March 30.2013
THE HEART THE MIND AND THE SOUL PART II
The Mind The second component of the love of God is the mind. The mind is the
seat
of
our
intelligence,
thoughts, emotions, memory and senses. We come to know and experience the world around us through
our
brains
and
our
minds. It is the seat of wisdom, knowledge and understanding. The knowledge of evil is also found there. The Holy Spirit comes to the mind to reason with us and to convince us of the truth. “Howbeith when he, the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all truth..” St John 16:13.
KEY POINTS • The mind is called the high place • It is the battle ground in which we fight Satan • The Spirit of God talks to our minds and the spirit of the devil floods our minds with desires as well
The mind is the battle ground between good and evil. Our minds are open to sin. We cannot control everything that comes into our minds and we cannot prevent Satan from tempting us, but we can resist temptation. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.� Our minds absorb everything around us through our senses. It is the sights of our eyes and the lusts of our flesh that God warns us against. I John 2:15-16. There is sin all around us. We see it in people, on television, in music, in the media. It is neon colored lights promising us fun, and happiness. And everybody else is doing it and seems so happy and excited. The Spirit of God talks to our minds and reasons with us. The Spirit of the devil floods our minds and our senses and our emotions. Most people do not understand what is going on with them. They often think that the bombardment of feelings and desires that come into their minds, are desires that initiate from within them. Not
knowing that they originate from an alien force. Man must constantly choose what to accept and what to refuse. Peter exhorts us to strengthen our minds against the forces of the devil, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.� I Peter 1:13. What is in the heart is the primary thing that determines what someone will choose to do and what they will refuse. We have many weapons readily available to us to defend ourselves from the forces of darkness. Some may seem too simple or easy to put up much defense. The simple and the basic things have the greatest power against the swarms of evil spirits. These things are as simple as prayer, worshipping God, reading the bible and meditating on the law. The bible tells us to meditate one the law day and night. Joshua 1:8 Meditation is a way of focusing the mind and the thoughts. When you meditate on the Lord it strengthens your mind and also allows you to separate your thoughts from all of the things of the day to help you concentrate and hear that still small voice of
God. Paul tells us what to focus our thoughts on in Phillipians 4:6-9, “Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.” It takes just a small word from God to put to flight a legion of devils. “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him…” Mathew 4:10-11. We must be always prepared and watchful because Satan always returns. He will continue to fight against us until God stops him permanently. The Law of God is found in the mind. It is our greatest weapon. It is like the small smooth stone of David that entered into the head of Goliath. How powerful was that stone to kill a giant. God’s word is more powerful against
the giant that enters into our minds. We must be spiritually minded and not carnal minded. The carnal mind is concerned only with the things and the pleasures of the flesh. Romans 8:5-7. “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” We must change our minds and the things that we desire. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2. To conform means to be similar and in agreement in to, other words it means to be like everyone else. To transform means to change, to become like Christ. Baptism is a symbol of the purifying of the mind and the conscience, the transformed mind. The mind can, and must change. If the mind does not change and
becomes entrenched in sin and utterly corrupt it is call reprobate. What a perilous state we are in. We must always be prepared for a battle. But there is hope, a sure hope and a promise from God for salvation. We will one day be able to put our weapons down and to rest having won the victory and defeat of the devil. Hebrew 10:16-17, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.�
Please read About the full armor of God, Ephesians 4:10-18, How Jesus was tempted of the devil and resisted, Matthew 4:1-11, Paul’s teachings about the spiritual mind versus the carnal mind, Romans 8:1-39 59 verses
April 13.2013
THE HEART THE MIND AND THE SOUL PART III
The Heart the Mind and the Soul Part III
The Soul
The third component is the soul. What is the soul? The
KEY POINTS
soul is your living self. It is •The soul is our living your soul that performs either true self acts of righteousness or acts of sin. The soul is composed •There are two layers to the soul: the physical of two layers; the outer man or flesh and the inner man flesh, and the inner man. The soul is made alive by the spirit •The inner man is not of life that comes from God. destroyed by death but The life that is given to all flesh on this earth is common
goes to sleep
•We must renew our inner man daily by for a given set life span communing with the determined by the Father. The Holy spirit of God immortal Spirit of life also life. It is temporary, leant to us
comes from God and is everlasting. It is held in store for all of God’s children that are born on this earth at the time of deliverance. When God created Adam he formed him out of the dust of the earth. He created man in his own image. When he breathed into him the breath of life he became a living soul. He took a rib from Adam’s side and created the first woman, Eve. And Adam said, “This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” God warned Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of good and evil. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” But Adam and Eve disobeyed God. When they ate the poisonous fruit it contaminated their minds and their flesh. Their minds were now open to the voice of the devil, and the root of evil took hold in their flesh. Death and suffering came upon them and all of their descendants. The root of evil
became an inherited condition that affected all flesh born of man in every generation. God also punished woman by increasing her conception. But he did not increase the number of the sons of God. The number of righteous was set before the foundation of the earth. Most of those born would be children of the devil. Therefore sin multiplied greatly in the earth. Yet God also said that he would not lose one of his own. He promised to save his children. Though we die, if we die in Christ, then we will also live. He will preserve our soul until his coming.
The soul is our own true selves. The outer man perishes day by day until he dies, but the inner man is renewed every day and grows brighter to the all seeing eye of God. “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.� II Corinthians 4:16. At the death of the soul, the outer man decays, and the inner man that cannot be seen by the eyes of man, but is ever witnessed by the Father falls asleep, awaiting the resurrection. The soul is not destroyed
whether of saint or sinner until the second resurrection. At that time the children of the devil will be burned in the lake of fire, killing both soul and flesh. Within the flesh of man is the knowledge of sin. A law is written in the flesh that opposes point by point each of the laws of God. These deeds or motions of the flesh are sin. Romans 7:5, “For when we were in the flesh, the motion of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.” Christ brought salvation to us at his coming. He pointed the way to us. His death and resurrection freed us from the body of sin and death. He also taught us how to keep the law in perfection. He taught us that through the spirit, the inner man is renewed. We can mortify the deeds of the flesh by resisting temptation and we can walk in obedience and perfection. Colossians 3:5-7, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked
some time, when ye lived in them.� When we obey God and keep his commandments we are part of him, part of his body. He becomes the second Adam to us. We become spiritual, not carnal. We all become new in Christ. We do not want to always live in this flesh, suffering and dying, even though we walk with Christ. Our bodies groan for the adoption. We want to be changed and to be in the image of our heavenly father. In a moment and a twinkling of an eye at the last trump, we shall all be changed.
Summary In summary, we must love God with all of our heart, mind and soul and with all of our strength. Our heart is the seat of God, the center or core of a man. It is the place where our treasure or things most important to us is found. It is the place of the good conscience and the will to obey. The law of God is written in our hearts and the desire of the heart is acted out through the flesh. The mind is the battle
ground. God comes first to the mind to teach you of his ways. It is seat of the wisdom of God, the place that she comes to call you. Satan enters easily into the mind but if you put on the full armor of God you can resist him. The soul is a combination of the physical flesh and the inner man. The physical flesh has death and sin in it. But if you resist evil you will mortify the flesh and become a new person in Christ. The inner man grows stronger and brighter and is renewed every day. The outer man ages and eventually succumbs to death. For those of us who overcome at the time of Christ’s coming our flesh will be changed to the image of his flesh, and we will be forever with the Lord.
Please read Colossians 3:1-25, Philippians 3:13-21, I Corinthians 15:39-58