IT HELPS TO UNDERSTAND OURSELVES (3)
Now we come to the third part of what makes man that is his BODY. The Apostle Paul has quite a lot to say about our body, Our bodies can either be instruments of righteousness or instruments of unrighteousness. Rom. 6:12-13 tells us Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal BODY, that you should obey it in its lusts, and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves (your body) to God, as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
I often quote Rom.12:1 that we MUST CONTINUALLY PRESENT our bodies as living sacrifices to God. We must let the Holy Spirit invade our bodies with to take control of our drives and senses.
In our body we have THREE BASIC DRIVES..
Hunger, no one has to tell a baby it is feed time, it knows when it is hungry and will cry until it is fed.
Sex, when we come into puberty our sex drive automatically develops and we want to procreate.
Survival, again automatically, we want to live, and will do everything to make sure we survive.
These three areas MUST be invaded by the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him or they can get out of balance, also the evil one will sometimes attack these areas.
If we abuse our hunger drive, we can develop obesity and other health conditions, or we can supress the drive and develop diseases like anorexia nervosa.
If we abuse the sex drive, this can create so many problems. Again we must protect the mind, and NOT fantasise, or look at pornography, it will wreck our life. As we live the surrendered life, the Fruit of the Spirit which includes self control will develop in us and can help us live a disciplined pure life.
If we give into depression we can be tempted to consider taking our own life and develop suicidal tendencies.
WE MUST LET THE HOLY SPIRIT TAKE CONTROL OF THESE DRIVES OR WE CAN SHIPWRECK OUR LIVES.
We also have in our body 5 SENSES that are like windows that we use to relate to the environment around us.
The sense of hearing
The sensed of seeing
The sense of touching
The sense of tasting
The sense of smelling.
Do you remember the chorus from Sunday School days
Watch your eyes what they see
There’s a Father up above looking down in tender love
Watch your eyes what they see.
A second verse I think was “Watch your ears what they hear”.
Again, we must yield these senses to God and only use them for our good and His glory.
We don’t realise as children and young people the bad habits we can develop when we do not control (with the Lord’s help these senses.
Below is the picture I said I would add to this blog to help you understand yourself and how God has made you.
As a simple exercise, and as an expression of your heart, draw an arrow from the spirit, (Conscience/Intuition/Communion) into the soul (Mind/Emotions/Will) and pray Lord, I want you to be the Lord of my soul, but don’t stop there, draw another arrow, from the soul to the body, and pray Lord I yield my body to you, I want it to be an instrument of righteousness. This prayer needs to become a daily lifestyle, I guarantee on the basis of God’s Word if you do that, you will begin to move into a new level of relationship with the Lord, and a new level of victory, holiness and purity.
I trust this blog has helped you understand yourself and how God made you.
I mentioned in Facebook, that as we were driving in New Zealand last week, th as Margaret and I were sharing together she said something that really resonated with my heart, and in the next blog (tomorrow) I want to start talking about developing our spiritual senses now we are born again believers.
I do trust these 3 blogs have been of help and blessing to you, would you write and tell me if it has helped you. As I am not able to travel and minister as much, I believe God has given me this avenue of blogging as a ministry, I just need to know it is a blessing to people.