Here is an article which will either completely blow you away, or will be one which you say, "Okay, I knew it already." Just putting this together blew me away, so do read it through and let me know your thoughts. Go though it ALL thoroughly, I exhort you, use it as your Bible study, and I guarantee it will bless you.
How Many Parts Are We Made Of?
All through my Christian life, I have heard questions like these about the spirit, the soul and the body. For us Christians, is it our souls that go to Heaven or our spirits?
Some will say it is the soul that gets saved, others will say that it is the spirit. Others will say both. Yet others believe there are only two parts, the soul and the body.
Let's start with what Jesus said:
John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. (NKJV)
He said that it was to our advantage, better for us, that He in the flesh went away, that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, might be sent to us.
Jesus also said that we have to be born again, of the Spirit.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (NKJV)
We all as Christians know that, that when we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in us. There are many verses that speak of this (refer to list at the end).
Let's a look at what we, the natural man, are made of:
All of us are souls born in a body. The soul is also referred to in scriptures as the heart, the inner man and the inward man. This is the seat of who you are - your will, emotions, your intellect, ego, persona. It is this part that sets us apart from animals. With the fall of Adam, the Spirit part of us had died, separated from God, hell-bound, which is why we needed a Saviour in the first place. That leaves us with the "hole in heart" syndrome. We can try everything to gain satisfaction, but will never find it outside of Jesus.
When Jesus went up to Heaven, He promised us the Holy Spirit. This first happened at Pentecost and ever since then, as each believer receives the Lord, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in us:
Now here is the big clincher:
The Holy Spirit IS Our Spirit!
When God's Spirit gave us life eternal, the Holy Spirit came, made us alive and His Spirit and ours ARE ONE! That's why Jesus said it was to our advantage that He went to be with the Father! Now, instead of Him being in the flesh with us, He is with everyone of us who believe!
John 17:23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. (NKJV)
1 John 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (NKJV)
1 Corinthians 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (NKJV)
John 14:19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (NKJV)
Sit back for 30 seconds here and let that sink in. Your spirit, made alive by Christ IS God's Holy Spirit. The very God of the universe has come to live in you, to be your spirit, not because of your holiness, but because of the finished work of our Lord Jesus. This same God could have no fellowship directly with Man previously. Moses was not allowed to see Him and in the temple, there was a huge, thick veil that separated Man from the Ark of the Covenant, the place where God dwelt. The moment Jesus gave up His spirit, an unseen hand could not wait to tear the veil in half, top to bottom, revealing the Ark to all who would come (Luke 23:45). No wonder Paul said:
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV)
Does that mean we don't have our own spirit of any kind? I can't prove that in scriptures and frankly, it doesn't matter to me. The only thing I know is that without God's Spirit in me, I am dead, destined for eternal separation from Him. But that will NEVER happen because...
The Holy Spirit Who Is Our Spirit Will NEVER Leave Us
God has promised us many times that with the death of Jesus as the payment for our sins and with His resurrection, we will never be left alone. He cannot do that because He is the Spirit in you. Consider the following verses:
John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— (NKJV)
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. (NKJV)
Ephesians 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (NKJV)
So Here's the Take-away
We all need to know is that we no longer walk the way we used to. There is something very different in us, someone really, and He is called the Spirit of God. It is He who empowers us. Why don't we see the results of it after getting saved, you ask?
Well, scriptures tell us that Spirit and the flesh are in a constant fight:
Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (NKJV)
Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (NKJV)
With the Spirit and the flesh in a constant war, guess who get's caught in the crossfire? That's right! Our souls - our minds. What we set our minds to will make all the difference. 2 against one, whichever way it goes, is up to us, our wills.
So the key is to sow to the Spirit, for our minds to take sides with the Spirit:
Galatians 6:8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. (NKJV)
Galatians 5: 16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (NKJV)
Walking in the Spirit is walking by faith:
2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. (NKJV)
Yeah, sounds great, but how…? Let's see what scriptures say about this.
Well, for starters, there can be no faith without the Word of God because…
Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (NKJV)
No Word, no hearing, no faith.
We can only walk by faith to the measure that we know God's Word, the Bible. Anything else is presumption or faith in faith, not faith in God. So the crux of this is reading the Word, getting it into your system so that it would change you mind, the realm of the soul, in favour of what the Spirit is saying. After all, Jesus did say, plain as the day:
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (NKJV)
When you see the word "repent" in the Bible, that's what it means - change your mind. That's when our minds get renewed:
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (NKJV)
Ephesians 4:23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (NKJV)
As we read the Word and start to meditate on it, our belief system will change. Faith increases when we start to align our thinking to His Word, saying it as truth compared to what we see. We help others when we acknowledge all the good things in us in Christ Jesus.
Philemon 1:6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. (NKJV)
The bottom line is simple - Get into the Word, read the Word, meditate on it, talk to God about it. And remember, as long as you have confessed Jesus as Lord and Saviour:
Your Spirit is His Spirit is the Holy Spirit
God cannot get more intimate with us than that. We never have to ask that God would be with us, that He would walk with us, that He would not leave us. He can't wait for us to commune with Him! His Son paid the cruel, ultimate price that we nevermore would be separated from Him again.
Now for those who want an even stronger dose, go back to all the scriptures where the Holy Spirit is mentioned and read it again in the light of this Holy Spirit being your spirit dwelling in you:
Genesis 41:38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” (NKJV) [referring to Joseph - yes all of us are far better than Joseph!]
Numbers 27:18 And the Lord said to Moses: “Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; (NKJV) [Each of us can be a Joshua, too. The Spirit is in us!]
Psalm 51:11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. (NKJV) [This cannot happen to us as New Covenant believers! Yet David was able to accomplish much in the Lord, how much more us?]
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (NKJV) [Here it is!]
Matthew 10:19 But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. (NKJV) [Your Spirit, the Holy Spirit in you, will give you words.]
Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (NKJV) [The intimacy of having the Giver of all good things as one with me is better than all the gifts!]
John 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (NKJV)
John 7: 37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (NKJV) [Right in you, one with you, the fountain, the rivers of living water.]
John 15: 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. (NKJV) [Helper sent to us from the Father. This is TOO BIG to ignore for the New Testament saint!]
John 17:26 And I have declared to them
Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me
may be in them, and I in them.” (NKJV) [Declared again by Jesus, that He would be in us.]
Acts 9:4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (NKJV) [Christ and His Church are synonymous and inseparable - Persecute the Church = Persecute Christ.]
Acts 11:16 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ (NKJV)
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (NKJV)
Romans 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (NKJV) [In this is God's love, that Holy God can be poured out to abide in sinful man, because of the finished work of Jesus. He is One with us!]
Romans 8: 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (NKJV)
Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. (NKJV)
[No more condemnation for us, who are according to the Spirit, our Spirit, made alive in Christ when we accepted Him. Free from the law of sin and death!]
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (NKJV) [Same Holy Spirit, our Spirit, gives life to our mortal bodies.]
Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (NKJV) [Yes, by the same spirit that dwells in me that is one with my spirit!]
1 Corinthians 2:10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. (NKJV) [The Holy Spirit in me, my spirit, can do this! We can know the things that have been freely given to us by God!]
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (NKJV)
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (NKJV) [We are the Temple of God. He CHOSE to put His Spirit in us, that the world would know the He has come to save.]
1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (NKJV) [We were sanctified (made holy) and justified by the Spirit that came to dwell and be one with our spirits.]
2 Corinthians 1:21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (NKJV)
2 Corinthians 5:5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. (NKJV)
[The fact that we are born again means we are one with God. Guaranteed for eternity.]
2 Corinthians
13:5 Examine yourselves as
to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. 6 But I trust that you will know that we are
not disqualified. (NKJV) [Jesus Christ IS in us, unless we are hellbound, i.e. not saved. Anyone saved has Jesus in him.]
Galatians 3:2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (NKJV) [We can only be made perfect when the dominant influence in our life is our Spirit, God's Spirit!]
Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (NKJV) [Connected to the Vine forever, son of the most High God.]
Ephesians 2:18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. (NKJV) [Same spirit, our spirit, Holy Spirit.]
Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for
the day of redemption. (NKJV) [We are SEALED for the day of redemption. We cannot be UNSEALED.]
Ephesians 5:30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. (NKJV) [We are MEMBERS of His body, each of us born again!]
Colossians 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of
this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (NKJV) [It is Christ who is in us. He IS our hope of glory.]
Hebrews 2:11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are
all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, (NKJV) [Same message - the One who sanctifies and the one being sanctified are ONE.]
Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of
God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His
people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. (NKJV) [In the end state, the tabernacle, the temple of God, is with men and He will dwell with us forever!]
