Category: Spirit-Led Counseling

Overcoming Generational Devastation: Lessons from DNA

This is the 14th article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. You can find the rest of the articles by clicking on the link above.

Western society is intensely individualistic. The idea that we might be corporately responsible, guilty, or subject to punishment for sins committed by others in our family lineage or group chafes against our Greek-based logic and world view. Old Testament people, however, saw things differently. Perhaps they had more common sense.

Common sense observations tell us that people often suffer because of the sins of others.

For example, if a father commits a crime and goes to prison, he suffers as does his entire family. Some of this suffering likely will impact future generations. When children do not have a father present, it causes damage. Grandchildren may suffer from a lack of proper fathering because their own Dad did not get fathered as God would have intended. This is a clear example of the sin of a father being passed down in unexpected ways.

Old Covenant people understood and believed that they were linked to the blessings and the sins of their ancestors and their nation.

We can see this clearly in a variety of passages. Below I list a few in which various leaders and prophets confessed their own, their forefathers’, and the nation’s sin to God.

Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. Nehemiah 9:2 (NIV) 

O LORD, we acknowledge our wickedness and the guilt of our fathers; we have indeed sinned against you. Jeremiah 14:20 (NIV) 

O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. 17  "Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary.  Daniel 9:16-17 (NIV)

Is this merely an Old Covenant concept that was done away with in Christ, or do we have the same sort of corporate responsibility before God today?

Lessons from DNA

There is a very interesting passage in the Letter to the Hebrews that has a lot to say about generational sins, guilt, judgments, and devastation.

One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10  for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. Hebrews 7:9-10 (ESV)

When Abraham paid tithes, all of his descendants paid tithes. This is a profound statement that should make us rethink things. Negatively, when Adam sinned, all of his progeny sinned. (Romans 5:19) On the positive side, when Jesus rose from the dead, all of his spiritual descendants through the new birth rose from the dead. (Ephesians 2:5-6) In the natural world, a similar process works in our bodies that is based on DNA.

I believe God uses the properties of inheritance through the genome to reveal to us a spiritual principle called identification.

Physically, all of us are the sum total of the DNA inherited from all our ancestors. Each male inherits Y-DNA from his father going all the way back to Adam. Males and females inherit mitochondrial DNA from their mothers going all the way back to Eve. The rest of our genome comes from others in our line. If we go back to our great-great grandparents, we have a total of sixteen persons contributing to our make up. This means that in a sense we were “in” those sixteen individuals and their forefathers when they lived their lives here on planet earth as they were obeying, disobeying, or simply ignoring God.

Theologically, the principle of identification means that our identity is connected to Christ in a very real way.

Paul called this being “in” Christ. What was and is true for him, excepting his divinity, is ours through our unity or identification with him. Christianity would not provide a way for us to overcome sin, Satan, death, and disease if we were not identified with Christ. It is not enough to be merely forgiven through Christ’s dying as our substitute. True victory lies in his living his life in and through us via the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 2:20) We are forgiven because he paid the penalty for our sins. We are justified because we have been given (in Christ) his actual right standing before God. We are children of God through the new birth which provides us with God’s “spiritual DNA,” so to speak. We have the ability to live for God because he lives in and through us.

Simply put, if not for identification, we would not be saved.

But identification also was the cause of our needing salvation. Our identities are linked to fallen Adam’s prior to the new birth. Just as surely as we were “in Christ” when he walked the earth in complete harmony with and obedience to the Father and in reliance upon the Holy Spirit, did miracles, died a sacrificial death, and rose again in glory; so, we were in Adam when he betrayed God in the garden. We cannot have it only one way. Either both are true or neither is true. Thankfully, both are real!

This forces us to conclude that the guilt-justification paradigm for understanding what Christ did for us on the cross is inadequate.

His dying as our substitute, taking our guilt and punishment upon himself, does not tell the whole story. In a very real way, our salvation is more about “Who’s your Daddy?” than anything else. From whom do we derive our life, our makeup, and our inheritance? Is it from Adam or God the Father through the new birth?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 1 Peter 1:3-4 (ESV)

We inherited Adam’s “sin nature,” the inborn propensity to sin, via our natural birth. Along with this spiritual inheritance comes a plethora of other things that are handed down regarding physical attributes, inclinations, giftings, etc., along with inherited guilt, since in Adam, we all sinned.

Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19 (NLT)

Likewise, the new birth is what gives us new life in Christ and a wonderful spiritual inheritance. So then, the idea of corporate guilt is not such a strange idea after all. Neither is the concept of corporate righteousness that we enjoy in Christ as the church. The bigger question, then, is how did Christ deal with this enormous weight of corporate guilt that infected all of humanity? Is there anything left for us to do? I will look at these two questions in coming articles.

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A Biblical Curse Is a Pronouncement of God’s Judgment

 

This is the 13th article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. You can view the rest of the articles by clicking on the link above.

 

A Pronouncement of God’s Judgment

Because the word “curse” is often used quite differently by moderns, it is very important to understand the biblical meaning.

In the Old Testament, a curse was a pronouncement of judgment by God on those who violated covenant stipulations.

When a covenant was made or “cut,” an animal was sacrificed and cut in two. The covenant makers would walk between the pieces of the dead animal, invoking a curse upon themselves should they violate the covenant. The following is an example of the curse or pronounced judgment attached to would be covenant violators.

“Therefore, thus says the LORD: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; behold, I proclaim to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the LORD. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18  And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts— Jeremiah 34:17-18 (ESV)

 

A Revelation of God’s Justice

The curse or pronouncement of judgment was a revelation of God’s justice in that it provided the proper warning and punishment for disloyalty to God.

Adam and Eve betrayed God when they chose self-rule over his loving lordship by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil instead of the tree of life. They valued and believed the serpent’s words more than God’s. The judgment upon their sin was the pronouncement of God’s justice in the form of a curse.

The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring;he shall bruise your head,and you shall bruise his heel.”16  To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;in pain you shall bring forth children.Your desire shall be for your husband,and he shall rule over you.”17  And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you,‘You shall not eat of it,’cursed is the ground because of you;in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;18  thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.19  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,till you return to the ground,for out of it you were taken;for you are dust,and to dust you shall return.”Genesis 3:14-19 (ESV)

The curse contained the following components, including a messianic promise.

  1. The serpent would be cursed or judged more than any other animal.
  2. He (Satan) would be ultimately crushed by the coming Messiah.
  3. The woman would suffer great pain in birthing children.
  4. The relationship between the husband and wife would be strained.
  5. The entire earth (creation) would be cursed, making life much more difficult for people and animals.
  6. The final aspect of the curse was the penalty of death.

It should be clear to us that, as descendants of Adam, we participate in this curse. The explanation we will explore later is that the effects of the curse were passed down to succeeding generations.

A Curse Pronounced by Jesus

Below I quote a New Testament example of a “curse” pronounced by Jesus over the residents of Jerusalem who were about to reject and crucify him, the ultimate act of covenant disloyalty.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30  saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31  Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33  You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34  Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35  so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36  Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. Matthew 23:29-36 (ESV)

Jesus understood that succeeding generations inherit the judgment earned by their ancestors. Do we?

Accumulated Looming Judgment

We see in Jesus’ words the principle that unconfessed and unforgiven sin accumulates judgment that looms over the generation of descendants still living.

Jesus linked the generation he was speaking to with their forefathers and their sins. The innocent blood shed by their forefathers still cried out to heaven for vengeance (Genesis 4:10), which God had been storing up to release on a future day.

God held (holds) successive generations corporately responsible for the sins of their fathers, especially if they chose (choose) to actively participate in those sins.

To the modern Westerner this seems very strange and maybe even wrong. To the New Covenant theologian, it also seems to violate the Law’s pronouncement that children will not die for the sins of their fathers.

Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin. Deuteronomy 24:16 (NIV)

Surely Jesus knew about that law; yet, he made the pronouncement quoted above. There is something going on here that deserves a better explanation. This goes to the heart of grasping what is the nature of generational sin, curses, and the consequent devastation. In my next article, I will explore in greater depth the nature of corporate sin, guilt, and judgment.

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Overcoming Generational Devastation: Overview

This is the twelfth article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. You can click on the link to find the entire listing of articles.

One of the least understood and most controversial areas of bondage is related to the sins that are repeated generationally in families. When these sins are not acknowledged and forgiven by God, they invite his judgment, resulting in generational devastation. We have all witnessed the repetition of certain sins in certain families, be they abuse, alcoholism, divorce, etc. There can be numerous reasons for these sins to continue generationally, one of which is the modeling of destructive behavior, setting up an expectation for repetition. Another might be a genetic propensity toward something such as an addiction to alcohol. We cannot rule out a spiritual component to sins continuing down through the generations either.

Most Bible students are aware of God’s Old Covenant warning that he will visit the sins of the fathers on the third and fourth generation of those who hate him.

...I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6  but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:5-6 (ESV)

The concept of generational curses or judgments being able to continue running through the families of born again believers as a result of the sins of their ancestors is highly controversial in light of what Christ accomplished through his death and resurrection. Our Lord Jesus broke the power of sin, guilt, condemnation, death, disease, and everything else that seeks to hold us in bondage; yet, I also have seen generational sins repeat even in families that love the Lord. What gives? Is there a way to prevent this from happening? Can we tap into Christ’s finished work in a way that will stop these family sins from afflicting the next generation? I believe the answer is an authoritative “Yes!”

How we can cooperate with the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ’s finished work to overcome the effects of generational sin is what I plan to lay out in the next several articles under the sub-heading of “Overcoming Generational Devastation.”

I will examine what exactly is a curse in the biblical sense and how that relates to the principle of sowing and reaping. I will also take a look at the nature of corporate guilt, repentance, and judgment, and how blessings, sin, and sinful patterns are passed down through families and even nations. I will also cover what Christ did to liberate us, and what is our responsibility in the matter. I will also examine the nature vs. nurture argument and show how both are true.

My purpose in writing is to help people like us experience the fullness of what Jesus died and rose to win for us. Isaiah prophesied that in the coming days, God’s followers would rebuild what was previously destroyed and ruined, which he identified as being generational desolation or devastation.

Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations; And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. Isaiah 61:4 (NASB)

Followers of Christ who have been set free from the power of sin, have been given the enormous privilege and responsibility to help others find freedom in Christ. Rebuilding what sin has devastated over generations can be hard work and requires tremendous courage and perseverance. Our Lord has already done the “heavy lifting” through his death and resurrection, but we have a part to play, just as those who witnessed Lazarus’ resurrection were told to “unbind him and let him go.” (John 11:44)

I hope you will stay with me as I cover these various aspects of generational sin, the devastation it causes, and the the way out through Christ. I believe it will be well worth the effort.

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Overcoming Abandonment

This article is related to a series entitled Wonderful Counseling.

All bondage is based on a lie.

This goes back to the garden of Eden where Satan seduced Adam and Eve to open the door to bondage and death by believing multiple lies. Satan convinced them that God did not have their best interests at heart and that disobeying him would not result in death. You know the rest of the story. Ever since then Satan, whom Jesus called the “father of lies,” has been hard at work convincing each generation to believe lies instead of God’s truth, which is found in the Bible and in the person of Jesus the Messiah.

One of the most devastating and predominant lies comes under the general category of abandonment.

Adam and Eve abandoned God when they chose to follow the interloper instead of their Creator, which resulted in God’s casting them out of the garden, sentencing them to a life of hardship, and cutting them off from the source of eternal life. However, God never truly abandoned them. In words spoken to the serpent just after the exposing of Adam’s and Eve’s sin, God gave all of us the promise that one of Eve’s descendants would defeat Satan.

And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15 (NLT)

This is the very first Bible verse related to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of that promise. The Hebrew word translated “strike” can also mean “bruise” or “crush.” Paul wrote thousands of years later that God’s people will play a part in Satan’s ultimate and utter defeat, when he penned these words: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16:20 NLT) If I were translating the Genesis passage, I probably would word it thusly: “He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Satan indeed struck Jesus at the cross, but that strike did not ultimately kill him. Instead God the Father raised him from the dead and gave him authority over all things, including Satan. Satan was defeated on the cross, but we are still in the middle of “mopping up” operations. God is using his people to finally and completely crush the devil.

The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.” Psalm 110:1 (NLT)

We also learn from that Genesis verse that God has a line of people and Satan has one. God has separated out for himself people from the beginning of time.

God chose the ones who would belong to him before he created the world.

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4  Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5  God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:3-5 (NLT)

This passage strikes a death blow at the lie-based stronghold named abandonment. It does not matter whether we have been abandoned by our parents, spouses, or anyone else. If we become followers of Christ, the Bible tells us that it was because God chose us, not because we chose him.

For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up. John 6:44 (NLT)

No one has the innate spiritual ability to come to Christ without being drawn by the Father via his Holy Spirit. If you are a follower of Christ it is because God knew you and chose you to be his before he made the world. It means that he sent his Son to die for you and afterward sent his Spirit to draw you to Christ. He worked in you to open your heart to the gospel, resulting in your being able to properly respond in repentance and faith.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10  For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:8-10 (NLT)

Once we come to Christ by faith, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee that God will complete or finish what he began on Calvary.

And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14  The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. Ephesians 1:13-14 (NLT)

Sometimes parents reject their own children. Often marriage partners become disillusioned or embittered with their spouses and abandon them.

God never becomes disillusioned with us because he knew all about us before he created and redeemed us.

There is nothing we may say or do that will catch him by surprise. When Jesus died for us, he saw us completely – the good, the bad, and the ugly, and he said a resounding “yes” to our heavenly Father’s choice of us to be in his eternal family.

Jesus will never reject or abandon those for whom he died.

Never will you hear our Lord say, “Oops, my bad. I made a mistake choosing you.” Instead he boldly declared the following words.

...those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. John 6:37 (NLT)

If you are a person who continually battles with the inner belief that you will ultimately be rejected and abandoned by those you love, that stronghold is no doubt based on past experience with disloyal people. It is likely that you participated in the lie by preemptively abandoning others before they could do it to you. You have been deeply wounded, which set the stage for believing the lie that even God will abandon you. It is not true. God will never leave you or forsake you. (Joshua 1:5 and Hebrews 13:5)

I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. 10  Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:9-10 (NLT)
 
Prayer to Overcome Abandonment

Father God, I now realize that I have believed the lie that everyone I love and even you will eventually abandon me. Forgive me for thinking that you are like people who have rejected and left me. Thank you that you chose me to be your child before you created the world. Thank you for sending Jesus to pay the penalty for my sins so that I could be reconciled to you. Thank you for sending your Spirit to work inside me to make me open to the gospel. Thank you for sending those persons who shared the good news about Jesus with me. Thank you for those you sent to pray for me and disciple me. Thank you that you sealed me with your Holy Spirit, which guarantees that you will complete in my life what you began when you will one day raise me from the dead to dwell with you forever. I now renounce the generational lie of abandonment. I repent for believing that lie and acting in accordance with it. I believe that you set me from from these things. Help me to show love and loyalty to you and others for the rest of my life. Amen.

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How God Removes Deeply Embedded Lies

This is the tenth article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. I sometimes use other names for this ministry, such as Personal Prayer Ministry and Biblical Healing and Deliverance. The adjective "wonderful" is used because Jesus is the "wonderful Counselor" of Isaiah 9:6. This ministry attempts to make room for Jesus to personally counsel people by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, with human ministers acting as facilitators. This makes it different from most counseling. It is highly effective at teaching the recipient how to hear the voice of the Spirit and to receive his life giving words.

 

This article will show how God helps us to remove deeply embedded lies that are the building blocks for powerful logical arguments that seek to block us from knowing God or believing his promises.

One of the major ways Jesus sets us free from bondage is by identifying and removing these deeply embedded lies and replacing them with truth.

According to Paul, these strongholds are built upon a sinful logic or reasoning that sets us at odds with the truth of God’s Word and tempts us to impugn God’s character.

For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments 5 and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NET1)

Satanic lies are very deceptive, and often we do not even know we believe and serve them until the Holy Spirit shows us.

An important concept for us to grasp is that we can believe one thing in our intellects and quite another thing at the heart level.

We may have good theology at an intellectual level but be practical idolators or atheists at the heart level. What we say we believe may be betrayed by how we act or think. If there is a disconnect between what we say we believe and how we act, there are probably embedded lies hidden deep in our hearts that must be identified and expelled. If we react emotionally and negatively out of proportion to the provocation, that also may point to a lie-based stronghold in our lives.

What we do, say, and think when we are under pressure usually reveals what we really believe down deep.

Unless we allow the Lord to reveal what these lies are and replace them with a revelation of himself and his truth, we likely will stay in bondage. Lie-based strongholds resist most attempts to remove them; so, simple debate is usually fruitless. We cannot reason with fear and unbelief. It takes divine intervention.

Lie-based strongholds are built upon stubbornly held internal arguments and conclusions (or speculations) which are based on our observations and experience of life.

Example of a Logical Stronghold Built on Lies

Over the years I have been privileged to work with many sexual abuse victims. Any person who has experienced the betrayal and traumatic pain associated with abuse as a child at the hands of people who should have protected him or her, will often have great difficulty trusting God for protection as an adult. I think this should be rather obvious.

The argument will probably sound something like the following. God did not protect me from being abused when I was young; so, why should I trust him to do so now? Either he was not able to protect me or chose not to protect me then. Why is anything different now?

This logic seems to be impregnable because it is based on personal experience, which cannot be denied.

We must concede that God, since he is almighty and sovereign, did allow the abuse to happen. Logically, based on his or her interpretation of personal experience, the person holding this position feels justified in concluding that God cannot be trusted. This argument can hold us tenaciously in its grip in spite of clear Biblical teaching that God is our defender and Keeper. (Psalm 121:7-8) This is a perfect example of a lie-based stronghold, one which I have seen God help several people to overcome.

The lie at the root of the stronghold is that God is not trustworthy.

This is the same lie that Satan presented to Eve in the Garden. It is perhaps the most insidious of all lies, especially when we are presented with seemingly inescapable logical proof that it is so. Perhaps you know someone whose faith in God was derailed by such an argument. I do. Anyone captured by this satanic logic is in deep trouble, and without the help of God’s Holy Spirit, will likely stay enslaved by the lie. How does God liberate us?

We tend to believe what we see and experience more than we believe God and his promises because deep down we are fiercely independent in our sin nature.

When we are born-again, we receive a new identity. Our reborn spirit is joined to and loves the Lord. (1 Corinthians 6:17 and 2 Corinthians 5:17). However, even though our spirits are reborn, we still have a connection to Adam’s sinful independence through our yet unresurrected bodies, which the Bible calls “the flesh” (Greek: sarx). We are beings who are a combination of a new creation spirit and an old creation not yet resurrected body. Our souls (mind, will and emotions – the personality) are conflicted as a result. (I have written on this extensively in my series, Living Free in the Spirit.) We have a sort of “split personality.” Part of us loves God deeply and wants to serve him, but the “flesh” still wants to be an outlaw and live off God’s grid.

The “flesh,” still insists on making its own decisions and evaluations instead of relying upon the Lord and trusting his words.

The “flesh” never disappears and cannot be rehabilitated. According to Paul, the “flesh” was crucified with Christ and also must be constantly put to death by us. The flesh wants to be able to provide for itself rather than trust an invisible God. It wants to protect itself, instead of relying on God to be its defender. All of this reveals that we still hold to a presupposition that we are better off on our own in life, which is exactly what prompted Adam and Eve to reject God and choose independence so long ago. They failed in their test.

We must overcome this temptation to opt for self-directed independence, if we are gong to experience the freedom Christ died to give us.

Sinful logic has a very limited perspective and does not factor in God’s wisdom and understanding. It is not built on any sort of revelation of God or faith in his promises. Think of how modern TV shows and movies are written and produced. Most of them present a version life in which God is never in the picture and people fend for themselves. Marx called religion the “opiate of the masses,” a crutch for weak-minded people who cannot handle life on their own. The “flesh” laps up this sort of logic, which is one reason so many fall for the lies behind Marxism and evolution, which are God-denying, man-glorifying approaches to life.

The Way Out

If a person who is captured by such a stronghold wishes to experience freedom, he or she must eventually reject sinful logic and make a decision to rely on what the Bible says about God and his promises.

I can almost hear you thinking, “Yeah, right. That sounds pretty easy, but actually is close to impossible.” Exactly! That is why we need God’s help. When we approach God in prayer, asking for his help, he will never let us down. He is more willing to help us experience freedom than we are to seek it. Jesus already paid the price for our liberation. The Holy Spirit is waiting for us to ask for his help.

Changing how we think about things is called repentance, which comes from the Greek word metanoeo and means literally to “change the mind.” Changing how we think precedes changing who and what we believe.

Repentance moves us from trusting in ourselves to trusting in God.

Repentance and faith are gifts from God. (Acts 5:31 and Ephesians 2:8) Unless God reveals himself to us in a personal way, we cannot repent or believe using only our own abilities. The Holy Spirit is always at work when people truly repent and trust in God from the heart.

Bondage derives from sinful logic, but a heart that turns back to God in simple trust will experience freedom.

That is why it is vital for us to take any of our lie-based logical strongholds directly to the Lord in prayer and ask him to help us with them through his written Word and the Holy Spirit. Lie-based strongholds are always arrogant and proud obstacles that stand between us and knowing God. The only way to destroy such a stronghold is to confront it head on with repentance, humility, and a determination to move forward with faith in God and the truth of his Word. We cannot make it through this process without God’s direct help.

This brings us to story of Gideon, which I will cover in the next article. I will show you how God helped him to confront the lies he believed about himself and God and how he became an overcomer as a result.

Go back to Part 9: All Bondage Is Built on a Lie

Read Part 11: How God Moves Us from Fear to Faith

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Part 9: All Bondage Is Built on a Lie

This is the ninth article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. I sometimes use other names for this ministry, such as Personal Prayer Ministry and Biblical Healing and Deliverance. The adjective "wonderful" is used because Jesus is the "wonderful Counselor" of Isaiah 9:6. This ministry attempts to make room for Jesus to personally counsel people by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, with the human ministers acting as facilitators. This makes it different from most counseling. It is highly effective at teaching the recipient how to hear the voice of the Spirit and to receive his life giving words.

 

The very first attack Satan made against humans was in the form of a lie. It has always been his most effective weapon.

Jesus said the following about our adversary while speaking to the Jewish leaders of his day.

You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44 (NET1)

The enslavement of the human race to sin, death, demonic oppression, and the world system began with a lie. Satan, disguised as a talking snake, suggested to Eve that God did not have her best interests in mind when He forbade her and Adam to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The lying serpent flatly contradicted God’s warning that they would die if they ate it. Instead he promised them that they would become like God, knowing good and evil, something that was obviously very attractive. Eve swallowed the lie hook, line, and sinker, and Adam followed her lead, failing to stand for truth. Believing that first lie and acting upon it opened the door to sin and death through a flood of deception that still works to undermine the revelation of God and our love and devotion to him.

As a result of that first sin in the Garden, every human being enters the world procreated in the image of our first parents, complete with a fallen human nature. The Bible calls it the “old man” or the “flesh”.

As a result of our inheritance from Adam, we are programmed to believe lies and reject God and truth.

Adam and Eve did not have this problem, since God had created them perfectly without any default leaning toward sin. This only shows how powerful deception is. Adam and Eve were unable to resist the lie, even though they did not have a sin nature. Where does that leave us who do? In need of a Savior!

Deception appeals to our inborn sinful desire to be “like God” without having to be dependent upon Him in any way. This is the fundamental nature of sin – self-will in contradiction to God’s will. Since we now have a bias toward deception, Satan easily locks down humanity in a web of lies, with our pride being a willing accomplice in the suppression of truth. We choose to believe that we do not need God, or, even better, that there is no God at all. The deception called evolution perfectly illustrates this. When Darwin first announced his theory, the Russian communist party embraced it as the perfect “scientific” paradigm to support its godless atheism. Evolution is built on the premise that there is no Creator. Rather, the universe simply “happened.” Order and matter proceeded from nothingness and disorder. The second law of thermodynamics guarantees that this is impossible, and even a small child knows that this sort of reasoning, if it can be called that, is ridiculous. Nevertheless, thousands of highly educated people have accepted this “theory” unquestioningly. Today many insist that it be accepted as scientific dogma. It is taught as fact by our public school system and by much of the academic community. This is a willful suppression of truth driven by a determination to be independent from God and deny him the honor he is due, thereby bringing God’s judgment upon us. (Romans 1:18-25)

Our love of the lie is so strong that unredeemed humans choose to suppress any attempt to reveal truth. This is why those who believe in creationism are ridiculed by the media and the followers of evolutionary dogma. This is why our Lord Jesus was persecuted and eventually murdered on a cross.

People do not like the truth. We run from it, hide from it, try to cover it up, and attack it.

Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. 21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God. John 3:19-21 (NET1)

But truth will eventually win the day. Jesus, who is the embodiment and definition of truth, will reign victoriously over every form of deception both in our own hearts and in the world. Eventually every knee and every lie will bow before the Lord of Truth!

The refusal to acknowledge and glorify God is behind our seemingly hopeless addiction to deception. Rebellion is the root of our refusal to believe the truth. This is not complicated. If God is Truth, then the desire to be independent from God is the same thing as embracing what is false. Anything that is anti-God is by nature deceptive. Satan can only deceive, because to tell the truth is godly.

The refusal to acknowledge, glorify, and worship God always results in some form of idolatry based on a lie.

Man was created to be a worshiper. If he does not worship the true God, he will worship something else that is a pretender to the throne. Just look at how people idolize movie stars and rock musicians. Evolution attempts to put man at the top of the evolutionary chain, making him a god of sorts, who is accountable to no one but himself.

But What about Me?

But what me? I am a follower of Christ, but I still battle with bondage and oppression. Am I also suffering because I believe a lie? This could well be so, and here is why. In addition to our inborn connection to sinful behavior and thinking called “the flesh” and the general power and deceptiveness of sin itself, bondage derives from four basic sources:

  1. Generational thinking, behavior, and consequences that are passed down along family lines,
  2. Unhealed traumatic pain,
  3. Deeply embedded lies, and
  4. Demonic oppression.

We will cover each of these in great detail in this series of articles.

What Jesus accomplished on the cross and through his resurrection provides deliverance in each of these four areas through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

If we are not experiencing that freedom, there are three possible reasons.

  1. First, we might be ignorant of what Christ has done. In that case, instruction from God’s Word accompanied by repentance, faith, and obedience to that truth will provide the desired liberation.
  2. In the second case, despite sufficient instruction in regarding God’s truth, a deeply embedded lie may still be present that hinders or blocks us from repentance, faith, and obedience. I call these lie-based strongholds, which Paul addressed in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. In this case, Jesus will help us to uncover and remove the lie, which is one of the main reasons for doing Personal Prayer Ministry.
  3. In a third possible scenario, in order to humble us, God may allow some form of oppression to remain in our lives so that we can learn to live by mercy and grace. To my understanding, this is what Paul experienced in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10.

I will concern myself with the first two cases, in both of which there is a lie behind the experience of bondage. The uninstructed person believes a lie simply because he or she never knew the truth that Christ’s finished work actually sets us free. The second person, who is captured by a lie-based stronghold, has chosen to believe a lie that opposes or nullifies God’s truth, quite often without realizing it.

For those of us who have embraced such a lie, it may seem more real than God’s Word, producing a type of practical idolatry in us. Jesus is the truth; so, to believe a lie is idolatry. Sobering, isn’t it?

Sin, by its very nature, is based on the deception that it provides something better than does obedience to God. When we are deceived, we choose the temporary pleasure that sin often affords, along with the death that results, rather than hold out for the eternal rewards associated with obedience to God. This is a form of temporary insanity.

It is only God’s grace ministered by the Holy Spirit that enables anyone to escape the clutches of deception and embrace the truth. In PPM, we ask the Lord to speak his truth to individuals, which breaks the power of the lie.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth...  John 16:13a (NET1)

May the Lord help us to be lovers of truth and lovers of God!

Go back to Part 8: Inside Out Truth

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Inside Out Truth

This is the eighth article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. I sometimes use other names for this ministry, such as Personal Prayer Ministry and Biblical Healing and Deliverance. The adjective "wonderful" is used because Jesus is the "wonderful Counselor" of Isaiah 9:6. This ministry attempts to make room for Jesus to personally counsel people by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, with the human ministers acting as facilitators. This makes it different from most counseling. It is highly effective at teaching the recipient how to hear the voice of the Spirit and to receive his life giving words.

 

Let’s begin with a beautiful verse of Scripture that King David wrote just after admitting to Nathan the prophet that he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband and his friend to cover it up.

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Psalms 51:6 (ESV)

Satan is a liar and master deceiver. He spews out deception as a means of misrepresenting God, subverting truth, and destroying people. Thankfully, God lovingly counters Satan’s every move. Whereas the Lord is never surprised by events, Satan never anticipates God’s wisdom and creative responses. Evil is clever but not wise. It may secure initial gains but always loses the war.

Since sin deformed humanity from the inside out by severing our connection to God in the spirit, God’s salvation works from the inside out, too. What our Lord does inside us who believe via the new birth is greater than anything Adam and Eve ever knew.

God, Immanuel, comes to live inside us! After giving us new birth in the spirit, God engages in transforming His people from the inside out by his Spirit.

When the eternal Logos, the Divine Son of God, became a human being (John 1:14), he called himself “the Truth.”

Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:6 (NASB)

Jesus the Messiah maintained complete integrity between his inner thoughts, words, and actions, even though it eventually cost Him His life. He was a fearless embodiment and pursuer of truth.

A disciple is a person whose eyes have been opened through revelation to understand that Jesus is God’s Truth incarnate, the risen Messiah King. Disciples believe this in their hearts, confess it with their mouths, commit to a lifelong allegiance to Jesus and the truth, tell others about him, and cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the process of inner transformation.

Being a disciple means being committed to living according to God’s truth.

Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 (NET1)

Because of the way inheritance works, all of us received from Adam a default predisposition to being deceivers and liars. Jacob in Genesis has always been one of my favorite Bible characters, not because of who he was and what he did, but because, in spite of his many faults, failures, and sins, God still loved and remained faithful to him. Jacob’s name means deceiver and usurper. He is a picture of every person who comes into the world. Over time God changed him so radically that he was even given a new name – Israel. We serve an amazingly merciful and generous God!

Deception is so deeply ingrained in the human race that it takes an act of God to change us.

We must be spiritually reborn to start the process of transformation. This process continues over a lifetime. It involves God restructuring how we think about him, ourselves, and his Word.

Repentance is a word that literally means to change the mind. God works in us to change the way we think so that our lives can become conformed to truth.

Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God — what is good and well-pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 (NET1)

God gave Jacob a name that exposed his lack of integrity. Imagine being named, “Liar” or “Deceiver”. God is not afraid of telling it like it is, especially when he has a plan to redeem and change the person. Along the way, through God’s dealings, Jacob was forced to take a long hard look at his own deceptiveness. If we commit to following truth, God will also make us confront our sin, too. Today anyone named Jacob is a reminder of how God can take the most crooked of people and make them spiritual fathers.

God loves to force us into a corner from which there is no escape except by engaging in a wrestling match with Truth.

Jacob wrestled with the angel at the river Jabbok, and God prevailed in his life. The result was that Jacob became a prince with God and a great man in God’s kingdom. The same will happen to us if we commit to engaging the Truth.

Embracing truth is not easy. In fact, it can be one of the most challenging things we will ever do.

People often run from truth because we are afraid of it. We don’t want to face the truth about ourselves or God because we may think it is too painful or scary. According to Jesus, people prefer the darkness of deception to the brilliant light of truth.

And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20  All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. John 3:19-20 (NLT)

If we want to experience the freedom offered in Christ, we will need to squarely face truth with the help of the Holy Spirit.

We need not fear the One called the Truth who chose to die for us. He has no desire to destroy us with truth. Instead he wants us to be free because we embrace truth on the inside.

The only way we can properly relate to God and experience true freedom is through the avenue of repentance, which is the process by which we reject the lie and embrace the Truth.

When we admit that we are wrong and God is right we have begun the repentance journey. We make the decision to reject deception and become honest with God, ourselves, and one another. Repentance is the opposite of hypocrisy, which is when we pretend to be something we are not in order to look good to others and hide our sin.

One of the scariest things any person can do is become honest.

That is why people become so angry when their sin is exposed. We usually go into cover-up mode (denial) to try to keep damage to a minimum. Friendships can be damaged or lost by being honest if one of the parties is unwilling to embrace truth. That is why King David’s response to the prophet was so refreshing. When Nathan declared, “You are the man!”, exposing David as an adulterer and murderer, David responded, “I have sinned!” (2 Samuel 12:1-15) How rare is that? How many times have you seen someone instantly and openly admit a transgression?

Deception is rampant in society and honesty rare. but, in the church, it is supposed to be the norm.

Politics survives and thrives on lies. Hollywood is built on the unreal product it presents. Some of the biggest blockbuster movies depend on special effects to transport the viewer into a surreal world where God does not exist and sin often has no apparent consequences. But life is not like that at all. Life is built on the timeless truth of sowing and reaping. It eventually brings us face to face with God’s truth. We will either surrender to it or be destroyed by it. There is no escaping a confrontation with the God of truth.

A life based on sin and deception will always lead us into a dead-end alley from which there no escape except by admitting our sin and accepting God’s truth.

Jacob was forced into a confrontation with his older brother Esau, something he had avoided for years. He feared what Esau might do to him, because he had previously tricked his brother years before and taken his blessing and birthright. God forced Jacob to confront his fears, and, by so doing, to confront his own deceptiveness, all within the protection of God’s love. The result was that Jacob overcame his fears and gained a new status with his brother and God. He no longer had to skulk about in fear, but could walk in boldness and freedom. The same can happen for us if we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into truth.

God will help us confront things we have run from in the past so that we can experience Christ’s freedom. The more we grow in our knowledge of how much God loves us, the more we will trust him enough to be honest.

Prayer

Dear God, I have run from truth many times, but now I want to fully embrace it, no matter how scary it seems, because I know you love me and want me to be free on the inside. Jesus, thank you for dying and rising for me. Thank you for loving me even when I was your enemy. Thank you for being patient with me and helping me to get to this point. I rely on you to help me move forward in my truth journey. Come, Holy Spirit. You are the one who gives me the strength and ability to live for Jesus. You are the Spirit of truth, my friend, and my God. Have your way in my life. Make me a lover of truth. Amen.

Go back to Part 7.

Read Part 9: All Bondage Is Built on a Lie

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Part 7: Body, Soul, and Spirit: The Salvation of the Soul

This is the seventh article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. I sometimes use other names for this ministry, such as Personal Prayer Ministry and Biblical Healing and Deliverance. The adjective "wonderful" is used because Jesus is the "wonderful Counselor" of Isaiah 9:6. This ministry attempts to make room for Jesus to personally counsel people by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, with the human ministers acting as facilitators. This makes it different from most counseling. It is highly effective at teaching the recipient how to hear the voice of the Spirit and to receive his life giving words.

 

Here is a most amazing and thought provoking verse.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10:14 (ESV)

If you read my previous two articles, you probably deduced that, if there are past and future aspects to our salvation, there must be a present component to salvation, too. The verse above confirms this by referring to what Christ accomplished once for all in the past, our justification, to the ongoing work of God in the present, which many call sanctification or transformation.

We “are being sanctified” on a daily basis, which basically means we are being set apart to God and his purposes. This involves a transformation of our character to become more and more like Christ. This is accomplished inside us as we cooperate with God’s Spirit by faith. The goal of this transformation is obedience to God and his Word.

In other words, our spirits (the innermost part of our being where we intuitively connect with God) already have been made perfect once and for all, but we are also in the process of our souls (mind, will, and emotions) being made more and more like Jesus on a day-to-day, moment-by-moment basis.

Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God — what is good and well-pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 (NET1)

 

The Soul

The soul consists of the mind, will and emotions, what we call personality. Our daily battle against sin and the sin nature (the “flesh” or “old man”) is waged mostly in the mind. If the mind engages with temptation and the will caves to it, usually the body joins in to commit sin. Likewise the desires of the natural body, which are often amoral in nature, test the mind and will to see if we will be faithful to God or not.

We are tested every day to see if we will trust in the power of Christ’s finished work and the promises of God and rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. God is teaching us to lean upon his daily provision of grace to see us through.

For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 (NET1)

The God who justified us at Calvary, when we were still enemies and helpless to save ourselves (Romans 5:8-11 NLT), also gives us daily grace to live for Him. The God who will raise us from the dead, when we will be powerless to raise ourselves, is also the one who daily pours out on us the benefits of grace through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

We have little problem understanding that we could not deliver ourselves from the condemnation of sin. We also easily grasp that dead people are powerless to raise themselves from the dead, but it is usually not as clear to us that we are powerless to transform ourselves on a daily basis.

This accounts for the plethora of self-help books on the market. We think we can save ourselves, if we just try a little harder or learn some important key to success, but we cannot. Every part of our salvation depends on God; nevertheless, we always have a part to play, especially in our daily transformation. God will not do for us what he assigned to us, but he comes alongside to help us do it. (Romans 8:26)

Learning to cooperate with God’s Spirit in the transformation process is called “walking in the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)

It is done by faith. If you want to read more about this amazing process, click here for a more in depth series of articles entitled, Living Free in the Spirit.

Conclusion

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV)

Unless we understand the three-fold nature of salvation, many scriptures will be confusing to us. God wants us to correctly handle God’s Word, and part of that involves determining whether the text refers to the spirit, soul, or body. Additionally, unless we understand that our spirits really do love God and want to serve Him, we may falsely believe that the “real me” is our “old man,” which can be translated, “the flesh” – the part of us still linked to fallen humanity through the unresurrected body, which is hostile to God and His ways. For us to experience true freedom, we must come to the realization that the “real me” is the recreated spirit man inside us. (Romans 7:16-25)

There is a huge conflict between our spirits and our “flesh” that we experience most every day.

For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want. Galatians 5:17 (NET1)

As a reminder, if we go back to the Genesis 2:7, the verse which describes the creation of man, we see that our souls are formed by the combination of spirit and body. I have shown that the spirit is made perfect through the new birth and the body still waits for perfection through the resurrection. Therefore, as I understand it, we have a built in conflict in our souls. We have the spirit, which is part of the new creation, joined with the body, which is still part of the old creation. How could there not be a conflict? Paul uses the term “flesh” because I believe he wanted to make a link to the mortal imperfect bodies in which we still live. Our bodies are not evil, just imperfect and still affected by sin’s curse via Adam. (This is proved by the fact that people who are truly saved still die physical deaths.) The combination of the imperfect body from the old creation with the perfect spirit of the new creation creates an inner conflict between the new nature and the old “sin nature.”

It is crucial that we are able to distinguish and identify with the new creation part of us rather than with the impostor called “the flesh,” which is derived from the old creation and still tries to rule us.

Paul makes it clear that through Christ’s death and resurrection the flesh’s power has been rendered ineffective. It no longer has the right to dominate us.

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- Romans 6:6 (NIV) 

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Romans 6:14 (NIV)

From where then do we derive our true identity? Is it from the sin nature or the new nature? Paul answered that question decisively.

But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. 17 But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me. Romans 7:16-20 (NET1)

The devil seeks to hound and condemn us for the sins we have committed and continue to commit and the for evil desires that often still war in our souls. He continually tells us that we are “no good,” but Christ does not condemn us because he already took away our condemnation on the cross. (John 5:24 and Romans 8:1) The new birth makes us new creations in Christ.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (ESV)

In the midst of our struggles with temptation and sin (the flesh), some of us may even begin to question whether or not we are genuinely saved. How could a true disciple have such evil desires and do such wicked things? If we are deceived by such thinking and lapse into unbelief regarding the efficacy of Christ’s finished work and the Spirit’s ongoing work, the basis for our experiencing by faith the victory over the power of bondage through Christ’s finished work is removed.

We must see ourselves as God sees us – a finished product, complete in Christ, delivered from condemnation, free from sin’s power to rule us, victorious over our enemies, and able to walk in the Spirit.

Paul wrote:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2 (ESV)

We must believe what the Bible says about us even if our current experience does not yet line up. Freedom from condemnation liberates us to live by faith in the finished work of Christ, which opens the door to the Holy Spirit’s daily transformation process.

God’s Word alone is the foundation for faith, not our experience or what we logically derive from our experiences. This is vital if we are to live out the freedom that is ours in Christ. Who we really are is who we are in Christ.

God wants us to base our current faith walk with God on what Christ has done in the past and what he has promised to do in the future.

Paul wrote:

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory. Romans 5:1-2 (NET1)

We stand in faith by grace today because of what Christ finished long ago. Likewise, our motivation to press forward in obedience to God is also rooted in the future. Because we have a sure hope of resurrection, we have a strong motivation to live a holy life.

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.  3 And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure. 1 John 3:2-3 (NET1)

In summary then, understanding and believing the doctrine of body, soul and spirit is vital to our experiencing true freedom in Christ. God’s truth sets us free.

Go back to Part 6.

Read the next article – Part 8: Inside Out Truth

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Part 6: Body, Soul, and Spirit: The Salvation of the Body

This is the sixth article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. I sometimes use other names for this ministry, such as Personal Prayer Ministry and Biblical Healing and Deliverance. The adjective "wonderful" is used because Jesus is the "wonderful Counselor" of Isaiah 9:6. This ministry attempts to make room for Jesus to personally counsel people by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, with the human ministers acting as facilitators. This makes it different from most counseling. It is highly effective at teaching the recipient how to hear the voice of the Spirit and to receive his life giving words.

 

 

Picking up where I stopped in my previous article on the salvation of the Spirit, Paul wrote:

For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23  but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24  Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:22-25 (NASB)

The “inner man” to which Paul refers above is the spirit, which is in union with God’s Spirit and which always delights in God and wants to do His will. (I covered how God saves this part of our being in my previous article in this series.) However, as I previously mentioned, we are not merely a spirit.

We have bodies which still await a salvation which will not be completed until the resurrection of the dead, which obviously is in the future. The resurrection of the body is the future part of our salvation.

When our spirits are born again, resulting in our justification or being made right with God, our bodies remain unchanged. They remain linked to the old order of things, the sin cursed world that must eventually perish. Our bodies, which we continue to inhabit after our justification, are subject to aging, sickness, and death. This requires us believe for and experience God’s healing power and depend on Jesus’ promise of resurrection. Our Lord specifically promised all who trust in him that he will raise us from the dead.

"This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40  "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." John 6:39-40 (NASB)

Regarding our future resurrection, Paul says that we are “saved in hope”.

Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with endurance. Romans 8:23-25 (NET1)

The “firstfruits of the Spirit” refers to our justification and the resultant union with God’s Spirit, Who indwells every believer.

We groan inwardly because our justified made-perfect spirits still must live in mortal subject-to-sin-and-temptation bodies, at least for the present.

God has chosen to wait until Christ’s return to complete the salvation of our bodies. When Paul refers to our being saved “in hope,” he does not mean that our resurrection is in doubt. The Greek word for “hope” means “confident expectation”. In other words, we persevere by faith with an eager expectation that God is going to resurrect us from the dead, just as Jesus promised. Hope can be thought of as stretched out faith.

Although the salvation of the body is still in the future, it is not in doubt.

In fact, from God’s perspective, which is outside of the constriction of what we know as time, our resurrection is already accomplished, as is revealed in the following passage.

...because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified. Romans 8:29-30 (NET1)

All of the verbs in the above passage are in the Greek aorist tense, which means they describe once for all completed action. Our glorification, which will one day take place in the future at the resurrection, is already a past tense event for God! Jesus meant it when He declared, “It is finished,” but from our time-bound perspective the salvation of the body is in the future.

The principle that we can extract to aid us in the ministry of helping people experience Christ’s freedom is that we must separate justification, the past salvation of the spirit, from glorification, the future resurrection of the body. Otherwise, we might become confused, thinking that our justification is not real, since we still struggle in areas the Bible calls the “flesh.” Our struggles with the flesh are related to our justified spirits being linked to yet to be redeemed or resurrected bodies, creating a tension between “flesh” and “spirit.”

So I tell you, live the way the Spirit♦ leads you. Then you will not do the evil things your sinful self [the flesh] wants. 17 The sinful self wants what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against the sinful self. They are always fighting against each other, so that you don't do what you really want to do. 18 But if you let the Spirit lead you, you are not under law. Galatians 5:16-18 (ETRV)

I have “left you hanging” a bit by ending here. If you wish to find out how the salvation of the body and spirit connect with regard to the soul, click here to read my next article. If you wish to go deeper in learning about some confusing Bible terms such as “the flesh” and the “old man,” click here to read an article in my “Living Free in the Spirit” series.

Go back to Part 5: The Salvation of the Spirit.

Read Part 7: The Salvation of the Soul

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Part 5: Body, Soul, and Spirit: The Salvation of the Spirit

This is the fifth article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. I sometimes use other names for this ministry, such as Personal Prayer Ministry and Biblical Healing and Deliverance. The adjective "wonderful" is used because Jesus is the "wonderful Counselor" of Isaiah 9:6. This ministry attempts to make room for Jesus to personally counsel people by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, with the human ministers acting as facilitators. This makes it different from most counseling. It is highly effective at teaching the recipient how to hear the voice of the Spirit and to receive his life giving words.

 

 

God created Adam in a most amazing and instructive way. The Bible says:

The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:7 (NET1)

The word for “breath” in Hebrew and Greek also means “wind” or “spirit” in both languages. When God breathed the spirit of life into the inert body an amazing thing happened. The union of spirit and body produced a living being or, literally, a “soul”. The New Testament confirms this tripartite composition of humans.

Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NET1)

Some theologians think that there is practically no difference between spirit and soul, limiting mankind to two parts, but Paul used three distinct words. The writer of Hebrews also distinguished between soul and spirit.

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 (NET1)

Though it is difficult for us to determine where the dividing line separating spirit and soul begins and ends, we must make the distinction if we are going to understand not only how God made us but also how he saved, saves, and will save us.

God made us in His image and has clearly revealed Himself in the Scriptures to be a Trinity – three persons in one being. This is a mystery that is impossible for us to completely comprehend at this point, but one that must be accepted, if we want to know the God of the Bible as He has revealed Himself to us. It should not be surprising to us then that we are also a trinity of a different sort. I am one person made up of a body, a soul and a spirit.

As you may have guessed, this is not mere esoteric theology. There are practical reasons we need to understand that we are tripartite beings. God’s great salvation in Christ covers every part of our being. I will show why this is important in the following paragraphs and articles. This article focuses on the spirit.

Salvation of the Spirit

The first, and arguably the most important, aspect of our salvation is associated with the spirit. It is specific to the spirit and was accomplished by Christ in the historical past, once and for all time. It is a finished work to which nothing can be added or subtracted. Through the new birth this salvation becomes part of my personal history and experience. It makes me completely righteous in God’s eyes forever. The Bible calls this justification.

But when this priest had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 where he is now waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy. Hebrews 10:12-14 (NET1)

I am condensing a large amount of theology into a few sentences, but this article is an overview. I encourage you to take time to explore each concept. (Here is a more detailed article on the subject of justification, in case you want to go deeper.)

Speaking of the new birth, Jesus taught us:

What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:6 (NET1)

When we become followers of Christ through trusting in the finished work of Christ and by declaring allegiance to the risen Lord, our spirits are reborn. Jesus, the second Adam, is a life giving spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45) The spirit is the innermost part of our being, the part that is capable of connecting directly with God. It is the hidden part of a person where intuition dwells and which is capable of knowing God through revelation. It is the place where our spirits are united with God’s Spirit in the mystery of the new birth.

But the one united with the Lord is one spirit with him. 1 Corinthians 6:17 (NET1)

God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27 (NET1)

Through justification, our spirits are made completely righteous. It is the one area of our being that is already completely saved.

This is what some people call “past salvation”. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” as he hung upon the cross, he saw things through God’s eyes. God is outside of and not bound by time. He rightly sees our salvation as already completed; although, to us, who are bound by time to a great extent, we are still very much in process. It is important, however, for us to grasp that our spirits are already saved. Otherwise, many scripture verses will not make sense to us.

For example, take Romans, Chapter Seven, when Paul states:

For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. 23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Romans 7:22-25 (NET1)

Why is this important? When John wrote that we can know that we have eternal life (1 John 5:13), he meant that our right standing before God is a “done deal.” It is based on the finished work of Christ.

We do not have to “do” anything to gain or maintain a right relationship with God. Jesus earned it for us. This should produce a deep rest in our hearts. It transforms our service to God from being an attempt to gain his favor into a service motivated by gratitude and love.

If we are convinced from the Word of God that Jesus already made us right with God, we will have great confidence when we approach God in prayer seeking his help, healing, and deliverance. We have permanent access to God’s presence and his unlimited resources because we are beloved children.

For through him [Christ] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. Ephesians 2:18 (ESV) 

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 (ESV)

Go back to Part 4.

Read Part 6: The Salvation of the Body

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