Joan Frazerhurst, a friend of ours who is a Bethany College alumna, has agreed to help us with the Blog by writing her comments on our readings while Nita is gone. Thank you, Joan!
One more thing…Nita wanted me to mention that the next book we will read is Wounds That Heal by Stephen Seamands. - Susan Shetler
Chapter 18: Living Out of the Spirit.
To live successful (whole, victorious) in our Christian life is amplified in Galatians 5:16-18: 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 what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
How often do we keep checking inside to see if this or that is giving in to the “flesh”? This constant look inwards leads to a debilitating introspection, or it can lead to a relativistic life that is so common today and eventually leads to living in the sinful nature.
The author suggests that we are to live in the spirit. We, through the Spirit, are being invited to the Spirit-led life without focusing on being dragged down into the desires of the flesh. As we live this way, then the flesh has no drawing power. The author also suggests that very little is taught regarding this walk in the spirit, let alone the “How to” aspect. How true and how sad that is.
The “How to” can be found in the right relationship between the spirit, soul and body. We can read again the two accounts of the creation in Genesis. In Genesis 1:27 we read that God created man in His own image (using the Hebrew word for “created” as meaning out of “nothing”, and in Genesis 2:7, we read that God formed man from the dust of the ground…out of substance that already existed. To quote Tom Marshall: “…God formed that first human body out of an existing substance, and into it He breathed mankind’s spirit that He had created out of nothing…when this spirit entered Adam’s body, his soul-life came into being.” He goes on to state that the human spirit and the soul are essentially different. He goes on to explain this.
The two-fold role of this human spirit in being created in the image and likeness of God is:
- To receive life. The interesting thing is that this “life” is for relationship with God and others, not for existence. Relationship with God is life, therefore, to be cut off from that relationship is death. How truth is so refreshing and yet contains with it the ability to be comprehended. It’s priceless when we come across these jewels.
- To receive wisdom. This wisdom can only be received from God’s Spirit into our spirit. Put it another way, to receive it in our heart, not our head; or in our spirit, not our intellect or education.
I wonder if this is why we tend not to wait for God’s wisdom, because we think we must be able to figure things out with our intellect and learning. That’s what we were taught, weren’t we? How often did we forget to wait and listen and receive the wisdom from God, or from above? There is no harm to wait on the Lord for His word and wisdom in a given situation, and for everyday life, for that matter.Why do we, as the Christian church, not always realize that true wisdom only comes from God and we are to have access to this divine wisdom in order to have our life ordered and directed by God through His Spirit.
The thing about cleverness and intelligence is that we have seen endless leaders and intelligent people use their intellect, etc., but if the intellect/mind is not ruled by the wisdom received from God, it can lead to so much destructiveness in this world. The list is endless of these leaders, let alone the effect of “lack of wisdom” in our own lives. “If we live in the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
As the author gives us a chain-event in being God-centered…His Spirit rules over our spirit, our spirit rules over the mind, and the mind rules over the body. He indicates that many have lost touch with the spirit as the governing center of our life, and with it, to realize the presence of the Holy Spirit as our creative center and the balance in the corporate life of the Body.
Role of the soul:
What have you been taught about the “soul” in the deeper life teaching you may have received? Give it some thought.Some of the author’s thoughts brought back many memories of any talk of the soul.
- When we have an emotion (good or bad), it is called “soulish”, therefore unworthy, sin, or evil…no place in a Christian life.
- Some want to avoid the “soulish” realm altogether and just live in the spirit…not too possible.
We, as humanity, are unique in this that we have both the spiritual realm and the material realm. When humanity sinned, God was committed to those that were made in His image and He went through great lengths in joining with fallible creatures and then die in order to redeem them. The soul life was finally done perfectly in a body. As John says: “…we have seen His glory….” John 1:14.
In reality, this is what this blog is about…attempting to receive the wisdom of God into my spirit to affect my soul (my mind for one area) to the actual writing of this blog.Or, in other words, the intuitive or being part of us receives the wisdom, creativity and then the soul takes that “wisdom” and uses the body’s action to make it happen.
The contrast in the following verse gives good reason to have a strong desire to have the Holy Spirit of God ruling our human spirit:
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. James 3:13-17
Let us reflect deeply on this Scripture. Blessings on gaining wisdom upon wisdom.
For next week (#15), please read Chapters 19, 20, 21. These chapters are quite short.
For many years, as a Christian, I have read and heard that Christians are to walk in the Spirit and live by the Spirit. Tom Marshall said that this is how we’re to live, but not many people understand it and it’s not often taught in practical terms to people – how to actually do it. I’ve wondered exactly what it means.
ReplyDeleteWhen I would hear “walk in the Spirit”, I would assume that I was to be sensitive to God's leadings - to listen to Him – that through His Spirit he would speak to me – show me how to live. There were times when I felt I had been led by Him – and times when I was doing my own thing, self-centered, hardly giving God the time of day. Tom Marshall went on to explain exactly how God connects with us – through our spirits.
Mr. Marshall explained the difference between our spirits, souls, and flesh (I don't like the Bible version used in the book, at the opening of the chapter, where flesh is called sinful nature, because I don't think the flesh is always sinful) - anyway, Marshall's description of the 3 parts - flesh, soul, spirit, helped me understand how God connects with us - through our spirits. I guess I had never thought of it the way Tom explained it – I like how he put it: “The role of the human spirit was to relate us to God and so enable us to receive from God both life and wisdom”. And “Because of it’s access to divine wisdom, the human spirit was that part of a person’s being which exercised rule and direction over his or her life.”
I’m a person who needs things spelled out. Is this the key to walking/living in the Spirit… or is there more to it? When someone asks, how do I live by the Spirit, what is the answer – that our spirit connects with His and He gives us wisdom and guidance…or is there more to the definition of walking in the Spirit?
Just a side note…I’m thankful for the reading club and blog because it makes me think more deeply about the readings and it’s nice to know others are reading along with me.