INTRODUCTION
The church of God has placed much emphasis on the development of the spirit and less emphasis on the power the human body carries. The past and the present century preachers has put the body in a deprive state in the quest of spiritual fulfilment. We have not for once look at why God gave us the body. All we say is that, the body is weak. No wonder people have being made to believe that if they can achieve spirituality, they will have to put their body under humiliation first. Many people, who desired spirituality, never learnt how to take care of the body all because they never saw the body as important.
I have held people say, because we are human beings, we are not perfect. I use to believe that until one day the Holy Spirit of God prompted me that it is a weak way of seeing the body. If you do not understand the body, you will end up thinking that God gave you your body to make you weak. The human body was not made to make us sinners: it was made for us to be stewards. There is a kind of revelation and assignment that can never be carried on without human bodies.
I disagree with people who say that anyone born of flesh and blood can not be perfect. My reason is that, perfection is the standard of God for man to live up to. So he called on Abram to walk before him and be perfect.
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly
Genesis 17: 1-2
God said to Abram that if you become perfect, I will make a covenant with you. And the covenant is that, I will multiply you exceedingly. The question now is, did God multiply Abram exceedingly? The answer is yes.
And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
Genesis 13:2
I know that God will never call on you to do something that he knows is not in you to do. If he did not create us to be perfect, he wouldn’t have called on Abram to be perfect in his walk before him. You must know that any thing you do with your life is bare before him and as such it must be perfect. God gave you your body not because he wanted to put limitations on you. Your body was given to you for a purpose. This is what I called the mystery of the body.
THE TRINITY OF MAN
According to science, the human body is made up of blood, muscles or flesh, water, hormones, and organs. All these parts of the body work together at the same time. When any of the parts break down, it leads to diseases and sickness. When my heart decides to stop functioning for a minute, I don’t know what will happen to me. I found out that, the reason why people collapse and go into coma is that, blood fails to circulate through the brain. There is much into the anatomy and constituent of the body all because of what it is capable of doing.
Man is made up of spirit, soul and body.
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly and 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
Man is a spirit, has a soul and lives in a body. This is what I called the trinity of man. Man is these three important parts mentioned in the text. Man is a spirit, man has a soul and lives in the body. You are not a person, you are a spirit but you have a personality. When your body dies it does not mean that you quit living.
THE SPIRIT
The spirit of a man is the part that can relate to God and the word of God. There is difference between the spirit of God and the spirit of man. The spirit of man is the breath that the Lord breathed in man in the Garden of Eden. It is the breath that will go to God after death. The Greek word for spirit is pnueuma it is equivalent to the Hebrew word ruach. It is used to mean the invisible force. The spirit is the part of a man that can know God. The spirit is the real man that carries the nature of God. The body and the soul do not carry the nature of God. We worship with our spirit. The day we became born again, the Lord gave us his spirit. You must understand that man was created and man was made. Man was created in the earthly realm by God in his image. Man was made by the hosts of heaven under the leadership of God in the image and likeness of them. So the difference between the two events is the likeness. In the earth realm, man was not created in the likeness of God; man was created in the image of God.
And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion…… so God created man in his own image.
Genesis 1:26-27
It is the likeness that denotes the nature. So any man without the spirit of God doesn’t have his nature. The spirit hears, feels, sees, talks, and moves. The spirit does not die. It is immortal as the nature of God. The spirit does not relate to time and seasons. The spirit of a man is the renewed nature. The part of a man that can undergo newness is the spirit.
THE SOUL
The soul is the animating and vital principle in humans, credited with faculties of thought, action and emotion. Biblically the soul carries the meaning of an undying, material essence that continues in conscious existence after death. The soul is called the living being, life, self, person, desire, appetite, emotion, and passion.
The soul of a man is the part of him that controls his desires and sentiments. The Greek word for the soul is psuche and the Hebrew word for the soul is Nephesh which denotes the mind, heart. Young’s concordance defines both Nephesh and psuche as animal soul. It is also defined as a breathing creature, an animal; or abstractly, vitality.
The soul is the seat of all feelings; good or bad, emotions, and sentiments. The soul houses the mind of a man. God created us with a brain not a mind. It is the function of the brain to develop a mind set. No body was born with a mind, but the potential to develop mind is the work of the soul.
This is because; no one remembers any thing the day he was born
The soul is expressed through the faculty of the human sense which is the five senses of man: the sense of sight, taste, hearing, touch and smell. The soul is never bad in nature it only yields to the impulses the senses send to the body to develop. So if I send bad emotions through the sense of touch, to the body, it becomes a soul (life).
THE BODY
The body of a man is the physical component of man that can be seen and touched. The body is made up of cells, tissues, organs and organ systems. The body also contains hormones and other bodily fluids. All these intertwine in their functions. The body relates to the environment through the five senses. It is the body that shows the inner things of the soul and the spirit? When there is grieve in the soul, the body shows it through anger. The body is also the physical part of a man. The body is the house of the soul and spirit
The body was made with the dust of the earth. It will go back to the dust, after death. It is relevant on the earth due to its function. When the body dies, the spirit loses the power to manifest on earth
The three components of the body work together. This is what I call the trinity.
Now I want us to look at the mysteries of the body:
The Body Is The Connection Between The Spirit And The Soul
When we talk about the soul, we are referring to the part of the human being that controls the affections, emotions, feelings, lust, anger, joy, sorrows and satisfaction of man. These feelings are experienced when our bodies through the five senses taste, touch, see, hear and smell any thing in the environment we live in.
Whatever relates to the human body is what gives meaning to the sense. It latter becomes part of the body so much that turning away from it becomes difficult. People call it addiction.
The Body Is The Form Of Christ
Jesus came on the earth in the form of man. The bodily form of Christ is Jesus. Christ is the name of the man Jesus. Jesus was the embodiment of Christ. Christ was not known to the world. He was known as Jesus. It took divine revelation for Peter to know that he was Christ.
And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father which is in heaven.
Matthew 16:17
The man Jesus is the child that Mary born. And Christ is the spirit of God that was put in the body Jesus to operate on earth. That is why most of the times called himself the son of man. He identified himself as the son of man so that he can make use of his body that was given to him by birth. That is why he could feel the pains of beating. He was even afraid to die all because his spirit, Christ was willing to die but the body was weak. No wonder I said the cup should pass over him if God so will that it be. The body was afraid of beating and betray, but the spirit was ready to save mankind from iniquity.
On the cross of Calvary, Christ did not die, it was Jesus who died. Jesus released his spirit to go to the grave to take the keys of the world from the devil. So the Bible says he breath out; gave up the ghost.
And when had cried with a loud voice, he said father into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said that, he gave up the ghost
Luke 23:46
It was never said that he died. It was said that he gave up the ghost. According to the origin of the usage of the language he gave up the ghost, means that, he dismissed his spirit.
The mystery is that, the body of Christ is not present on earth; it was transformed after his resurrection. He took it to heaven. In place of his body, he appointed man to occupy till he comes. Luke 19:13. That is the reason why Jesus is the one who will come back to the earth and rapture man to eternal glory. It is also the reason why he has being given a name that is above every name. Now we are the body of Christ. That is why he is ready to heal your body so that he can be effective on earth. This is the mystery of the body. It is the temple of the spirit of God, Christ. That is why the bible says we are the body of Christ.
Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
1 Corinthians 12:27
How do we become the body of Christ? It is a mystery of the body. Without the human body or the instrumentality of man, the agenda of God for man can never be accomplished on earth. That is why God always look for men and women, who are not only interested in their life affairs, but want to seek the welfare of others. The search has continued until now. God is still in the business of searching for available individuals who are ready to put down their bodies for Christ.
Pastor Matthew said that, the most powerful thing about you is that you have a body. That is why God provides healing though it not for your spirit. You are good to earth than heaven. All the people of the old knew the essence of being on earth. So they did not want to die. All the heaven is full of spirits except earth that is mixture.
Jesus is the body and Christ is the spirit. The child was born but the son was given. The child was born by Marry, and the son was given by the spirit. Mary was the mother of Jesus not Christ. Jesus made Christ legal. That is why God was in the body of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:19.
There was a time where Christ had no power or authority on earth so he gave power and authority to man; those with body so that, through them he can affect the world. The reason why Satan wants to kill your body is that, he knows that he is defeated any time you arise in your nature as man.
I want to illustrate the place of man in the body of Christ.
The resurrected body of Christ has bones and flesh, may be it does not have blood because he used all to save us on the cross.
Your body is not yours, it is God’s so be careful about what you do with it.
The Body Gives One Legal Access To The Earth And All That Is In It
The earth did not just come by itself. It was created by God. He designed it to be inhabited by man, so de put in place things that will work for the good of man on earth. There is nothing on earth that has spiritual significance except the one man has made it so. There is nothing on earth that benefits God. This is because; he made it for man to dwell in it. The earth is the domain of man. No spirit being can control the earth. God can not control the earth without the instrumentality of man. One of the reasons why we spend millions of money to organise camp meetings, crusades, evangelism and other kingdom business is that, God wants to encounter man and the only means is when men creates the platform for him to reach out to humanity.
God could have opened the heavens and transport the whole earth into heaven, but he is not permitted by his word to intervene in the affairs of men. That is why God will not stop you when you are going to fornicate.
One day I asked God in my prayer that, God why did you bring Satan to the earth knowing very well that he is dangerous to live with. You could not stay with him in heaven, so why did you cast him down to the earth?
For some days God did not answer me. So I thought in my heart it is difficult for God to answer me. The one day as I was reading the book of Genesis chapter one verse twenty- six and twenty- seven, the Lord began to teach me that he never intended for man to suffer. I want us to look at the word from the bible:
And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion…… so God created man in his own image
Genesis 1:26-27
According to the text we have just read, you can see that man was made and man was created. The purpose of man’s creation was to have dominion; any thing more or less is an abuse. The meaning of the word dominion is ruler ship, or leadership. Then the lords ask me to look around me. As I looked round and tell him what I could see. I started calling the name of some of them, for a while, and then he interjected me with this question, what is the importance of all these things you have mentioned to me (GOD) or spirits? I could not answer a word; the he told me that the world was not created for the devil to inherit it. It was created to serve man and minister to his needs but man sold the world to the devil and the devil inhabited man’s body to dominate the earth. So the devil was cast down on t=earth in other to strip him off his powers and authority.
Your body is the only guarantee of your dominance on the earth so the body is not meant to be weak.
It is the body of a sinner that can never be good. I once read a text in the bible about a man who came to ask Jesus how he could be saved. Jesus asked him to go and obey the commandments. This man said I have followed this from my childhood. A man who is discipline can fulfil some parts of religious requirement. The man could put his body under control to obey the Ten Commandments every one else was suffering to obey.
If you do not have salvation for your self, and you really want the way out of the power of sin, I want you to say this prayer out of your mouth. As you say it, believe the words you say with your heart. The good news is that, you shall be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation
Romans 10:10
Now if you are ready you just open your eyes wide and read this prayer loud or let someone reads this prayer for you and say it out of your mouth after him.
LORD JESUS I ACCEPT TODAY THAT I AM A SINNER. I HAVE LIVED IN SIN FOR MANY YEARS. I CAN NO MORE LIVE FOR SIN AGAIN. SO COME INTO MY LIFE. DELIVER MY SPIRIT FROM DEATH AND GIVE ME LIFE AGAIN. I WILL SERVE YOU IF YOU DO THIS FOR ME.
I DENOUNCE ANY THING IN THE WORLD, WHICH DOES NOT GLORIFY YOUR NAME. FROM TODAY, I AM A CHILD OF GOD.
MY LIFE IS TRANSFORMED FOR BETTER. I AM A NEW CREATURE.
THE DEVIL HAS NO POWER OVER ME AGAIN.
THANK YOU JESUS FOR SAVING MY LIFE. AMEN!
If you prayed this prayer, you are saved. We will like to support you in prayers and counseling any time anywhere if you call, send us an e- mail or write us a letter through these addresses:
Tel: +233- 543658152 or +233- 201145678 or +233- 208398567
Impact International youth Ministry
P. O. BOX. 30
Berekum. B/A
Ghana West Africa
You are always welcome.
