It is difficult to overestimate the influence of culture on the way that a person approaches a subject. Western perspective is largely dominated by rational thought and the leading of the mind. Christians need to be careful that reliance on our minds doesn’t come at the expense of some of the most crucial truths of our faith. Consider the implications of the rarely quoted 1 Thessalonians 5:23 NASB95:
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Far more than a general encouragement, this scripture makes it clear that human beings are spirit beings. God created us with a spiritual component that is designed to interact with a spiritual world in everyday life. Look at some further scriptures that speak of this fact:
Hebrews 4:12 NASB95
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
1 Peter 5:8 NASB95
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Hebrews 11:3 NASB95
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
The passages above are only a small portion of what The Bible has to say about the implications of our spiritual world. Even with this evidence, it isn’t uncommon for believers in Europe and America to either compartmentalize the presence of spiritual things or ignore them all together. More times than I can count, I’ve seen examples of significant problems, with clear spiritual roots, dismissed as unexplainable mysteries. It would be convenient, for our “mind first” culture in The West, to be able to assess life’s problems with only external variables, but this isn’t the case! Whether we are comfortable with an unseen, spiritual realm or not, it is time to embrace it as a significant factor in our reality.
A final characteristic in God’s people
We have talked at length, from the beginning of this year (Click Here to read the opening word for the year), about how a self centered lifestyle empowers the devil to rob and steal from a person. Look at a familiar scripture to see a perspective that is the complete opposite of selfishness:
1 Peter 2:9-10 NASB95
But you are a CHOSEN RACE, A royal priesthood, A holy NATION, a PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; [10] for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.
The final indicator for fruitful Christian living is a group committed to being God’s own possession. This is another way of saying that our desires become subject to The Lord’s wishes and instructions. Look at Jesus during a tough time:
Luke 22:42 NASB95
saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
There is a real, non religious, conversation between Jesus and The Heavenly Father and it is more than acceptable to make your requests to God. But the key aspect is that Christ deferred to the will of God over his own desire. This is consistent with the teaching that often, even daily, we are taught to take up our cross on a daily basis in order to serve in His Kingdom (see Matt 16:24-26).
Notice that Jesus in Luke 22 was in the Garden of Gethsemene facing real world, real time pressures. We don’t often have time for an exhaustive Bible Study every time we need to make a decision in everyday life. Enter The Holy Spirit:
John 16:13-15 NASB95
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. [14] He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. [15] All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.
We can’t be God’s possession without an intimate, real time understanding of The Holy Spirit’s leadership in our lives. How many times in scripture do you see someone being diverted from their intended path or destination in order to accomplish something spiritually significant? Now think about how many times this has happened in your own life? To get to this place we have to move to a paradigm that says all decisions have a spiritual component.
The Holy Spirit isn’t subject to western logic and what is also described as the scientific method. Rational thought isn’t the enemy in and of itself, but because of the crushing, deceptive, cultural bias in The West toward leaning on our own understanding, we must be very careful not to make the natural mind into an idol. The anecdotal evidence presented in The Bible, where God directs decisions that contradict what is traditionally logical, is very pronounced. Being spirit led has always been the hallmark of people who are truly possessed by God. Those who are significantly used by Him will increasingly bear this mark!
