God’s desire for us as Christians is our sanctification, He wants us to be set apart and to make something different and distinct, breaking old associations and renewing our minds (Rm 12.1,2)
1 Thessalonians 5:23,24
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. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:23,24
Today we going to learn about how God can make us holy, or how to be set apart for God’s use.
The message of today is: “Learning how God can make me holy.”
God’s desire for us is to have a healthy life, or to use the words from the bible verse above “to be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
God is faithful to heal our body, soul and spirit. Jesus promised in Matthew 11:28 – 30
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28 – 30
We, human beings are tripartite, the same as God, and it is a mystery. But when we understand our tripartite nature functions as separate aspect that are unique and distinct from each other but also as a whole, our healing and sanctification processes can be much easier.
Understanding body, soul and spirit
The Body
The body is the house of our soul and it’s made up of the brain, nerves, muscles, organs, etc. It gives us awareness of the world around us. With the five senses – sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound we engage, interact with, and have conscious awareness of the material world.
Our body and emotions are intertwined, so when we are tuned to our five senses and emotions, we can better discern our thoughts and feelings.
It is only through the spirit that the soul and body can fully interact with God, but it is our five senses, our thoughts, and our emotions that we can physically and psychologically interpret what is occurring spiritually.
Hebrews 5:14
14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Hebrews 5:14
With this understanding, we can help people who are struggling with addiction and psychological disorders for example, which take a very heavy toll on both the body and mind. In church, we pray for physical healing and generational deliverance of family issues. But we understand that not all physical issues have only spiritual solution. People can be helped with prayers, pastoral counselling, and therapy as well. It’s important to have spiritual discernment and search for the help of doctors and those who better understand some of issues that
we may be going through.
The Soul
We’ve learned that the body gives us awareness of the outside world, and the soul is the one that connects us with the internal world of thoughts, feelings, decision-making, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour. It reveals our personality and allows us to be self-aware. Sometimes our thoughts can be negative, or even distorted; these can affect our psychological health. But did you know this negativity can affect your physical and spiritual health too?
If you start thinking that you are not worthy, that you have no value, that nobody loves you, you may end up locking yourself up in your bedroom, maybe stop eating, get sick and stop praying and coming to church.
Our soul is the mediator between our body and spirit. It mediates between the spiritual realm via spiritual discernment and faith, and it mediates the physical realm via interpreting the information from the five senses.
Paul the apostle expressed the tension we often experience between our thoughts, feelings, and behaviour when he said in
Romans 7.15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. Romans 7.15
The Greek word for soul is psuche (psoo-khay’) – it is found in several places in the New Testament, psuche is defined as the mind, the will and the emotions. From Psuche we derive the word psychology, which we could translate into soul-logy. Psychology then is the study and science of the mind, behaviour (will), emotions and the interconnection of the three.
The Human Spirit
Our spirit gives us consciousness of God.
John 4.24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4.24
Mark 2.8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Mark 2.8
It is in our spirit that we can apprehend such abstract things as love, meaning and purpose.
You are spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body.
While the body connects us to the outside world, and the soul connects us to our inner world, the spirit connects us with the spiritual realm. In fact, it is only through the spirit that the soul and body can fully interact with God.
1 Corinthians 2.10-12
10these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 1 Corinthians 2.10-12
The spirit’s role is to communicate to the soul, the soul then moves the body to obey the Spirit’s order. Father God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the owners and the “board directors” of our lives.
When we were created, we were meant to be led by the Spirit of God.
God’s purpose was interrupted when sin entered as the soul darkened our spirits and we chose our own will over communion with God’s Spirit.
2 Corinthians 4.16 NIV
Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4.16 NIV
Our body and mind are subject to blindness and decay, but the spirit is above them both. That is why it is so important to work in our process of sanctification.
God is not only interested in your spiritual life; He cares about your whole life.
We need to seek out opportunities where God’s Spirit can minister into our own spirit. These moments can happen when we are in church, when we open ourselves to his word, when we are receiving prayer, reading books that restore our soul, in seminars, conferences and Christian counselling.
Remember, God dwells in the spirit, our self dwells in the soul, and our senses dwell in the body.
For us to become mature we need the Divine order in our lives.
What can happen, psychologically and spiritually speaking, when the body rules over the soul and spirit? Or what if the soul is ruling over the body and spirit?
What happens when things are “out of order”, and are not in the Divine order?
Jesus said in Matthew 26:41“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41
If the body is in control, addictions can take over. When our body craves things, it can affect our brain and sometimes it turns into addictions. Addictive emotions, patterns of thinking, decision-making, and behaviour take over. It is said that an addict develops tunnel vision, the only thing they can see is their addiction, and this addiction starts talking to them and takes control. Like food addiction, alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, games, and mobile phones.
Jesus said that our flesh is weak, and we will need to be trained by spiritual disciplines and a change of habits. (I will talk about it on another Sunday)
Now, when the soul is ruling over the body and spirit, mood disorders such as depression, anxiety and others can affect our entire life. Mental illness affects all aspects because all aspects of our lives are intertwined.
For example, those who are controlled by their soul may be led by anger.
The Bible says in Ephesians 4. 26,27
26 “In your anger do not sin”]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. Ephesians 4. 26,27
Emotions are good, they are not bad, but we cannot sin in our emotions (but this is a long topic and I will address it on another day as well).
We can see in the bible that Jesus wants to heal us in full. He addressed the whole person: Body, soul and spirit.
Luke 13. 10 – 17
10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. Luke 13. 10 – 17
We can see in verse 11,16 that Jesus was connected to God’s Spirit and because of that he was able to spiritually discern that the woman’s problem was spiritual and not physical. She needed deliverance. Jesus knew that this woman needed spiritual deliverance to be able to experience physical healing. Also, Jesus recognised the effect that 18 years of physical sickness had on her soul. Can you imagine how her mind, will and emotions were? She had been bent over for 18 years. How was her relationship with others and with herself?
Her self-esteem was probably very low, it is likely that she could not take care of her house, or carry out her chores. And how about her ability to worship God?
But Jesus saw her and pursued her by calling her to himself in the middle of the synagogue and He touched her. And in doing that, He healed her body and her soul. He showed that she was special when he called her a daughter of Abraham (v16), that she was valuable.
God wants us to have an encounter with him, He wants to set us free from all kinds of oppression and He wants to heal our body and soul. The evidence that the woman’s spirit was healed is the result that she straightened up and praised God- when Jesus verbally restored her identity as a daughter.
We could see how the spiritual realm can affect every aspect of our being, even the ability to worship God.
Today we learned that God wants us to experience Him in full, He wants us to be prepared for His coming and for that we must sanctify our spirit, body and soul.
We need to remember that what we do with our body can affect our soul and spirit and the other way around.
I am very concerned about this connection, how about you? We need to sanctify ourselves and be careful with what we watch, what we say and even what we eat.
God wants to heal us and give us life in full.
Jonh 10. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. Jonh 10. 10
Let’s pray.
References:
NAGIB,M. (2013)– Sozo for professional and counsellor- Great Britain – Amazon.