And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 KJV
In our last post we discussed the difference between death and eternal life. We also discussed the fact that man is a spirit, made in the image of God. Now I want to dig into the reality of mankind’s three-part makeup: spirit, soul, and body. If we understand how God made mankind, we can better learn to navigate the physical and spiritual realms that we were made to walk in.
The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly.
Proverbs 20:27 KJV
The best way to understand the spirit is by looking at this verse in Proverbs. It is defined as the candle of the Lord. If you know anything about a candle (or lamp), especially in scripture, you understand that it is used to bring light to a dark place. Light represents understanding, wisdom, and knowledge of God. Darkness is symbolic of ignorance, deception, and spiritual blindness. The purpose of the spirit of man is to connect mankind with God to receive everything needed for guiding his or her life. A spirit that is alive to God has the ability to perceive what God is saying and be sensitive to his leading. When a man’s spirit or candle has gone out (or becomes darkened), that man is now unable to receive or perceive things from God. I believe that is what transpired when Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the Garden of Eden. When God said that you shall surely die in the day that you eat thereof, they died spiritually and the candle of the Lord went out, leading to them walking in darkness apart from the knowledge of God.
For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
Proverbs 18:28
The scriptures tell us that the Lord will enlighten our darkness here in Proverbs 18. He does this through the knowledge provided to us by his Word. Before Jesus came to the earth, the law (Word) was given as a form of light to mankind since he was now walking in darkness and ignorance. The more mankind meditated on the Word that was given by God, the more light he received into his inner man. This is why the psalmist said in Psalm 119, “Your Word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.” The Word is to be hidden in the heart so that the conscience has something to guide it when being faced with decisions. While the law had the ability to give light to mankind so that he knew what was right and wrong, it did not give man the power to fully obey what the law (light) was telling him. Here’s another scripture that confirms the purpose of the law in the heart of man.
For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
Proverbs 6:23 KJV
When Adam fell I believe he lost the original light that God gave, which was the indwelling Holy Spirit. The law came as a result of this to be a lamp unto the feet of men and a light to his path (Psalm 119:105). The law gave knowledge of the will of God but it did not give full understanding of the knowledge that was given. However, the role of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to be a light in our spirit, which gives mankind a conscious understanding of God’s will and purpose each and every day. This is why it is important for anyone who receives the law of God to also receive the Holy Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit will speak to the conscience of man and guide him to make decisions in alignment with the law of God even if he doesn’t know all that is written in the law. This is what it means when the scriptures say that He writes His laws on our hearts and on our minds that we should walk in them (Hebrews 8:10). Thus, A man without the Word of God and the Holy Spirit is considered a man that walks in darkness.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give us the Light of the knowledge of the glory and majesty of God [clearly revealed] in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6 AMP
Our spirit must receive Christ in order to be made alive again unto God. The Pharisees were well known to know the law of God but Jesus clearly spoke against them because of their inability to perceive God’s true will. If we are going to walk in the character of Christ, it is essential that we receive the Holy Spirit and meditate on the Word of God. The Holy Spirit will reveal the mind of God as we meditate on His Word. This leads to maturity in our spiritual walk and helps our spirit man to grow and get stronger. The Word of God is like food to our spirit and prayer is like drinking water.
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
1 Peter 2:2-3 KJV
As we mentioned before, the unseen realm is understood by that which is seen in the physical realm. If you go a few days without food in your physical body, you will feel weak and unable to function at full capacity. The same is true of our spirits. We must continually feed and nurture our spirit with the word and with prayer unto God. In part 2, we will dig into the significance of the word and prayer to our inner man, including the spirit and soul, and how to properly steward our spiritual life to maximize our fruitfulness.
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