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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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Overcoming Bitterness and Wrong Motives

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For many people, several obstacles may need to be overcome before receiving the baptism in the Spirit. My previous article in this series illustrated how to deal with past occult involvement. This article looks at how to overcome bitterness and other wrong motives.

 

 

Bitterness

Nothing undercuts our life of grace and faith more than bitterness. When we hold onto past or present offenses against God and others, we imprison ourselves and block the riches of God’s blessings from having free flow in our lives. The only way any of us can stand before God is because Abba Father forgave our sins based on Jesus’ taking the rap for us by paying the ultimate penalty of death. When we refuse to forgive others, in effect we reject what God did for us, showing that we believe that our standard of righteousness is even higher than God’s. He may be able to forgive, but we cannot. This is the height of pride and deception, and grieves God’s heart.

When we nurse offenses, we are bound in a prison of our own making until we liberate ourselves by choosing to forgive those who have hurt us.

Jesus taught that when we refuse to forgive, God will turn us over to “tormentors,” so that we can learn to forgive. In his parable of the unforgiving servant, Jesus said:

"Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33  'Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?' 34  "And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35  "My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart." Matthew 18:32-35 (NASB)

Once we suffer a while, hopefully we will decide that holding onto our bitterness is not worth the price.

I have found that when we are bitter we have a difficult time receiving anything from God. We usually cannot hear his voice because our hearts are hard.

Hardness of heart is the scariest thing that happen to anyone, and bitterness is a sure sign that we have that condition. Only tenderhearted people can forgive and receive from God.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32  Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:31-32 (NASB)

If we harbor bitterness of any kind, it is paramount that we release those who have offended us, so that we can be free to receive all that God has given to us.

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anyone we need to forgive. If anyone comes to mind, we should say out loud that we release them from owing us anything and ask God to wash us clean from all traces of unforgiveness. We let go of the debt. Now they are accountable only to God and we are free. If appropriate, we may need to meet with them later to reconcile.

To learn more about forgiveness – what it is and is not – click here.

Wrong Motives

The last obstacle we may need to overcome has to do with wrong motives, such as ambition, pride, and the love of money. James wrote the following warning.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. James 4:3 (NASB)

God blesses us with the baptism in the Spirit to equip and empower us to be his witnesses. If we are seeking this gift for a less than honorable reason, he may withhold this amazing blessing for our own good until we repent.

Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19  saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20  But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21  You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Acts 8:18-21 (ESV)

I have occasionally encountered people with issues that God insisted they get right before receiving the baptism in the Spirit, but it is not the norm.

If the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart that you need to get something right with him, however, please listen and do what he says.

Conclusion

Now that we have identified some of the major obstacles to receiving God’s blessings, we have a responsibility to use our knowledge and do whatever we need to do in order to remove them. If we do our part, God will certainly do his. He desires to bless us beyond our comprehension. We must not allow anything to interfere!

The next article will show exactly how to receive the baptism in the Spirit. Are you ready? Are you hungry? Good. God will not disappoint you.

 

Want to know more? I have written a book on this very topic, which is available on Amazon. Click here to find out more.
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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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