Dear Beloved Family - Body, Soul, & Spirit

Dear Beloved Family - Body, Soul, & Spirit -# 3 02/15/05


Dear Beloved Family,
I hope all is well with you! Well it won’t be long now till spring. About a month and a half and we should be enjoying nice weather again. Time goes so fast, so I know it will be here in no time at all. I try to use the winter to get done inside; those things that never get done, during spring, summer, or fall. So that means fall and spring-cleaning in the winter. You’d think I’d have plenty of time for it, but with Christmas and Hayleah’s birthday, and then, Alisha, Joe, and Tiffany’s birthdays coming one after another, the winter just slips by! So the other day I decided, I better get this letter done, because when spring gets here, Joe and I are out in the yard doing our gardening. I still am not going to write on the subject I had planned on writing about in my last letter (letter #2). God put it on my heart to write, what I wrote to you last time, and what I’m writing on today (letter #3). I’m hopping to be able to write on it, in the next letter (letter #4). You see, I needed to get you to understand what I talked about last time and in this letter, so I can make a foundation, for my next subject. I believe, GOD, INTERRUPTED, my last letter (#2,) for this very reason. He knew I needed to build a case for what I’ve been wanting to write on, for a long time now!
I am a spirit, and you all, are a spirit! I have a soul, and you all, have a soul! I live in a body, and you all, live in a body! Who rules? Your spirit, your soul, or your body? In most case’s, your body rules YOU! God wants your spirit to rule. Let me explain your three parts, so you can understand how to start to change and reverse this problem. God is a spirit. John 4:24 states “ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.” Also in 2 Corinthians 3:17 it says, “Now the LORD is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” So God, who is in heaven and who created you and I, is a Spirit. Under the old covenant, in the Old Testament, the only way people could come to God was to go to the high priest, who would burn sacrifices for worship and forgiveness of sins. In the temple there were three parts. The 1st part was the outer court. The 2nd part, or inner court, where the altar for sacrifice was, was also called the Holy Place. Inside the Holy Place, were the 3rd part, the Most Holy Place, where God’s presence was, as well as the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments’. There was a curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. Only once a year, would the High Priest go into the Most Holy Place. No one, except the High Priest, could go into the Most Holy Place. The reason I went into detail about the temple, is because when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain, that separated the two rooms, split from the top to the bottom, signifying, God was no longer separated from us, by a priest. We could go directly to him, through our new High Priest Jesus Christ. This is why it says in John 14: 6, Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Then in John 16:7-8, Jesus says to his disciples, “ But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement:” Also John 15:26 says, “ When the counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” So Jesus sends the Counselor, or the Holy Spirit to us, who comes from God our Father, the Spirit. Now in John 3:3-5 it says, Jesus declares, “ I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “ How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a 2nd time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, I tell you the truth; no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to the spirit.” When we are born again or saved, which means we have accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior through confession with our mouth and believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, we receive the Holy Spirit or Counselor. Stated in Matthew 3:11, by John the Baptist, “ I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Your spirit is your connection that communicates to God through the Holy Spirit. Your spirit is also your intuition. John 16: 13, says “ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”
Your soul is your self or your identity. Your soul is made up of your mind (intellect), will, and your emotions. Your body or flesh on the other hand, is made up of your five senses, sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste. Now at the rebirth a war begins between the body and Spirit for your soul. Before the rebirth, this war did not exist, because the body was dead to sin. At death, our body dies and returns to dust, but our spirit and soul remains. This war exists, because you have a purpose or job to complete, just as Jesus had a job to complete. At the cross before he died, Jesus said, “It is finished.” He knew he had completed what God had intended him to do. Paul states in Philippians 2:12 to the Philippians Christians, “Therefore, my dear friend, as you have always obeyed-not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and act according to his good purpose.” Your body lives in the world and the world has dominion over your flesh. Your senses are distracting you from what God has intended for you to do and complete, while you are here on the earth. Galatians 5:16, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.” Now you understand why you seem to do want you don’t want to do and can’t do what you want to do. How do we overcome and win this war? You’ve got it! Through our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, GOD ALMIGHTY, and the HOLY SPIRIT. The more time you spend in the word of God, your spirit is strengthen, and you can hear and understand what the Holy Spirit wants you to know and do! If you do not spend any time in God’s Word, your spirit becomes very weak. So, let’s say, you go to church on Sunday, and that’s it for the week. The rest of the week, you do what you do-eat, sleep, watch TV, work, listen to music and etc. Who is getting feed! - YOUR BODY! Who is getting stronger? -YOUR BODY! Your body is much stronger than your spirit, so it controls your soul –(your mind, will, and emotions). The more time you spend developing your connection and communication with the Holy Spirit, you will gain strength to fight your battle to rule your body. Lastly in Hebrews 5:11-14, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant is not acquainted with the teachings about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” When we are born again, the battle for our soul begins. Unfortunately, many of our churches don’t teach us all we need to know and understand, for us to defend and strengthen our souls for Gods purpose. That is why I’m writing these letters! I want you to know what I’ve learned, by being constant in God’s Word. Most of us are still infants. We need to start feeding on solid food to mature as God intended.
Divine Love
Diane


P.S. Today’s date: 5/1/05-As you can see it took me a long time to write this –remember – I’m a hen pecker.
P.S.S. In Isaiah 55:11 God says, “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I send it.”-So I believe, that even though this is a lot of solid food to digest at one sitting, God’s words will not return empty, but will have an impact on you for his purpose!