Please keep in mind that this and all the studies contained within this website are my own personal studies, they don't necessarily represent my Church's views or my Pastors'...Be blessed!
Skin, Sin, and Him. (A Study by: Richard P. Duffield)
Allow me to bring forth a concept, so simple
it is that many may not even recognize it. This is the relationship
between skin, sin, and Him. I'm certainly not trying to say that
He has any direct relationship with sin as He was, is, and
always will be sinless,
("God made Him who had no sin to be
sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of
God." 2 Corinthians 5:21 and "He committed no
sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth"
1 Peter 2:22 and "Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies
himself, just as He is pure." 1 John 3:3) but
we obviously do and we have a relationship with Him, hence the
title.
Read on, I pray this will stimulate you to think and hopefully
answer questions that concern your spiritual health. These truths
were made manifest to me recently while working on board a ship
in the waters offshore Campeche, Mexico.
I pray these words bring blessings into your life as they did
mine, may God be so merciful to open your spiritual ears and understanding
("Then He opened their understanding that they might comprehend
the Scriptures." Luke 24:45) and may your hearts be willing
to receive.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more
in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may
be able to discern what is best and may be pure and
blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness
that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:9-11
God bless you according to His riches in glory!
I was just trying to activate my ship's general alarm (You have to rotate a knob to the right.) It wasn't working, it turned out the battery was bad, but right then I was simply trying to see if there was a bad contact or something and I was manipulating the switch back and forth. A little bit of frustration set in as this was a real ship's fire drill and the general alarm bell wasn't sounding so naturally I was over zealous in my actions and there it was, I ripped the skin off my right index finger knuckle. No big deal, I shrugged it off and continued on with the drill, (a little pain, some slight bleeding) even if we had to use the ship's public address system and whistle to sound the alarm. Probably wouldn't have had thought twice about what happened except for the fact that the small wound would not heal. (Plus the fact that the Holy Spirit spoke to me through it!) I mean it seemed like it wouldn't because the very movement of my finger caused it to open every time it appeared to be healing. Of course whenever it seemed to be practically healed I would accidentally hit it and rip it open again. Some days later as it was actually healing, (after I had decided to take better care to protect it and even apply Neosporin cream on it) I sat and pondered the fact that our bodies are in fact machines that are no less than remarkable. I had to give glory to the Creator for having created us in such wonderful fashion. Think about it, He (Jehovah God) through His son Jesus created us in such a way that our bodies can actually heal themselves if they are working properly! A God inspired miracle that day after day goes all but unnoticed!
I'm not talking about a small thing here! (Not the wound I mean but what took place just
thereafter.) This finger had the skin ripped off, the wound
bled and blood was lost, surely foreign germs and contamination
entered into the sealed unit called my body. Then, my body sent
extra white blood cells to the specific area to fight any infection,
while the red blood cells coagulated to form a small barrier for
more blood not to be lost. The actual blood loss, however minimal,
was replaced by my body and the skin even before I actually finished
the fire drill was beginning the first steps in regenerating itself
to cover the breach in my body's protective outer layer. Mind
you, I'm neither a doctor nor trying to sound like one but these
simple truths are pretty much common knowledge and I'm trying
to make a point. The first point would be that God has already
created us (In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth Genesis 1:1) and (Then God said, "Let Us make
man in Our image, in Our likeness Genesis 1:26) with everything
we need to make it on this earth and in this life. These bodies
we occupy, however temporal they may be are fully capable of repairing
themselves when it is necessary. Of course there are things that
we can do to keep them working efficiently or to the opposite
extreme to hinder their efficiency. Some of the things we can
do to keep them working at their peak potential is to eat and
drink properly, we can also supplement our diets with additional
vitamins. The Bible in Genesis makes us to understand that when
God originally created man, back in the Garden of Eden, man's
body, just like man's spirit now was eternal. Sin entered when
man tasted of the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil (rebellion
against God's command to refrain from eating of it) and through
sin came sickness and death. (And the LORD God commanded
the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
Genesis 2:16, 17)
Having said that, let's get back to the story above. I've
found that throughout the Bible we can ascertain that the natural
always follows after the spiritual. Or better let me rephrase
that and say that the two (natural and spiritual) are closely
related albeit at odds with each other since the fall of man
through sin in the Garden. (The mind of sinful man is death,
but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; {Conflict!}
Romans 8:6 & For the sinful nature desires what is contrary
to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful
nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. Gal. 5:17)
Can you also see the similarity between the
healing of our flesh and body when we're injured and the real
possibility of our spirit healing itself when it is injured? What
I mean is just as the body is innately able to heal itself if
it is in the right physical condition isn't it just possible,
even probable that the spirit can do the same given it's in the
right spiritual condition? At this juncture absolutely giving
all credit and glory to our Lord Jesus for having designed both
entities (body and spirit) as such with inherent abilities
to heal themselves. Only You are worthy Lord Jesus!
Yes, I know, that's probably not the biggest revelation you've
ever had, nor the first time you've ever heard something of that
nature, (probably described a little differently) but let
us look at some practical ways to keep our spirit in great spiritual
shape.
Or just maybe it's so simple that you've overlooked it? Stay
with me now!
First of all notice that the body immediately began to
work in its efforts to healing the wound. I didn't have to consciously
think about it, it just started on it's own showing us that it
is predisposed to healing itself whenever it is necessary simply
because that's the way the Creator created it to function. There
were problems that caused the healing to be delayed, these problems
were of my own doing. While in it's injured state if I continued
on as usual the finger by its movement alone hindered the healing.
That not to mention when I accidentally struck it on something
which seemed to happen much too often. If the hand was not kept
clean, the finger could and would allow infection to set in because
of germs and what have you. Notice also that when I consciously
determined that care was needed, the healing began to take place
in an almost aggressive manner. When I mentally determined and
by my will kept the finger more immobilized and cleaner, when
I applied anti-biotic cream, it wasn't but a matter of hours before
I saw some noticeable improvement. Isn't it ironic that the body
is always at the ready to heal itself but it depends on us to
assist it, maybe a better way of saying it is get out of it's
way and it will care for itself. Quite possibly we can draw some
important conclusions from the finger lesson to apply in our spiritual
life to allow it to care for itself
Obviously, the single most important thing that a human can do
is return God to His rightful position in their lives. This simple
cry for forgiveness and confession of Jesus' Lordship in our lives
(That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord,"
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved. For it is with your heart that
you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that
you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9,10) and
("Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will
be saved." Romans 10:13) causes us to in fact
undo what Adam did on our behalf in the Garden. His act of rebellion
and open disobedience to Jehovah God caused sin to enter into
his bloodline which was then passed on down to all of mankind
as all men originated from the original Adam. By accepting what
Jesus did on the cross for us and our giving Him the Lordship
of our lives the Bible says we are not only forgiven but also
"grafted" into His royal bloodline.
(If some of the branches have been broken off, and you,
though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in
among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from
the olive root Romans 11:17) Now, if we're "grafted"
into His sinless bloodline, the sinful nature that we once had
is no longer in control in our lives! (For we know that our
old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might
be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--
because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Romans 6:6,7
and For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under
law, but under grace. Romans 6:14) Please read Romans 6:1
through 14! Having said that, the focus of what I'm trying to
say is that when we return to the "sinless" bloodline
through our faith in and receiving of Jesus, our spirit man is
placed back in a "healthy" position. He is no longer
hindered by the death that sin brings but is very much alive and
able to heal the spiritual wounds just as our body can heal it's
wounds if treated properly. All this says that we have a continual
part to play in our spiritual wholeness or health!
Lets make a few comparisons between the "proper
treatment" given the injured finger and how it can be applied
to spiritual injuries. First, in order for the body to heal quickly
and efficiently, it has to be properly nourished. If we do not
provide the body with the necessary nutrients for it to function
properly, the immune system will suffer and it's ability to heal
itself will diminish. Even so we must provide nourishment to our
"spirit man" which first and foremost is the reading
and digesting of God's word! Jesus replied to Satan when tempted,
"It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."
(Matt. 4:4) Whereas He was quoting the Old Testament scripture
of Deuteronomy 8:3 He was telling us how to feed our spirit man!
Jesus in John 23 three times instructs Peter to "feed His
sheep". Peter in his first epistle instructs in chapter 5
verse two to "feed the sheep". Paul in his epistle to
Timothy instructed, ("If you instruct the brethren in
these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished
in the words of faith and of the good doctrine, which you
have carefully followed." 1 Timothy 4:6)
Throughout the Old and New Testament it is clearly evident
that the way to nourish our spirit is to feed it the word of God!
Having fed the spirit with the word, now we must take care as
I did to the finger to determine by our wills to keep it "immobilized"
from further wounding itself and "clean" from new infections
until it has formed a healing cover over the breach! Can you
see the pattern of the spirit following after the natural here?
Or to the contrary what's not evident, quite possibly the natural
is in fact following after the spiritual as it functioned prior
to sin, the way it was created and designed to function! Keep
in mind that our natural body, when it was created, prior to sin's
contamination of it, was not at enmity with our spirit! At that
perfect point in time it was subservient to the spirit and acted
only as directed by the spirit. Certainly we've come a long way
since then and much has changed placing our body and spirit at
enmity with one another (For the flesh lusts against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to
one another Galatians 5:17) but at one time they lived
together in harmony as a Perfect Creator created them! Even as
I needed to apply an anti-biotic cream to the wounded area to
place an active barrier against further infection and aid the
wound in healing quicker, to our spirit we can apply prayers for
a barrier against further infection and to hasten the healing.
These prayers of course should be directed to our Heavenly Advocate,
the Lord Jesus (And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1 John 2:1) who having created us (In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
was with God in the beginning. but in these last days He has spoken
to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through
whom He made the universe. John 1:1-3, and "
but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He
appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made
the universe." Hebrews 1:2) knows best how to hasten
our spiritual healing. (or physical for that matter)
Consider now the fact that God has already done all that He
can do on our behalf at the cross of Calvary 2000 or so years
ago! ("It is finished" John 19:30) Such being
the case, we must now after returning to our original position
(pre-sin condition) through the blood of Jesus as mentioned above,
do our parts to appropriate what has been done for us! It is an
active position that we must assume in our walk with Jesus,
not a passive one! Just like our natural body which can and does
repair itself when functioning properly, our spiritual man is
empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit (" that the
Spirit of God dwells in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16, "your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you
have received from God?" 6:19) to effect repairs on our spirit when necessary.
At this point you might ask what exactly do
I mean by "spiritual wounds". Some such wounds would
be when our faith is tested in such an event as the loss of a
loved one, of difficult circumstances that enter into our life,
at times of spiritual dryness, with difficulties concerning our
church life, finances
The list is rather lengthy and I'm not really led to elaborate
more, one might and should exercise their own imagination, the
focus right now needs to be on spiritual health, not illness.
If and when we are walking in absolute spiritual health, we are
like the natural athlete, "in tune" with our spirits.
The Olympic 100 meter racer will have such absolute control over
his or her body that even the weight of their clothes matter and
they are able to sense anything that could hinder their performance.
Take a ballet dancer or karate expert, both through controlled
diet, vitamins, a rigid exercise program and training can control
their bodies to extremes almost unknown of with the average person.
(All these mentioned athletes are what I call "in tune"
with their bodies through discipline, training, and determination.)
We can, through controlled diet, (reading the word) vitamins,
(sermons, teachings) rigid exercise program (devoted
prayer and worship schedule in our lives) and training (being
under the authority of a mentor, Pastor, or spiritual elder)
reach a point in our spiritual walk where we are "in tune"
to every word God speaks to us and His perfect will for our lives
at all times.
Is it easy to arrive in such a spiritual state? No way!
Can it be done? Absolutely!
How do I know? Because if it can be done in
the natural, (and we are back in the original pre-sin spiritual
condition as God created us through being born again as previously
mentioned) it can be done by me! By you!
The Apostle Paul and the writer of Hebrews (also Paul?)
spoke of their spiritual walk as a race, as a contest
set before them.
(Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only
one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.
They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to
get a crown that will last forever. 1Cor. 9:24, 25)
(I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7)
(Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked
out for us. Hebrews 12:1)
Why describe a serious walk with God as a contest? As a race?
Isn't it beginning to make sense yet? Yes, we are in some respects
competing with Satan and his minions to complete God's call in
our life while on this Earth with as little hindrances as possible!
But that's really not the main issue here, the main issue must
be that we prepare our spirit man! Feed him, exercise him, and
train him to the very best of our God given ability to enable
us to achieve the most we can for God while on this place called
Earth. I'm not talking about works here, don't start thinking
that about what I'm saying, what I'm saying is being at our
best to give our "Utmost for His Highness" to put
it as the late Oswald Chambers did.
If we are not in optimal spiritual shape or conditioning, we can
and do miss many things that God speaks to us! Remember that the
world and all that is in it battles for our affections! (It
teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly
passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives
in this present age, Titus 2:12 and " he does not live the
rest of his earthly life for evil worldly desires,
but rather for the will of God." 1 Timothy 4:2) The battle
is real, the battle is heavily contested!
If we're not taking ground, we're losing it!
Satan uses virtually everything that enters our eyes and ears
to distract us from that "still, small voice" ("Be
still and know that I am God" Psalms 46:10) of God! Like
the well conditioned athlete with his body, we need to be able
to be completely "in tune" with our spirit man and compete
at our highest possible level! Like the gymnast who maneuvers
the balance beam, his or her feet and all their senses are extremely
sensitive to the slightest touch of that small narrow beam. They
are in complete control of their bodies to the best of their ability
and training. That's how we should seek after being! Before
we can even dream of such a state of spiritual wellness we need
to realize that an Olympic gymnast spends at least 4 to as much
as 6 hours a day training and exercising. Some spend even more
time! For what? To attain their best possible state of physical
conditioning! How many of us can testify that we spend even a
fraction of that time training, exercising with God's word? Think
about it!
Am I saying that we could or should devote
so much time to our spiritual training?
Not at all, I mean, think about it, not everyone is or wants to
be an Olympic class athlete and it stands to reason that the same
is most likely true of the spiritual (Not written in stone
mind you! Don't place "lids" on your calling!)
Not many are so called but it behooves us to keep as
"spiritually fit" as we possibly can just as we should
keep as physically fit as we can too. (For physical training
is of some value, but godliness (spiritual training) has
value for all things, holding promise for both the present life
and the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:8) If we are in a really
poor state of physical conditioning, we increase our chances of
suffering heart attacks, strokes, other illnesses that can lead
to our mortal death. Just as important is to realize that
by being out of spiritual shape we can increase our odds of having
major spiritual illnesses! In fact, if the apparent law of physical
and spiritual interrelation holds true to the extremes, it would
seem to indicate that if we are in such a bad condition spiritually
as to reap the worst case scenario (such as when people through
extreme poor physical conditioning die by massive heart attack
in the physical) we could possibly lose our spiritual life
as well.
Did I just say we could lose our eternal salvation? Personally
I have problems with believing (Baptist teaching I've had,
I didn't say I believe it's not possible!) that treatise
but it is best that each of us through the enlightenment of the
Holy Spirit draw our own conclusions from the following passages:
(It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened,
who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy
Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the
powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to
be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are
crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to
public disgrace. Hebrews 6: 4-6) and (do not boast over
those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the
root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches
were broken off so that I could be grafted in." Granted.
But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by
faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare
the natural branches, He will not spare you either. Consider
therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those
who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue
in His kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
Romans 11:18 22) and again (But now He has reconciled
you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy
in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- if
you continue in your faith, established and firm,
not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. Colossians
1:22,23)
He said: "if they fall away" &
"provided that you continue" & "if you continue"!
Believe me, I'm not trying to say that you will lose your salvation,
that's an issue as far as I'm concerned that only God or God through
your Pastor has the right to consul you on but what I am saying
is that the implied warning is clearly evident!
We have no real choice in the matter, WE MUST KEEP SPIRITUALLY
FIT!
This is an area we cannot afford to play around with!
Let's bring this all home! Do you have areas in your spirit man that are wounded?
Is there sickness lurking in your spiritual life? Has something
effected your spiritual walk and no matter how much time passes,
it doesn't seem to go away or you just can't seem to return to
where you once were? Do you know that there is a place in your
walk with Christ that the Lord wants you to be at and you simply
cannot get there no matter how hard you try? Do you simply feel
dry, and long to feel the hunger you once felt for your Lord?
You know what, you probably aren't alone if you agree to one or
more of the above queries, actually you're probably standing in
good company! Lets look at what steps we need to take to gain
victory over the spiritual wounds and or sicknesses in our lives.
First things first, instead of concentrating on the mechanics
of what caused the illness, lets focus on returning our spirit
man to its best possible condition to assist its inherent abilities
to heal itself. Focus!
What is the best way to "power work-out" our spirit
man? Prayer and fasting!
Step one should begin immediately with a determination
to fast, pray, and study God's word until we sense a breakthrough
(however small) in our spirit man not placing a limit on how long
it will take. Having begun as such, we need to keep a regular
schedule of fasting but also we must determine by our wills to
read and study God's word daily! (Our time may not allow
for marathons, it might be a small portion that doesn't seem significant
at first, but we must begin with something!) Remember,
even the world's strongest weightlifters had to begin with small
weights! And together with the outside possibility that you weren't
called to be a world class spiritual heavyweight, you must decide
what you can and will do and do that, bearing in
mind that it will take prayers and answers to prayers to make
your final decision! (Don't rush into the decision, wait on
God and pray and study His word until you are quite certain of
His answer and your decision!) Don't
place limits, high or low, just be obedient to what He speaks
to you!
We can always build onto anything once we've started! Starting
is all important! Secondly, we are lacking these days for
proper vitamins due to our harvest methods, cooking habits, etc.
and as such we might find in our private study that we come up
lacking as well! Knowing that, we must make it a priority to avail
ourselves to as much high quality biblical teaching as we can
endure. Making it to all available services when the word is being
taught is a beginning and the use of good books and tapes can
benefit greatly in addition! Like athletes who are in training,
(they do away with unneeded snacks, sweets, harmful chemicals)
we should also do away with as much as possible the ingesting
of the world's secular music and television broadcasts! It is
in fact poisoning our spiritual man and bogging him down with
its impurities! (Don't you know that you yourselves are
God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16 and Do you not know that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you
have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought
at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20)
Answer me this, if we know that God is holy,
("I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be
holy, because I am holy. I am the LORD who brought you
up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I
am holy." Leviticus 11:44, 45 and "but He
who called you is holy, you also be holy in your conduct, because
it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
1st Peter 1:15,16) as I've just quoted scripture to demonstrate
and the various other passages throughout the Old and New Testament
that say the same, and He lives within our bodies by His Holy
Spirit as also shown above, don't you think that the trash that
we ingest on a daily basis from secular media sickens Him? Isn't
it possible that it acts the same way that ingested poison or
excessive sweets or chemicals would act to the athlete? The higher
our training, the more it will hurt us! To a poorly trained athlete
a little sugar won't noticeably harm them but to a highly trained
and world class athlete it could cause serious sickness if taken
at the wrong time. It is generally agreed that the karate great
Bruce Lee died from an acute reaction to headache medicine! (Aspirin
or Tylenol®) His body reacted to the foreign chemicals
just like it was rat poison or snake venom! See this with spiritual
eyes and realize that the poison we ingest each day via music
and television is doing at least two things. One, it is building
up our resistance to same, or better stated, our tolerance. Two,
its building up much like toxins do in our bodies or bad cholesterol
and can one day cause our physical if not spiritual deaths! Like
toxins build up in areas and cause cancer, like cholesterol builds
up and clogs our flow of blood to the heart causing stroke and
heart attacks, so does the sin we allow to build up within us
through the things we take in with our eyes and ears!
Heed this warning brothers and sisters, I'm talking to
you! And to myself as well!
Having done the aforementioned steps we can
trust God and the Holy Spirit of God who dwells within us to help
our spiritual immune system to complete its work of fighting infection,
stopping any bleeding, and regenerating spiritual "skin"
to close any breaches we might have within the sealed unit we
call our spirit man!
Naturally, there quite possibly and most likely could be issues
of forgiveness and or repentance that at this point MUST
be taken care of immediately for the final healing of our spiritual
man to be realized! Please note here, if you've been holding unforgiveness
or bitterness in your heart against someone, you should not wait
for anything to forgive! See Jesus' admonition below, even before
you finish reading this paper (right now, put it down!)
go and make peace and or forgive that one! (or many) However,
even after having forgiven those you know of at present, after
doing the things mentioned above, check your heart (once your
spirit man is back in good, healthy form) and possibly you'll
find more...
Forgiveness: (And when you stand praying, if you hold
anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven
may forgive you your sins. Mark 11:25) Repentance:
(and If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1
John 1:9) These admonitions are quite clear and to the point
and cannot be dismissed or bypassed when seeking to achieve spiritual
wellness! There are no shortcuts here! No need for a long winded
dissertation here, simply forgive and repent! The Bible says it,
DO IT! Now!
Have I simply babbled on and over pounded a
subject that is too simple and never needed the clarification
I attempted to make above? I think not!
Brothers and sisters, the call is real! God in these end
days is calling each and everyone who is called by His name to
a higher standard of holiness. Things have been "status quo"
for far too long and just possibly we are in the grasps of a Laodicean
type of lukewarmness that is beginning to make our Lord nauseous.
Oh God, let it not be so But keep in mind that His admonition
in the following verse is to repent! (Those whom I love I rebuke
and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Revelations
3:19 ) Even if He is already at the point of describing us
as that Church (of Laodicea) in Revelations 3:14 22,
there is hope and there is time!
We must begin somewhere, and the strengthening of our spirit man,
the building up of our spiritual immune system is adamant in our
returning to our first love as He desires!
(Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears
my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him,
and he with me. Revelations 3:20) How can we expect to hear
Him knocking if we are so spiritually sick that our spiritual
ears are infected? It takes getting our spiritual immune system
working properly!
(To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me
on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on
his throne. Revelations 3:20)
How can we overcome when we are spiritually out of shape? We must
determine to get our spirit man well fed, well exercised, and
in the best condition he can be in!
It all begins with determination and exercising our will to
act!
Is God really talking to our church, our generation in the
above scriptures? I cannot say for sure but in the off chance
that He is, shouldn't we start now to do all that we can to help
Him to be pleased with us? To walk "in the spirit",
(Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of
the flesh. Galatians 5:16) a healthy spirit daily that
His will might always be done in our lives. Shouldn't we begin
now to raise our personal standard of holiness so that we will
not be ashamed when He appears?
In the verses just before He warns, "Behold, I am coming
quickly!" (Rev. 3:11)
It behooves us to take notice and act accordingly!
Raise your standard of holiness.
Exercise and get into optimal health your spirit man.
Get ready, get ready, get ready, He's coming!
It is my intention that this and the other studies I have made available here will help you in your walk with Jesus, please disregard anything that you feel is inappropriate or off the wall!
I pray that you will glean nuggets of wisdom from this study from among the chaff and apply them to your life!
In all you do be blessed of the Most High God!
In His service,
Richard P. Duffield
(As always, your comments, suggestions, and or criticisms are welcome! Feel free to e-mail me and let me know what you think!)