PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE WORD
IN RECEIVING FREEDOM FROM ANGER
Anger is an emotion. Emotions are part of the soul. There are three parts to man: spirit, soul and body.(See previous Blog) God created man to be led by his spirit which, before man's fall into sin, had direct communication with God and could stand in His presence. God is Spirit and communicates with man Spirit to spirit. He is holy and therefore, sin cannot come in His presence. Consequently, when Adam sinned, man was separated from God. Man's spirit became weaker and his soul became stronger, which blocked his ability to communicate with God. After Adam sinned, every man born of his sin-contaminated seed was subject to Satan's influence, had no ability to resist sin, and no longer desired to please God. Sinful man was now led by his flesh. He was no longer led by his spirit, which was led by God, but was led by his soul, doing what he reasoned was best (mind), wanted to do (will), and/or felt like doing (emotions). After the fall, man was concerned with only his own best interests and how to fulfill them.
It was never intended that man's primary interest would be “self”. However, once man became enslaved to sin, he became “selfish” or “soulish” (led by his mind, will and emotions). Man was bound. He had no ability to resist Satan's influence to sin, and his flesh demanded satisfaction. Since that time, Satan subjected every man to the same temptations faced by Eve: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life for which he was sentenced, under the law of sin and death, to die.
The hold of Satan is still on the soul of every man who has not received the freedom from enslavement of sin by and through the victory of Jesus over Satan at the Cross. It is only by the blood of Jesus that there is complete forgiveness and remission of sin. It is the blood that frees us from the enslavement of sin. This does not mean that man cannot sin anymore after receiving salvation, but where there is confession and true repentance, provision has been made in the scriptures for forgiveness and cleansing (1 John 1:7). We have the victory over sin, but Satan is still “going around seeking whom he may devour” and he will continue to do so until we use our God-given authority and faith to take hold of all that Jesus won for us and share it with those who are still in bondage to his wiles.
Once we understand the victory we have over sin and our authority over the powers of darkness, we can “stand stedfast in the faith”, resist them, and overcome Satan's strategies. We are to reign in life by Jesus Christ through His grace and righteousness. We can do this when we have the knowledge of how much out Father loves us, receive all that He provided for us through Jesus' finished work at Calvary, and actively and by the force of faith appropriate and apply the promises of God in our lives. This process is not likely to be complete in any of us while we are still here on earth, but our success is guaranteed by a strong relationship of love with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, through revelation of the Word, and through obedience to His command to love one another.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
APPLYING KINGDOM OF GOD PRINCIPLES IN OVERCOMING ANGER
According to Colossians 3:13 we have been delivered out of the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of God. We are still physically in the world, but we are new creations - our spirit has been regenerated and we no longer have a sin-nature. This is generally referred to as being “born-again”. We have been freed from the law of sin and death which rules over the kingdom of this world. When we are born -again, we receive the nature of God and God lives in us by His Spirit. We become citizens of the invisible Kingdom of God and are governed by the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. Everything that happens in our lives is to be handled in obedience to the principles of the Kingdom of God; no longer are we to be led by the ways of the kingdom of the world, the visible kingdom in which we live. These two kingdoms overlap, but are totally opposite.
Among Jesus' first instructions was the admonition to “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” In other words, He was telling us to that we are no longer to follow the ways of the kingdom of darkness over which Satan is the ruler but to live by principles of the Kingdom of God. That is, we are to handle every situation according to principles set forth in the Word of God – find out God's way of being and doing right and do them. Jesus demonstrated how we who live in His Kingdom are to live, applying Kingdom principles in all that He did while on the earth as a man. He did this as an example for us to follow.
There are numerous scriptures which reveal God's position concerning anger, many of which are in Proverbs, but prior to reviewing them, it is necessary that the matter of man's three-fold nature be discussed. Man is a spirit, which is eternal. It is the spirit of man that is regenerated (born-again) and becomes new when he gets saved. Man possesses a soul (1 Thes 5:23), and he lives in a body. The soul consists of the mind, will and emotions. Man's soul must be saved also, but that does not happen at the time of new birth. James 1:21, and Romans 12:2 tell us how to “save” the soul:
1) be a doer of the word,
2) receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save the soul, and
3) be transformed by the renewing of the mind. This is something each believer has to do for himself.
The natural man's mind has been trained through the world in its ways. Therefore, after a man is saved, his mind must be renewed to think in line with the principles of God's kingdom. When the mind is not renewed with the word of God, the believer, even though he is saved, continues to think like the world. He is carnal or body/sense ruled and can't hear from God because his mind takes sides with the body and rules over his spirit. He lives in the flesh, unable to overcome the dictates of his mind, will, emotions and flesh. God's plan is that man's spirit rule over the body through the "renewed" mind. The spirit can only keep the body and its lusts, his emotions, and his will under control when man's mind is renewed with the word and sides with his spirit. God's Spirit can then lead man by his spirit and transform him into the image of Christ. The mind is renewed through reading, study and meditation on God's Word, spending time in His Presence and being a doer of the word, a huge part of which is walking in love.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
According to Colossians 3:13 we have been delivered out of the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of God. We are still physically in the world, but we are new creations - our spirit has been regenerated and we no longer have a sin-nature. This is generally referred to as being “born-again”. We have been freed from the law of sin and death which rules over the kingdom of this world. When we are born -again, we receive the nature of God and God lives in us by His Spirit. We become citizens of the invisible Kingdom of God and are governed by the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. Everything that happens in our lives is to be handled in obedience to the principles of the Kingdom of God; no longer are we to be led by the ways of the kingdom of the world, the visible kingdom in which we live. These two kingdoms overlap, but are totally opposite.
Among Jesus' first instructions was the admonition to “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” In other words, He was telling us to that we are no longer to follow the ways of the kingdom of darkness over which Satan is the ruler but to live by principles of the Kingdom of God. That is, we are to handle every situation according to principles set forth in the Word of God – find out God's way of being and doing right and do them. Jesus demonstrated how we who live in His Kingdom are to live, applying Kingdom principles in all that He did while on the earth as a man. He did this as an example for us to follow.
There are numerous scriptures which reveal God's position concerning anger, many of which are in Proverbs, but prior to reviewing them, it is necessary that the matter of man's three-fold nature be discussed. Man is a spirit, which is eternal. It is the spirit of man that is regenerated (born-again) and becomes new when he gets saved. Man possesses a soul (1 Thes 5:23), and he lives in a body. The soul consists of the mind, will and emotions. Man's soul must be saved also, but that does not happen at the time of new birth. James 1:21, and Romans 12:2 tell us how to “save” the soul:
1) be a doer of the word,
2) receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save the soul, and
3) be transformed by the renewing of the mind. This is something each believer has to do for himself.
The natural man's mind has been trained through the world in its ways. Therefore, after a man is saved, his mind must be renewed to think in line with the principles of God's kingdom. When the mind is not renewed with the word of God, the believer, even though he is saved, continues to think like the world. He is carnal or body/sense ruled and can't hear from God because his mind takes sides with the body and rules over his spirit. He lives in the flesh, unable to overcome the dictates of his mind, will, emotions and flesh. God's plan is that man's spirit rule over the body through the "renewed" mind. The spirit can only keep the body and its lusts, his emotions, and his will under control when man's mind is renewed with the word and sides with his spirit. God's Spirit can then lead man by his spirit and transform him into the image of Christ. The mind is renewed through reading, study and meditation on God's Word, spending time in His Presence and being a doer of the word, a huge part of which is walking in love.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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