Monday 29 May 2017

5: The Alignment of Body, Soul, Spirit



Take My Hand Inspirations

The Alignment of Body, Soul, Spirit

God is Trinity (1 John 5:7 NKJV): The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.  And He created us in His image—male and female (Genesis 1:27 NKJV).  Because we are made in the image and likeness of God, human beings are also three-fold: Spirit, Soul, and Body:

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be presented blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

To sanctify means “to cleanse”—to wash away any filth, contamination, dirt and to present you holy, glowing, full of light. The “whole” of you refers to your total being:

1) Your Body is the physical parts of you that you see, you bathe, you groom, you dress up for others to admire.  It is the “house” of your soul.

         2) Your Soul is what “drives” you to think, speak and act.  The soul sits at the steering wheel of your mind (or emotions) and moves you forward, or backward (in reverse), or to the left, or to the right. 

Who controls how the soul is “driven”? Well, your body (which is flesh) and your soul—your heart (or the centre of your mind/emotions) must decide about . . .

3) The Spirit you choose to live inside of you.  There are two kinds of spirits: the Holy Spirit and the spirit of darkness—the satanic spirit.  Your soul decides which spirit will control how you think, speak and act (behave).  And that spirit will also work with your body either to keep it sanctified, controlling its members and passions under Galatians 5:22-23 (Holy); or to plunder it into a world of carnal lust and evil Galatians 5:19-21 attachments (satanic).

That’s why this prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 is very critical to the believer in Jesus Christ and to anyone who is searching for PEACE.  Unless you understand the dynamic trio of which you are made up of, you cannot find that perfect peace you long for.  YOU ARE OUT OF ALIGNMENT.
 
That’s why the Bible emphatically tells us that You [God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit] will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind [soul] is stayed on You (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV).  The body must agree with the soul that it will allow the Holy Spirit of God to direct (“drive”) or to lead it—in perfect harmony, as One.  God is One.  Not until these three entities of who you are come together as one, will you experience the peace that brings your heart-mind—your soul—pure joy while on earth (John 14:27; Psalm 30:5).  And, when the physical body dies, that same joyful soul will enter blameless into the holy presence of Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen.


A Prayer For Perfect Alignment  of Body, Soul And Spirit

Dear Heavenly Father,

I thank you for my life and for Your Word to guide me as my life’s manual.  When I accepted You as my Lord and Saviour, I became a new creation.  My past sins were washed away.  You sanctified me and made me whole. Now I walk in the beautiful light of Christianity.  And yet, at times, I get tired and weary and worried.  Help me, Lord to keep my body, soul and spirit in alignment and in tune to Your holy directives for my life.  This old world wants to knock me out of the Christian race, and I’m holding on as best as I can to You, O Lord.  But now I realize that I must let go of the things that keep me far away from You.  Help me to keep my eyes from indulging in watching ungodly programs. Help my tongue to keep quiet and to move away from gossipers, whisperers, and those who blaspheme (misuse) Your name.  Help my hands and feet to stay out of business that has nothing to do with my relationship with you Jesus.  Lead me Lord and I will follow.  Amen.
 

© 2017 by Take My Hand Inspirations, a division of PepParadise Society Ltd.  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher.  The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

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Saturday 20 May 2017

4: What’s Wrong With You?



Take My Hand Inspirations
What’s Wrong With You?
You cry because you feel you’re not perfect.   You hide because you are afraid to show the real you because you think no one will accept you for who you really are.  You feel . . . rejected.  Please, dear one, get off your high horse and come down to earth.  The rest of us “ordinary” human beings are waiting to take your hands and bring you home. 

Home is where you are free to love and grow and fall and get up and fall again and get up again and grow and grow and grow. . . until you shine brilliantly on your own.  Have you forgotten Psalm 139:14, that [you] are fearfully and wonderfully made?  Grandma once told me: “God don’t make junk.  So you’ve got something precious inside you, because that’s all that God creates: precious things, unique things, wonderful things.  Just look around at all the beauty of nature.  Everywhere, beautiful!”

Psalm 139:14 actually gives glory to God: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Then what’s wrong with you?  Are you too black or too white?  Too rich or too poor?  Can’t sing well?  Weak in mathematics?  Is your head too big or too small?  How do you know what is imperfect in you?  And can you question God about how He formed you in your mother’s womb? (Job 40:2, 8).  Stop looking down on yourself and praise God for what He’s done in you.  You belittle God’s work in you when you find fault in yourself.  It saddens Him to know you don’t appreciate what gifts He’s given you.

Beware of comparing yourself with others.  One woman can sing so powerfully, you feel that the heavenly angels have come down to dance!  Another man is so financially strong, you’re amazed at his business acumen.  Good. Be o.k. with the strengths of others.  But don’t you see that they, too, admire your gift of hospitality, your ability to bring all different kinds of people together in perfect enriching social fellowship?   And, even in high school, you were chosen as “Most Likely to Succeed” because you drew classmates from all walks of life together with your inspiring personality.  Where others lack, you are strong; and where you lack, others are there to make you strong.  Give praise to God!  That’s the whole point of creation: each part of creation, including each one of us, is like a puzzle piece fixing itself in to complete the big universal picture.  Your strengths connect to my weaknesses (not imperfections) and my strengths connect to another’s weaknesses until we are all built up strong (all weaknesses blotted out), united in the universal picture entitled: the Harmony of Humanity.

Understanding this principle, where are the imperfections?  God knew that you could not be Him.  Only He is 100% perfect.  He is God.  Humanity is pure dust, clay formed by the hands of God.  But we are fearfully and wonderfully made because our Great Creator God put His likeness into each of us with His breath; and we became what He said is, “Good.”   

So there it is: There is nothing wrong with you.  You are packaged exactly the way God wanted.  Stop looking outside yourself at the “specialness” of others and celebrate what is uniquely fabulous about you.  What can you lose by sharing your great self?  A supportive smile, sincere appreciation, joy unspeakable and loving relationships?  Come on, dear one, celebrate you!

A Praise Song for Our Father, Our Creator
Taught to me by Grandma:

Thank you Lord, for loving me the way that you do, do , do.
Thank you Lord, for loving me the way that you do, do, do.
I’m gonna praise You with my song.
I’m gonna praise You all day long.
Thank you Lord, for loving me the way that you do, do , do.

Find illustration on the Netlink:  frank-morrison@fineartandyou1
 
Take My Hand Inspirations

Monday 15 May 2017

3: Fighting Fear – part one




Take My Hand Inspirations
Fighting Fear – part one

Fear is the absence of love? What?!!!  I fear having no money.  I fear dying early.  I fear relationships I care about suddenly lost or broken due to misunderstanding.  I fear for my children’s future.  I fear sickness.  I fear being shamed and disgraced.  I fear pain of every kind, but mostly the emotional kind.  I fear missing the rapture when Jesus comes.  Do I share any of these fears with you? What are your personal fears? Be honest with yourself as you take the time to write them down.   And look at them; ponder over these fears for a moment.  Now what do these things I fear have to do with lack of love?

1 John 4:18 tells us There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.  But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

If fear is the absence of love, then what is love and how does it cast out my fear?  O.k., let’s read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a.  We can list the characteristics of love: 1. Suffers long; 2. Is kind; 3. Does not envy; 4. Does not parade itself (does not make himself or herself look better than someone else); 5. Is not puffed up (thinking too highly of oneself: “I am perfect”; and looking lowly or down on the faults of others, e.g. arrogance); 6.  Does not behave rudely; 7.  Is not selfish (not thinking how his or her actions might affect others); 8.  Is not provoked (to overreact in anger); 9. Thinks no evil; 10. Does not rejoice in iniquity (wrong-doing); 11. Rejoices in the truth; 12. Bears (carries) all things; 13.  Believes all things (are going to work out for the good of those involved); 14.  Hopes all things (will get better); 15. Endures all things (as it pushes through to a positive end); and 16. Love never fails. (It’s not conditional, but agape).

Again, what do these things I fear have to do with lack of love; or not being made perfect in love?
When I fear having no money, I lack the hope (#14) that God will supply all my needs (Phil. 4:19).  When I fear dying early, I lack the endurance (#15) to do what is right to take care of my physical body, my emotional (soulful) body, and my spiritual body (all three of my being).  When I fear broken relationships, I lack the belief (#13) in humanity’s goodness despite of its weaknesses: no one is perfect, therefore, I become puffed up (#5) in seeking perfection when it is impossible and, later, fall into disappointment and despair because I cannot accept human weaknesses in myself and in others.  Wow!

When I fear for my children’s future, I lack belief (faith) (#13) that God is working everything out for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 6:28).  When I fear sickness, I lack positive thinking (#9).  I make sickness become a big evil thought in my mind which will surely manifest (become real) and terrible and ugly and unbearable; instead of looking at sickness as a challenge to overcome which will give glory to the power of Jesus’ stripes.  When I fear being shamed and disgraced (of course, publically), I lack trust in humanity to cover my offences (more like imperfections); and then I coil into my selfish shell (#7) overwhelmed resisting to come out because I don’t find myself perfect enough to live with others, thereby denying them and myself the best parts of me—the good things God put in me.

I fear pain of every kind because I hate long suffering (#1); but the pain comes to help me learn life’s lessons and to learn to be patient as God works on perfecting me into behaving how love would grow in and through that painful situation or doing what love would do to avoid the pain altogether.  So, why do I fear missing the rapture when Jesus comes?  I lack the understanding of how love never fails (#16) in that Jesus loved me so much, He died for me and is now my righteousness; and that, if He lives in me, I have the victory to overcome the world – my faith in Him (1 John 5:4).  When sin so rampantly surrounds me, I lack rejoicing in the truth (#11) that Jesus came to set me free from sin and shame.  I struggle to forgive myself of past sins and fear sinning now; and feel my imperfections will keep me out of heaven.  Really? Read 1 John 3 and 4.

Dear family, you see how my fears show a lack of love in my life?  It is a cataclysmic cycle of torment (self-inflicted punishment) for not accepting the fact that I am not perfect.  But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him (1 John 2:5a). . . .God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us (1 John 4:12c).

lease, drop the guise (or disguise), dear brother, dear sister.  If you are in such a cycle of torment from your own personal fears, there is only one way out: Forgive yourself, forgive the ones who caused you pain, and embrace the wonderful person God made in His own image and likeness: YOU.  Change your way of thinking about yourself and know that God did not make any mistakes when He created you.  No two people are exactly the same; and He has a special plan and purpose for your life.  Do not spend any more time wasting time in your doubts and fears.  Shake that old devil off.  (I did; and if I could do it, so can you.) He’s gripped you for too long holding you in your prison of fears.  YOU ARE A CHILD OF THE MOST HIGH GOD.  Begin (right now) loving yourself into a life of freedom.  And you shall know the Truth [about who you really are in Christ] and the truth shall make you free! (John 8:32).

A Fighting Fear Prayer
 
Dear Lord,

I am not perfect.  I have made so many mistakes.  I had sinned before I allowed you into my heart.  And you forgave me.  You cleansed me with your precious blood; and made me clean again and whole.  Satan is a liar for making me fear so many things, and viciously wicked for not allowing me to forgive myself by living in clouds of guilt for so many years.  Take His grip, his hold, off me, dear Lord.  I break every shackle, every stronghold, every lie I have ever told myself about myself and every lie anyone has ever said about me, in Jesus’ name.  I am not a victim.  I am a victor.  Victory became mine when you resurrected from the grave.  Victory became mine the moment I said, “Yes, Lord, yes.   You are my Savior and my Lord,” and shamed that old devil. 

I loose myself from all strongholds mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially and any other “- ly”.  I am saved by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus.  I am a new creation, the old me is dead, and this brand new sparkling me is now alive.  And from now on, I’m going walk, talk and act like a person who is alive in Christ.  No more fears; but only unconditional trust in the undeniable, irrevocable fact that You are working all things out for my good to give me and mine a beautiful future and a tangible hope. 

I love you, Lord.  You are my perfection.  You perfect me.  Your perfect love casts out all my fears.  I promise to study and meditate on your Words only and what You say about me.  I refuse to accept any negative, derogatory words of men and what “they” say about me.  I promise to show that I love myself by taking good care of me, so that I can share what’s godly in me for the benefit of others.  Where there is love there is no torment.  I thank you for taking me out of that dark and miserable place and setting me on your high road of love.  Help me to stay on that road, oh Lord: to love and to be loved. 

IN THE NAME OF …… JESUS!

All God’s children shout: Amen!!!!



© 2017 by Take My Hand Inspirations, a division of PepParadise Society Ltd.  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher.  The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.




Take My Hand Inspirations