Letters to the Faithful.
Sept. 16, 2016.
OF Spirit.
“Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but you, who are you?” - Acts 19:15. When some opportunists saw how much recognition was given to Paul after casting out demons, they tried to imitate in actions and words, but having not accepted the blood were “manhandled” by the very demons they tried to cast out. They were told that they were unrecognized which is referring to the Spirit of God and not their person. For all physical persons are known by demons but not having the right spirit, the demons did not acknowledge their authority over them. Are not all men born with the spirit? When God created Adam, He breathed life into him which can be interpreted in two ways. God’s breath was to jump-start his physical body just as priming a pump with water, to induce flow. The flow of blood carries the substance of life. The more acceptable theology is that the breath of life is the spirit that all men and women are born with as the spiritual connection to God’s Spirit, which is why we cry, "Abba, Father"! This spirit can be alluded to be that image we are made in, rather than a physical image, just like a son who reflects the father’s notions of things even though he has no physical resemblance. It is also why as adopted children the same results can be seen. It is the spirit that matters.
Many say that man’s spirit fell and that we are all born into sin and we had to wait for Jesus to redeem us back into life. Where this is correct it is not completely true. The spirit of man has always been in that triune makeup of the body, mind, and spirit. They are to work in unity towards the righteous things of God. The free will, given to us resides in the mind and not in the spirit, but the spirit is already preprogrammed with God’s DNA. So the mind is the mediator between the body and the spirit. It is why even if the body is starving, but the spirit yearns for righteousness; the mind can and will ignore the physical lack, for spiritual need. When Jesus fasted for 40 days, He wasn’t trying to lose weight but was preparing for the spiritual battle ahead with satan; this is also reflected when the apostles failed to cast out those demons; Jesus said, “this type requires fasting” - Matt. 17:21. In both cases, by the spirit’s influence, the mind with free will orders the body what to do. It must also be noted, that in confronting “wicked spirits”, it is not by the intelligence of the mind but by the innate spirit given to us. We can experience this when praying; when the mind may yield to the spirit and the language of tongues is revealed, speaking mysteries, which the carnal mind cannot comprehend, and God and the spiritual realm acknowledge, but the Holy Spirit reveals to our minds as a Word or prophecy. Remember the spirit is preprogrammed with God’s DNA, so whatever comes out from it is God’s will.
Some say, only the words of the bible can be used against “wicked spirits”, and they would be correct but not completely. It is by the spirit connected with the Holy Spirit of God is the Word, regardless of the bible gives power, otherwise, it would be of our power and not of God’s. This is evident prior to Jesus with many of the Old Testament’s men of God using their spirit with God’s Spirit to defeat their enemies. Remember, men and women of God were spiritual advocates long before their stories were written into the bible. In addition, Jesus did not give us authority over the demons but only put into practice what has been available since the garden. Consider, Godly men like Daniel or Elisha had angels come to their aid, only because their spirits were connected to God’s; or Jesus’ disciples cast out the demons, and healed the sick before Jesus went to the cross. The main reason for this is, they set their spirit onto God’s spirit, just as was commanded to do, that is to choose life and meditate on the word, being baptized to receive the Anointing as Jesus did. Many in obedience to the law could not attain righteousness which is required for a complete connection of the spirit to God's Spirit. When Jesus went to the cross and became the eternal sacrifice, He put to death the law and righteousness became available once again by God's Grace.
That spirit which carries with it the DNA of God’s Spirit is the conscience that imparts to us all that is righteous. It is what connects us to God’s Spirit. It is the spirit that should order our ways. When Eve and Adam sinned they did it with their mind and not their spirit, and this resulted in becoming carnal-minded but not separated from God; for after their disobedience, they still interacted with God through the spirit. This happened when God walked through the garden calling out and Adam responded. The devil appealed to their intellect which is in the mind and not to God’s command, saying, “you shall be as gods” - Gen. 3:5. The spirit in a man already knows it can never be as God because, by its very nature, it knows there is a connection to something greater than itself. The mind was given to address things of physicality while the spirit addresses only one question, “how am I”. It is no wonder that satan influences the resources of man to disprove the spiritual nature of man, creation, and connection to an Almighty God.
The spirits of all kinds have existed long before the foundations of the world including God’s Spirit and those of angels. There are only two kinds of spirit; righteousness and evil. Every other spiritual manifestation is a result of these two. Lucifer was righteous, but because he became jealous of God, by free will and self-recognition; what was admiration before, converted into iniquity making him a reprobate into selfishness and darkness. The Bible says, “for we wrestle against spiritual wickedness in high places” - Eph. 6:12. This indicates the battle to be won must be at the spiritual level regardless of the issues at the physical level. This can be a challenge especially since we operate mainly by the senses and our thoughts. It is the result of Adam and Eve leading by their minds rather than their spirits. The human being still travails in this world because of that one issue; of using the mind rather than using his spirit.
When we make God our one and only priority, nothing can be withheld from us, because once the spirit is only observing the things of God and the Holy Spirit acts as the conduit between us and God, then all that is righteous becomes our only priority, and God, Himself dwells within us. The body and spirit are at the will of the mind and is influenced by what we see, but especially by what we hear whether of the physical or spiritual realms. If we hear of a man using curse words; our mind does not register it as much as hearing curse words directly. But, if we hear the story frequently enough, then the curse words register much more deeply in our minds. It is the same in hearing spiritual voices, either good or evil, the more we hear them, the more the mind accepts and acts on them through the body or the spirit. Our spirits can be led to life or death based on the type of spirit we acknowledge. The Holy Spirit is constantly talking to our spirit, and so is the devil. The spirit and the mind are in conflict not because of sin but because of what we feed our spirit, just like the body if we eat spoiled food, we suffer the consequences. By eating healthy, nutritious foods, we experience energy and our body reflects this. When our spirit is given the right foods it produces the fruits of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We must only feed on God's spiritual foods of life.
Lev. 20:6, 1 Sam. 30:12, 1 Chronicles 5:26, Job 32:8, P.s 31:5, John 6:63, Romans 8:15, 1 Corinthians 3:1, Gal. 5:17, Thess. 5:19.
Who is Christ ?