has to say about fear,
- 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear (timidity), but of power (Dynamis) and of love (Agape) and of a sound mind (Self-Control)”.
- 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear (dread or terror) in love (Agape); but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment (punishment). But he who fears has not been made perfect in love (Agape)”.
- The Love Factor– True love is unconditional, which means it is not about what you can get back. It is a decision rather than a feeling or emotion. I like the definition of love as, “living your life for someone else’s good”. What matters is pleasing the one you love, not necessarily an emotion but a decision. It is a commitment to love, through thick and thin.
Today, sex often passes for love, but in truth, sex is about pleasure and usually pleasing self. It is emotion-based, the degree of love is dependent on feelings. It is a poor counterfeit for unconditional love. Unconditional love is the kind of love God has for you and the kind of love He wants to teach you to have for others.
- The Fear Factor– This has to do with the fear of the loss of a person, place or thing.
- The fear of the loss of a relationship– over the ages people have made incredibly bad decisions trying to hold onto a relationship. I’ve seen many cases of people staying in an abusive relationship for fear of losing the relationship, codependence is a word that comes to mind. Wikipedia defines Codependency as a behavioral condition in a relationship where one person enables another person’s addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-achievement. Among the core characteristics of codependency is an excessive reliance on other people for approval and a sense of identity.
- The fear of the loss of money/finances– It says in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows”. The gain or loss of money is a slippery slope and has caused people to do things they would never imagine they were capable of. The slippery slide always begins with small things. A petty theft, a minor betrayal, a lie on an application, and then on to bigger dishonesty. Greed and integrity cannot exist together.
- The fear of the loss of influence or power– whether in the board-room of corporate America or in the family home the sense of losing power or influence over others has led to the manipulation and control over others.
- The fear of pain. The fear of pain can take many forms. Growing as a Believer requires change, whether they are physical, emotional, or spiritual. It may mean a change in friends, job, education, location, habits, and behaviors. Many people find that those kinds of changes are painful, but they are also filled with great rewards. Remember the expression, “Doing something over and over again, expecting change is a form of insanity!” Hear from God and Just Do It!
Let me personalize the verse I quoted earlier, it is worth memorizing:
- 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given ME a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”.
Let me close with this thought. Learn to recognize that when you experience fear that it’s not coming from God. When those feelings come upon you, turn to Jesus, and call out to Him. Repeat 1 Timothy 1:7. Be reminded that on the Cross, Jesus paid the price to set you free from fear. He has exchanged that spirit of fear with His spirit of love, joy, and peace!
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Post 55 – Spiritual Warfare!
You have an Adversary!
The Bible clearly shows that as a believer you have an adversary and it is Satan or the Devil. Satan has two goals the first is to convince you to reject God. If he can’t do that, he will try to destroy your fruitfulness in God and make you an ineffective Christian. All of this takes place in an arena referred to as “Spiritual Warfare”. Show More
Spiritual Warfare?
When I use the term spiritual warfare, what kind of mental picture do you have?
- Is it a picture of Christians dressed in armor with swords battling against the devil and his demons?
- Is it “rebuking” or rebuffing the devil with carefully chosen scriptural words?
- Or is it about taking authority over cities, towns, and neighborhoods using your authority over the evil one?
- Finally, are you going against the principalities, powers, and dominions of the air which are mentioned in the Bible?
I am not criticizing or mocking these endeavors, because I’ve been there! However, these endeavors may make people feel good that they are taking some kind of action. But the battle is not “out there” the battle is “in and for control of your mind”. That is why it is rightly called the “Battlefield of the mind”!
The Devil is real
In western cultures, the devil doesn’t want you to believe he exists. He has convinced many that he is a myth or fairytale, created by people to “scare” children into walking the straight and narrow. He would rather have you think of him as some cartoon figure dressed in red with horns and a tail.
The Devil is not some harmless being, he wants to destroy you and will use any means possible. Remember he is spiritual, not physical, therefore the only weapon he has is the weapon of suggestion or temptation. Having said that, believe me when I say that he is good at his craft. He is a consummate liar, and deception is his primary tool.
In the Garden of Eden listen to what Eve said to God after she ate of the forbidden fruit, Genesis 3:13 And the Lord God said to the woman (Eve), “What is this you have done? The woman said, the serpent (devil) DECEIVED me, and I ate.”
You see deception at hand in the first encounter mankind had with the devil. And, don’t forget John 8:44 Jesus said to the religious rulers about the devil, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father (devil) you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. The devil is a convincing liar and a master of misdirection.
Misdirection
In theatrical magic, a misdirection is a form of deception in which the performer draws the audience attention to one thing to distract it from another. A common trick is called the “coin drop”. The performer drops a coin on the table. He then he appears to sweep the coin into his hand, what he is actually doing is sweeping the coin onto his lap. He then holds up the hand, blows on it, and presto… it’s gone! I’m sure you have seen examples of that. Well, the devil is a master of misdirection and he wants to draw your attention away from himself and on to people. I like what Pastor Jack Hayford said, “One of the church’s greatest demands is to discern between the spiritual struggle and other social, personal, and political difficulties. Otherwise, individual believers and groups become too easily detoured (or misdirected), “wrestling” with human adversaries instead of prayerfully warring against the invisible works of hell behind the scenes”.
Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in 2 Cor 10:3-8 about spiritual warfare, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled”.
Let me paraphrase what Paul is saying. He is acknowledging that we are flesh and blood human beings, but because the battle is spiritual our human concepts of a battle strategy and weaponry will not work. What is available to us are the weapons that God provides, our faith in Jesus Christ, and the working of the Holy Spirit, and our prayers.
Strongholds
The strongholds, mentioned, are the fortifications of lies and deceptions that we have accepted as true. Which the enemy of our soul, the devil, has built into our lives as a result of living in the world. The battlefield of the mind involves destroying every thought and idea that is contrary to God’s way of thinking. As we cast down the lies, we replace it with God’s truths revealed in the Bible and by His Holy Spirit. Finally, once the Body of Christ, the Believers, have come into the unity of truth we will then be able to deal with the evil in the world today.
The two points I’ve been trying to make today is that:
- There is a battle for your soul, it is a spiritual battle with a spiritual enemy and it is for control over who you will believe. The deceptions of the devil or the truths of God! You must decide.
- Because it is a spiritual battle only spiritual weapons will work and the weapons you have are your free-will to make decisions, prayer, and faith in Jesus Christ alone.
In closing, I want to leave you with this thought, which spirit are you listening to? The spirit of other people, the spirit of the devil. or the spirit of God! More about that in our next post.
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Post 54 – Contending for the Abundant Life – Spiritual Warfare
Contending for the Abundant Life – Spiritual Warfare
The word contending in the phrase “contending for the abundant life” implies that there is, opposition to your success by an adversary. So, who or what is the adversary! First, we need to recognize that we have an adversary and secondly, recognize that he wants to destroy your relationship with Jesus. Show More
Who or what is our opposition or opponent? The word Satan in the Bible means “adversary or opponent” he’s opposed to the people of God or Believers. You can spin all kinds of theological arguments about how, why, and where Satan came from. While those things may be interesting to know, the more important issue is that Satan wants you to be disqualified from God’s abundant life of blessings. For example, if you face a mugger who wants to do you harm, you’re not really interested in his socio-economic background of what his childhood was like. You just want to defeat your adversary any way you can. So it is with this spiritual battle that we all deal with.
Spiritual Warfare
In main-street Christianity, Spiritual Warfare is a topic that is not discussed enough. I don’t know why it is such a touchy or sensitive subject when the Bible is filled with so many references to your Adversary or Accuser, Satan. By the way, the term Devil is another word for Satan, they are both one and the same. Now Demons are those spiritual entities that do Satan bidding, his minions and I don’t mean the cute little yellow ones.
Perhaps in our modern society, we have relegated evil spirits to myths and fairy tales. After all, we are far “too intelligent and sophisticated” to believe in such things. However, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the world is filled with unimaginable evil. To be sure there’s a lot of good in the world, but you must admit there are evil people out there doing evil things. You probably have experienced some of that for yourself.
I don’t know where you fit in the spectrum of believing in evil and therefore evil forces, but let’s hypothetically agree that the root of evil lies with Satan. He is an extraordinary liar and can convince people to do all sorts of evil.
So, the question arises, what has that got to do with me? What did I ever do to make him angry with me?
The Bible teaches that God is good! I’ve heard it said many times “how can God be good and allow all the evil in the world to exist? It really is an honest question, but it is also a question that doesn’t take into account at least three important truths.
Truth number one– We live in a Moral Universe. Just as there are physical laws in the universe like gravity and electromagnetism, there are moral laws too. In Genesis 1:31 God says, “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good”. Well, what was good? God created a world that was perfect and complete in every way. That perfection was not only found in the physical world but extended to the relational realm (relationships) and the spiritual realm as well. Every part of nature was in perfect balance and there was a moral order. Nothing was corrupted by sin. From the beginning, God established universal laws of right and wrong. His laws have not changed with changing times or cultures. Because God made everything, including mankind, He knows best how we are to function successfully within the world that He created. These spiritual laws of nature are meant to protect us and provide opportunities for God’s blessings.
Truth number two– God created everyone to be a free-will agent. This means that God will not force you to make the right choices or any choices for that matter. Every individual has the freedom to make their own decisions and act upon them. Even in the Garden of Eden, God allowed Adam and Eve to make the decision to disobey Him. As a result, they had to reap the consequences of violating the Moral Law. By the way, the Moral Law is best defined by the Ten Commandments. These Ten Commandments were condensed into two in Matthew 22:37-39. “Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. As Christians let these two commandments guide our life.
Truth Number three-There is a spiritual entity known as Satan and he has spiritual followers known as demons. Satan and his followers have the ability to try and influence you to disbelieve and disobey God. In essence to convince you that there are no consequences for violating God’s Moral Law. That’s like saying you can jump off a building and not fall downward, which would be violating God’s physical law! Well, what is true of the physical laws of nature are also true of Spiritual Laws. If you break them, you will suffer the consequences.
On an individual basis, when a person violates God’s moral laws that person also impacts those around him, family, friends, and sometimes strangers too.
As we close keep this in mind, Satan has two goals the first is to convince you to reject God. If he can’t do that, he will try to destroy your fruitfulness in God and make you an ineffective Christian.
