Hi everyone!
Before I tell you guys a story of mine on this blog I want to provide 3 verses that really ties in with what I have to say. They are:
"And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."- 1 Thessalonians 5:23
"For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace."- Romans 8:6
"For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart." -Hebrews 4:12
With these verses, I highlighted main words in the verses to show how man is of three parts. In the first verse it shows that we have a body, soul and spirit. The body is our physical self that includes our arms, legs, hands and etc. Our soul is our psychological self, it is who we are, it contains our mind (how we think), emotions (how we feel, love or hate) and will (the ability to choose, i.e.: this morning I chose to eat a biscuit over oatmeal). In summary, our soul is our personality (i.e.: for those of you who know me, I kind of have a goofy personality, I tend to do things that are odd and somewhat stand out. It's who I am and it is me expressing myself [my soul-life]). Along with our physical body and our psychological soul we have a spirit! What is the spirit you ask? The spirit is the part of us that is made to contain God. What we are made to contain God? Yes check out Romans 9:21. The Triune God Himself lives in us! In our spirit! When we set our mind on the spirit (Romans 8:6) we not only get life and peace but we get life and peace Himself (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Our spirit is the part of us that can contact God, fellowship with Him and worship Him truthfully (John 4:24). This is marvelous! Because He went on the cross to die for our sins, resurrected in three days, ascended to the heavens to now become the life-giving Spirit in us (1 Corinthians 15:45), we can be intimate with the Triune God Himself! Since you are all were faithful with me to stay this long, I will reward you all with a personal story of mine.
During the last week of September 2011, I was studying in an abandoned classroom at Cal State Northridge with three brothers in Christ of mine: Josh Herman, Jesus Hernandez (if you ever see his name in a blog again, it will be Jesus H., so that you wont get confused with our Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus H.) and Kenny. In this classroom, I was taking an online quiz for a Biomechanics class I was taking. I was super stressed taking this quiz because online quizzes made up a total of 15% of the total class grade and if i did bad on this quiz it would seriously lower my grade. The quiz only contained 5 questions but they were so hard. After looking at my notes and the book, I answered all the questions and pressed submit. I was devastated. I only got 1 out of 5 of the questions right. At the time I was so upset. I even let my emotions show physically and Josh H. even asked if I was alright. I responded that I was fine (but inwardly I wasn't). This day was originally a great day for me because I had finished reading the whole New Testament, but now may whole day turned into gloom as I failed that quiz.
At the end of our study session, Josh H. drew on the chalkboard I diagram of our body, soul and spirit, with our spirit containing the Triune God and then having Him spread to our soul and even to our body (Josh might have referenced 1 Thessalonians 5:23, but I don't remember). This illustration and Josh's sharing of Christ to us was good and it helped me turn my mind from my sad emotions to my spirit, but I was still kind of sad. After we were done studying, we all went into Josh's car and went to Del Taco's drive thru and ordered some food. After we got the food, Josh whipped out a Bible and shared with us Colossians 1:26-27 which states:
"The mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations but now has manifested to His saints; To whom 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"
After Josh H. shared this verse with us, we pray-read (using these verses as prayer) these verses. This really helped me turn to my spirit and helped me to enjoy the Lord. Just praying over these verses with other brothers turned me from gloom into joy! Getting the word of God into me during this time became the gladness and joy my heart that day (Jeremiah 15:16) and I felt as if I was saved from my emotions and my fallen flesh filled with death to my spirit which contains life and peace (Romans 8:6). Even though my soul was sad, my spirit was rejoicing. If we did not pray over these verses, I probably would have gone to bed feeling sorry for myself and probably would have had a tough time the next morning trying to fellowship and contact the Lord. I am glad God made us with three parts instead of just a body and soul. It is truly wonderful to pursue Christ not just by myself but with others (2 Timothy 2:22)! Anyways, thank you all for reading my blog as I will write another one very soon within the next few days. The next story is even better further proving man is of three parts but for now I got to go. Bye everyone!
-JP
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