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What do I do About my Body?

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NKJV) 24  Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25  And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26  Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27  But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

As we have looked at the rest God says is available to his people, we have seen that the key to this rest is to walk in the spirit (Galatians 5:16-18.)  In order to do this we must build up our spirit  through fellowship with The Lord, with prayer, praise and worship and developing an awareness by faith that we are as much a spirit being as a natural being.  God created us to be his representatives in the natural world. 

In God’s command concerning the two trees in the Garden of Eden, he told Adam that in the day he ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would die.  In Hebrew it comes out a little differently.  If Adam were to eat from the second tree God said, “In dying you shall surely die.”  The first death was not physical, it was spiritual.  The first death was the separation of man in the spirit from his creator.  The new birth described by Jesus in John 3 and Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 was the reversal of this condition. 

When a person comes to the understanding that he or she needs God and forgiveness for sin, and receives Jesus as the Lord and Savior of their life, their spirit is put back into relationship with God.  The death Adam and Eve died in the Garden of Eden is reversed.  Anyone who is in Christ is a “new creation.”  They have not been renovated in spirit.  The use of the word “creation” implies something new.  Something that did not exist before.  Although the King James Version uses “creature instead of creation, the Greek word carries the idea of both the act of creation and the product of that action.  The Amplified Bible gives a more complete rendering.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMP)  Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

Anyone who is born again is a “new creature altogether.”  As I have already stated in this space, the work of redemption in Christ is complete.  There is nothing more we need to do in spirit except grow, mature and be strengthened in the ways we have already discussed.  However, the born again human spirit has an intellect, emotions and will, which have grown under the influence of an ungodly world system.  This part of us, called the soul, has been influenced by family, culture, education, and experience.  At the time of the new birth it knows nothing of the spirit outside of whatever religious experience that individuals may have. 

Born again people also live in a physical body.  The body has been influenced since birth by the soul and by what it has been trained to do.  The body is purely physical.  It has needs and appetites that are primarily instinctual by nature.  Most of the needs and appetites of the body were put there as a part of the physical side of human creation.  The body is a marvelous machine capable of functioning for many, many years with no intervention whatsoever unless affected by injury, disease and, since the fall, the eventual effects of aging. 

It was designed to process food into energy and the building blocks of the body itself.  It expels waste, breathes air, is highly mobile, and is capable of amazing things with its hands.  The most important and beautiful thing of all is that it can produce more human beings like itself.  This capability was intended to produce children for God.  Before the fall, they would have been living spirit beings in physical bodies just as God had created Adam and, by extension, Eve.  After the fall Adam and Eve still created beings who were just like them, but now fallen and separated from God.  Even in this state, they could be returned to relationship with God through salvation in Christ.  Today we produce “potential children of God” when we bring a child into the earth.

The body is really neither good nor evil.  It is what it was designed to be by God and trained to be by what it experiences from birth to death.  The problem is not with the body but with the corruption that influences it.  It is important to understand that we will try to deal with the body in ways that will have no impact on it.  How can I deal with my body when it does not seem to want to do the things that my born-again spirit needs it to do.  In the Middle Ages, some thought they could beat it into submission with something called self-flagellation, a process where they would whip themselves.  This did not produce the desired result. 

We are too civilized for that.  We often try to use “willpower” to make it obey.  This usually fails and we end up feeling guilty and a failure.  We may try to deal with the body through law.  This does not usually come in the form of all the statutes of the Law of Moses.  Instead, we substitute religious traditions and denominational rules and rituals.  This will not free us from the unruly nature of a body trained by the world system and our own experiences.  How, then, can I deal with my body. 

The body will only change in the same way that it came to be in its current condition.  The body’s appetites and habits came about through training.  I trained my body to want certain things.  Before salvation, the training was not based on the Word of God but on what my soul wanted and needed.  Some things, such as food and drink were needs that are part of the creation of the body.  The soul needs many things like recreation.  Our bodies were trained in ways to do that.  Our bodies were trained in ways that we could work to accomplish tasks and earn a living.  When we come to full adulthood, the body has been trained in many things.  It tends to follow its training and is not easily moved away from what has become instinct.

One other thing we must be aware of about the body is that although it is neither good nor evil, it can take control under certain circumstances.  The body tends to like certain things.  Often in the areas that it needs to survive.  Unfortunately, it can develop an unhealthy, physical need we call addiction.  This can occur with anything the body develops an extreme taste for.  Food is a prime example.  We tend to downplay food addictions, but they can severely damage the body’s ability to fill the role God intended. 

We can also become addicted to things that produce pleasure.  Things like, sex, recreation, and relationships can become addictions.  Once an addiction develops, the body is in control.  It can override the soul and, if it is not born again or if it has not been sufficiently developed the spirit.  This may be because we are babies in Christ and have not had time to develop our spirit.  It may also be that we have never grown in Christ.  Our spirit is born again but it remains a baby in its abilities (Hebrews 5:12-14.)

The Bible calls addiction lust.  Although the English definitions usually apply this to sexuality, the third entry in Webster’s dictionary is a passionate or overmastering desire or craving.  The Greek is defined as a longing, especially for what is forbidden.  The body does not care that it is forbidden.  It only cares that it wants whatever it may be.  One of the most important teachings in the New Testament is that we must learn to overcome the lusts of the flesh.  The flesh can be seen as the agreement between the body and the soul.  Usually, it means the body has taken control. 

Once we are born again we must learn to walk with the spirit in control.  How can we deal with our bodies to bring them into submission to the spirit?  Paul tells us in today’s scripture.  If the flesh has trained them to behave the way they do now, we must retrain them to respond to the spirit.  Next time we will look at how that can be accomplished.

For Audio Messages Practical Wisdom from the Word of God or Bill Kiefer on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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What Must We Do to Walk in the Spirit

Hebrews 4:11 (NKJV)  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

We have been looking at Hebrews 4 where God tells us there is something called the rest that is available to the people of God.  What is the rest spoken of in this chapter?  I believe it is the rest of relationship with God in Christ.  The word translated rest in Hebrews 4:11 can mean abode.  I believe it is the rest we experience in a good home.  It is the place we can be who we really are.  It is the place where we are accepted and loved no matter what is happening in the world outside.  That is the nature of the rest available to us. 

In the tenth verse, it says that those who enter the rest cease from their own works as God did from his.  Earlier it speaks of the sabbath rest of God in creation.  The word translated rest in the tenth verse is the word translated sabbath in the Greek Old Testament.  It implies harmony.  In this type of rest, all of the elements of our being are working as they should, in the areas they should, and in the order established by God in creation.  I believe that this rest can also be called walking in the spirit as Paul wrote in Galatians 5. 

Galatians 5:16-18 (NKJV) 16  I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

We can see that if we walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.  Verse 18 says that if we are led by the spirit we are not under Law.  This means that we can live a life of overcoming the flesh without being under the constraints of the law of Moses.  What does it take to come to this place of rest called “walking in the spirit?” 

Of course, we first must be born again.  That is the thing that reunites us in spirit with God and reverses what happened in the Garden of Eden.  I believe 2 Corinthians 17-21 points to an accomplished work that God does in us when we receive Jesus.  According to this scripture, “Old things pass away and all things become new.”  The moment I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, that became reality to me.  Jesus called this being “born again.”  He says that if this does not happen to a person they cannot even see the kingdom of God let alone enter it.  Most people in the world are unaware that there is another reality where we can live in active relationship with God.  Once we are born again we know that is true.  In the spirit it is a reality.

However, very little changes outwardly or in our soul.  Whatever state our body was in before we were saved, it will be in after.  If you were bald before salvation you will be bald after.  If you were overweight or skinny before, nothing will change when you receive Jesus.  The change is inward not outward, but it is a real change.

The same can be said for our soul.  This part of us is made up of our intellect, our consciousness, our emotions and our will.  Although they can be impacted to a point, everything in that part of us does not necessarily become new.  Paul says in Romans 12:2 that we must renew our mind to be totally transformed or completely changed in all parts of our lives.  The mind is the seat of the soul.  So while the new birth is a complete and immediate change of our spirit and our relationship to God, it is not a complete change of our soul or body.  There are habits, weaknesses, and flawed thinking that change over time. 

To walk in the spirit means to walk with that part of us in control.  If my spirit, by the power and action of the Holy Spirit, is in control then the harmony implied by the Greek word for rest in Hebrews 4:10 will be the result.  With my spirit in control, my body will be able to overcome weakness and sin, my soul will begin to think according to the principles and ways we find in the Word of God and I will be in harmony and at home with my Father and my savior. 

Anyone who has been born again knows that this is neither an automatic nor easy process.  Hebrews 4:11 says we must be diligent or labor to enter this rest.  What is the work?  What must we be diligent to do?  We must be diligent in applying the power of the Word and the Spirit of God to bring our soul and body into line with the reality of the new birth in our spirit.  To be effective this process must begin with what we do with our spirit.

There is an illustration I like.  I have traveled a great deal in Africa.  I have seen lions fairly close up.  Of course, I was in the protection of a safari vehicle, but they are still awesome creatures.  If you were to put a lion and a dog, even a very big dog, into a cage and have them fight, which one would win?  There is no competition.  The lion would make quick work of the dog and might well eat it.  However, if you starve the lion to the point of weakness and feed the dog consistently and well, the result would be quite different.  The dog would win the fight.

At the time we are born again, we have been feeding our soul and our body continually.  Some of the food we have put into them has been good, but much of it has been bad.  The soul in particular is troublesome.  We may have been raised by a family who did not know God.  They trained us to think and live in a way that did not include him.  We have been educated by the world system that generally discounts God as a real factor in life.  Everything from the culture we live into the media we hear and see has been feeding our mind, our emotions, and our will with things that, at best, have nothing to do with God and, at worst, tell us that he does not exist.

When we are born again we know that he does exist.  We experience an encounter with him.  Yet much of life experience and training tends to reject the reality of what happened.  We are saved but we know little about the God we have come into relationship with.  We do not know his Word and we do not know his ways.  We may not see right and wrong in how the Bible defines it.  We have been conditioned to see life from the perspective of how we have always lived it.  This is often contrary to God’s ways, but we do not know that and the things we do know are just too strong to allow the spirit to be in control.

What must we do?  We must feed the spirit more than the flesh, which is the soul and body.  We must begin to feed upon the word of God.  We must give time to the things of the spirit through prayer, praise and worship, and meditation in the Word of God.  We must spend time in the presence of God and his people.  All these things will serve to feed the inner man.  The stronger the spirit becomes, the more that part of us will be able to control our decisions, our actions, and our lifestyle.  Here are some scriptures that point to what I am talking about

Colossians 3:1-2 (NKJV) 1  If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Mark 4:24 (AMP)  And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you—and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

These are just a few of the things that will point us in the right direction in terms of feeding our spirit.  The spirit is most important, but there are things we need to do in our flesh as well.  That is what we will look at next.

For Audio Messages Practical Wisdom from the Word of God or Bill Kiefer on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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“A Demonstration of the Spirit and Power of God” New Book by Bill Kiefer

I have released a new book. This is a study in the two things Paul did to break through for Jesus in the city of Corinth. Corinth was a very ungodly city full of immorality and ungodliness. They had no interest in the things of God. They certainly did not want to hear from a Jewish man who had embraced the new sect known as Christianity. Nevertheless, he did! Every generation since that time has been blessed by the letters he wrote to the church there.

His method was two-fold and is stated in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. He says that he determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul was the most educated man in the early church. He knew things that no one else did but when he came to Corinth, he set all that aside and concentrated on sharing the simple gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

In addition to this focus on the simplicity of the gospel, he also says he came in a demonstration of the spirit and power of God so that their faith would rest in the power of God not the wisdom of men. In this same letter we read about 9 types of manifestations of the spirit of God that he says are available to the church.

I believe we need the same focus in our world that Paul did in Corinth. That is the point of this book. It is a look at the gospel message and the gifts of the spirit taken out of the church building and into the world. Below is a link to the book.

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What Does it Mean to Walk in the Spirit Part 2

Philippians 1:21-24 (NKJV) 21  For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22  But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23  For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24  Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.

As we look at the parallel journeys of Israel from Egypt to Canaan and the believer from bondage in sin to true freedom and destiny, we see that both require the following of the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Hebrews 4 says that the goal of Israel’s journey was something called the “rest.” It indicates that Israel never fully entered that rest, but it is now available to the believer. 

Israel was to get there by the leading of the spirit, and so are we.  The rest is not a rest of inactivity.  It is a rest of relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  When we are flowing with the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, we are in perfect union and relationship with the Lord.  It is also a rest of the harmony of our being. 

According to Genesis 2:7, God formed man’s physical body out of the dust of the ground.  That means he formed it out of the substance of the physical creation.  Although the body was fully formed it had no life.  The organs were there, but they were not functioning.  It was not until God breathed into man that he became a living soul.  What did he breathe into man’s lifeless body?  I believe God breathed into man a being, an individual, who was made of the substance of his world, the world of the spirit.  At that point, the body began to live.  

All of the organs began to function including the brain.  This activated the soul, intellect, emotions and will.  What came into being at that point was the species man.  He was a physical being and part of the physical creation because he had a body made of that creation.  However, he was also a spirit being because the source of his life was not the physical world but the spiritual world.  To be what God needed him to be, he had to have all three parts.  Nevertheless, it is the spirit that gave him life and it is the spirit that God designed to be in control of his being.

Some other scriptures lead us to further understand the triune nature of man and what place the spirit holds in our being.  We have already looked at John 4:24 where Jesus says that God is a spirit.  Although many translations say God is “spirit”, when this Greek word is used to describe an individual, like God himself or angels or demons, it is more accurate to use the article.  God is not just made out of spirit, he is a person with feelings and intellect.  He is a spirit or a person made of spirit instead of made of flesh.  Man is a person made of spirit and flesh.  He is, in that way, unique in God’s creation.

James 2:26 (NKJV)  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

This is an interesting statement.  You may say that God is speaking of faith here and that is, indeed, the context.  However, this statement is true beyond the context in which it appears.  Faith without works is dead.  That is Paul’s point, but he makes it by comparing it to something that he states as obviously true as a proof.  The body without the spirit is dead.  Therefore, we must assume that the life of man is the spirit, not the body.  When my spirit leaves my body, the body dies.  What about the spirit?

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NKJV) 6  So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7  For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8  We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

At the beginning of the chapter, Paul is talking about the fact that “we” are in an earthly house which he calls a tent that will be destroyed.  Who is the “we” here?  What is the earthly house or the tent?  The we is the spirit in James 2 and the earthly house or tent is the body.  Without the spirit, the body dies.  In verses 6-8 we see that Paul says he is confident that while he is at home in the body, he is absent from the Lord.  What is the source of this confidence?  It is his faith that something else is true.  When he is absent from the body, he will be present with the Lord!

Who or what is the “he” or (we) he is talking about?  Who will be absent from the body and present with the Lord?  Taking it all together, I believe we have to conclude that his spirit is the “he.”  That part of him can exist in the realm of the spirit with the Lord.  Why would this be true?  Because that part of him is spirit.  His body cannot live without his spirit because that is the source of human life.  His spirit cannot remain in the physical world if his body cannot sustain him.  It must return to the place from which it was made.  It must return to God’s realm of the spirit.  Philippians 1:23 illustrates this further.

Here Paul is considering the possibility of death.  He says for him, death is better than continuing to live in the body.  Yet he chooses to stay for the time being because those to whom he is writing need him.  Again we see that there is a him that would rather leave the body and be with Christ.  God is the source of what he is, that is the spirit created in the image and likeness of God.

The fall in the Garden of Eden fundamentally changed man.  When God was speaking to man concerning the tree of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, he told man that if he ate of that fruit, in the day he ate of it he would die.  The Hebrew comes out as in dying you will surely die.  What was it that died?  It was not Adam’s body since he lived physically for over 900 years.  The death that came on Adam was “spiritual death.”  This death was not the kind of death we think of when referring to natural things, like the body.  What happened to Adam’s spirit was not the cessation of existence but the corruption of its source. 

Man was designed to derive his life from a spirit being.  After the fall, that was corrupted.  Man was joined to another spirit.  His name was Satan.  Man’s spirit would return to the realm of the spirit when his body could no longer sustain him here, but it would not be in the presence of God the Father.  It would be in the presence of his new spiritual master, Satan.  His destiny would be tied to Satan’s destiny in a place called Hell, or the lake of fire.  This was never to be man’s future, but the corruption of sin changed what man was. 

The good news is that God always had a plan.  That plan was Jesus.  Jesus paid the price for man’s iniquity in the Garden.  It opened a way for man to come back into relationship with God the Father and change his future destiny.  Any who would believe on his sacrifice and receive his Lordship over their life would be made alive again.  They would be “born again” in the words of Jesus to Nicodemus.  In 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Paul reveals what this means.  Man becomes a new creation.  He is something that never existed as far as his own life is concerned.  The last time it existed was in the Garden of Eden at creation. 

Paul says old things have passed away and all things have become new.  He says in verse 21 that this person has been made the righteousness of God in Christ.  That means he has been put back into the relationship with God that was originally intended, not by any work of his own but by the grace of God.  Where does this happen?  What part is born again?  The body does not change at all.  The soul, intellect, emotions and will may change some but not fully by any means.  What does change is the spirit of man.  He is put right with God and is once again what God wanted in the garden.  He is a spirit being in a physical body joined to the creator in relationship.  That is his position.  That is what he is at his core.  It is not necessarily how he will live.  Something must change in the other two parts, the soul and the body, before he will walk in the fullness of the new birth.  (More next time.)

For Audio Messages Practical Wisdom from the Word of God or Bill Kiefer on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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What Does it Mean to Walk in the Spirit

Galatians 5:16-18 (NKJV) 16  I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

In our study of the journey of Israel from bondage to destiny, we have been looking at the importance of the leading of the Spirit of God in the process.  They followed a pillar of fire and cloud through the wilderness to the promised land.  We must follow the indwelling Holy Spirit if we are to move from the bondage of sin to the fullness of destiny.  Hebrews 4 calls Israel’s entry into Canaan as a place of rest, yet it also says they never fully entered into “that rest.”  In this chapter it tells us that the rest God intended for Israel is still available and that someone will enter into it.  The rest of God is for us.

We have come to understand the rest as a place of relationship with God.  We have also found that it is a place of harmony, first in our relationship with the Lord but also in the flowing together of all aspects of our being in the order in which God originally intended man to live.  I think this quote concerning the definition of the Greek word used for rest or sabbath I have already quoted from Vines Expository Dictionary is very telling.  It is worth quoting again.

Christ’s “rest” is not a “rest” from work, but in work, “not the rest of inactivity but of the harmonious working of all the faculties and affections, of will, heart, imagination, conscience, because each has found in God the ideal sphere for its satisfaction and development.”

Although God will give us time of physical, emotional and spiritual rest, the rest we are talking about is a lifestyle of rest that is meant to extend to every aspect of living.  We live in a world that is so full of stress that many people get sick and even die from living in it continuously.  That was never what God intended.  How can we find a life that is not filled with this inward and outward pressure?  Today’s scripture gives us an important insight.  “If we walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.”  Looking at the context of Galatians, we see that he is talking about the stress between the brethren.  However, as we continue on to look at the two lists in this chapter, we can see that he is talking about much more. 

If we are led by the Spirit, we are not under that law.  We will not fulfill the lusts that he describes as the “works of the Law.”  He goes on to list the “fruit of the Spirit.”  As we examine this list we find many things that are descriptive of rest and peace.  The Key is in the first statement.  If we walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the works of the law and we will naturally produce the fruit of the spirit.

So in Paul’s statement we see the way we can stop fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and still not be functioning as under the law.  We must walk in the spirit.  What is the spirit we must walk in?  There is something Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14 that we need to see.  It is particularly clear in the Amplified Bible.

1 Corinthians 14:14 (AMP)  For if I pray in an [unknown] tongue, my spirit [by the Holy Spirit within me] prays, but my mind is unproductive [it bears no fruit and helps nobody].

Here Paul is talking about praying in tongues.  The amplified says that when Paul prayed in tongues, Paul’s spirit by the Holy Spirit within him is praying.  Paul’s spirit is praying even though it is heard from his physical mouth.  Nevertheless, the words are given by the Holy Spirit of God.  How does this relate to Galatians 5?  When he tells us to walk in the spirit, I believe it is the same dynamic we see in 1 Corinthians 14.  He is walking, directed and controlled by his spirit, as influenced and guided by the Holy Spirit. 

This brings us to an important point we must understand.  What is man?  God created man in his image and likeness and then gave him dominion over the creation.  I ended my last post pointing out that God is described in the Bible as Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  The same Bible makes it very clear that there is only one God.  How can both be true.  I will leave that debate to others, but it is true because the Bible says it is. 

Since man was created in the image and likeness of God, just as God is a three fold single being, so is man.  Man is one being, but he is a spirit, has a soul and lives in a body.  How this creation occurred is highlighted in Genesis chapter 2. 

Genesis 2:7 (AMP)  Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being.

I have again quoted from the Amplified Bible because I think it makes it more clear.  The word translated breath means a puff like breathing out.  However, it also means “inspiration” and can mean a “divine inspiration or intellect.”  Hence the Amplified Bible’s use of the phrase  breath or spirit of life.  It is clear to me that God did not “resuscitate” man by breathing into him.  He put something into the body that had been formed from the dust of the ground. 

In John 4:24, Jesus tells the woman at the well that God is a Spirit.  Some translate this as God is spirit.  Spirit is the nature of what God is.  Yet he is more than just spirit.  He is a being.  He has a mind, awareness and individuality.  Therefore, it is more accurate to say that God is a spirit.  There are other spirit beings.  There are angels.  God created them and they are made of what we might call spirit but they are also individuals.  Demons are spirits.  They are fallen angels who also have consciousness and individuality.  There is another being that is made from the same thing, spirit, that God is made from.  That being is Man or Mankind.

Man’s body became a living soul.  The Hebrew word is naphash; properly a breathing creature.  The body God “formed” was complete.  It had a heart, lungs and a brain.  When God breathed into him “divine inspiration and intellect” he became a breathing creature.  The heart began beating, the lungs began breathing and the brain began thinking.  Man became a “breathing creature” when God place the individual, who was a spirit being, into what he had formed.  At that point a completely unique creation came into being. 

Man’s life did not flow from the natural part of him.  His life flowed from what God placed within him.  He is alive from the inside out.  That was God’s original plan.  His soul, emotions, will and intellect, were defined by his spirit.  His body was created to be the dwelling place for this new kind of being.  It was an important part.  Without it man could not be what God intended him to be.  His body made him part of the physical creation that God made to be a home for the child he created.  It was man, not in terms of gender but of species, to whom God gave dominion over creation.  Therefore to be truly man in the created world he must be all three.  Man is spirit, soul and body.

I want to point out something.  Man was not created childlike, stupid or uneducated.  One of the meanings of the word translated “breath” was divine intellect.  He was created with an intellect capable of fellowshipping with and relating to God.  He did not need to learn anything else.  He simply needed to learn more and more about the Father who created him.  The intellect that we see in humanity today was born of the fall.  It was not how God intended man to learn. 

The fall in the Garden of Eden changed everything.  Next time we will look at how, and also what resulted.  In the mean time remember, none of what happened in the fall of man was a surprise to God.  He already had the plan to fix what went wrong.  That plan was Jesus!

For Audio Messages Practical Wisdom from the Word of God or Bill Kiefer on Spotify or whereever you listen to podcasts.

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The Point of our Christian Labor

Hebrews 4:11 (NKJV)  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

Galatians 5:16 (NKJV)  I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

We have been looking at the journey of Israel from bondage in Egypt to destiny in Canaan.  We found that for Israel to get to where God wanted them to be they had to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in the form of the pillar of fire and cloud.  God led them off the path of the natural route to Canaan by taking them into the wilderness.  The only way out was for them to follow where God led.  This was often uncomfortable for them, so much so that a whole generation died because they could not believe that God was taking them to the place that was to be the fulfillment of his call on their life.

For us, we have found that God still desires his people to follow his Spirit into a life that is not according to the  natural flow of things.  In Hebrews 4, he calls this the rest.  The rest spoken of here is first of all a rest of relationship.  It is the rest we feel when we are able to abide in a place.  That is the description of home.  In the case of the biblical rest it is the relationship between God and man in Christ.  It is also the rest of harmony.  It is the place where all parts of our being are flowing together in balance; our spirit, our soul and our body fulfilling the role God created each to fill.  It is also the harmony between God and man.  Paul simply calls it walking in the spirit.

I want to focus on two Ideas today.  The first is from Hebrews 4:11.  The writer says that we must be diligent to enter the rest.  The KJV says we must “labor to enter the rest.  Both ideas are relevant.  We must be diligent.  Some synonyms are persistent, hardworking, industrious and thorough.  Labor means work or manual labor.  The picture is quite clear.  To enter the rest requires hard work.  To some, these may seem like opposite things.  Are we supposed to work hard or are we supposed to rest.  The truth is that we cannot have one without the other.

We understand this in natural things.  One of the biggest problems in our society today is the idea of entitlement.  Many seem to think that being born entitles them to what we may call the good life.  They feel they should have everything anybody else has.  If someone has more than they do, that person should be required to provide whatever they may want from what they have.  There is certainly a precedent in the Word of God for taking care of those who are less fortunate than we are. 

Acts 4:34-35 (NKJV) 34  Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35  and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

There are other places that admonish us to take care of those who have need.  That is certainly a part of Christian charity.  However, there are two things that I want to point out.  Paul speaks of taking care of the widows that may be among us and James says to visit widows and orphans, presumably to care for them.  It is important that we understand that, if we are blessed, we are to take care of those who are not.  That said, it does not say that we should provide them with everything. 

Paul also says in 2 Thessalonians that any who would not work should not eat.  God created man to be productive.  If someone cannot be productive or the flow of life has put them in a difficult place, we should help.  Nevertheless, if they refuse to work, they should not eat.  Work or diligence is something that we must apply if we want to come to the place of rest.  If we work correctly and are consistent in how we deal with the affairs of life, rest is available.  If we will not work we will struggle our whole life. 

One of the things that can make this difficult is if we do not work for the right reasons or if we do not understand what the point of our work really is.  Most of us labor to get by.  We go to a job we may like, tolerate or hate just to have enough money to make sure we can meet the necessities of life.  We do not think so much about the future because the pressure of today is so great.  When this is our life, we often feel we are working for nothing.  We go to work, come home and do it all again the next day.  Hopefully we have enough for an occasional vacation or some luxuries, but we can often feel that the whole thing is a trap we cannot escape  When this is the case, the work becomes a curse not a blessing.

That is in the natural.  However, as Christians we can often find ourselves in the same place.  We go to church, we pray, we study the Bible week after week and year after year.  We know we are supposed to serve in some way, but most do not know how.  Many Christians come to the place where they simply give up.  The pressures or the temptations of life begin to get in the way and we stop doing the “Christian things” we know we are supposed to do.  They just become chores and the temptation to not do them and focus on more “fun” things becomes impossible to resist.  Most of us have been there.

In natural life, we will labor faithfully when there is a pressing reason.  People work tirelessly in times of crisis.  Wars, natural disasters or just a worthwhile cause will energize us.  Sometimes a deadline for something that must be done or we just want to do will keep us working until we are fully spent.  We keep going until we accomplish what we want to see and then we find a rest that is almost as sweet as what we have accomplished. 

What is the Bible talking about when it says to be diligent or labor to enter the rest God has for us?  It is talking about understanding the point of all we must do in our Christian work.  Why go to church?  Why pray or study the Word?  Why should we give our time and money to minister to others?  What is the purpose?  What is the Goal?  It is not to get to some level of approval by God so that he will move on our behalf.  That was true the moment you received him as the Lord and savior of your life.  Actually it was true long before that.  He sent Jesus in the first place because “God so loved the world.  You and I are part of the world that he loved. 

The goal is that we might enter the rest God speaks of in Hebrews 4.  This rest is not about having enough money or what kind of things we possess.  It is about growing in our relationship with God.  It is about coming into a place of harmony in our being and in our relationship to the Lord.  It is about knowing we are right with him and he is present with us.  It is to come to the place where we are absolutely certain that “God is for us so who can be against us”  (Romans 8:31.) 

The second idea I want to start to approach today is in Galatians 5.  Verse16 makes a very clear and direct statement.  “Walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.”  What does this mean?  Man, like God, is a triune being.  God created us in his image and likeness (Genesis 1:26.)  The Bible speaks of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and implies that all three are God.  Yet there is only one God.  Man is one being but he is three aspects: Spirit, soul and body.

The spirit of man is the part that was born again.  It relates to spirit things and therefore God.  The soul relates to the intellectual realm and the body is designed to relate to the physical world.  If I can find a place where I am not controlled by my fleshly desires, worries or fears, I will have rest.  If I am living my life from the inside out with my spirit, by the presence and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, as the part that is in control, I will find rest.  If I understand that to be the point of my labor, than the labor becomes sweet and when the goal is reached anything is possible.  The question is how do we do that?

For Audio Messages Visit: https://anchor.fm/bill-kiefer or search Practical Wisdom from the Word of God or Bill Kiefer on Spotify or where you listen to podcasts.

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What is the Rest (Part 2)

Hebrews 4:11 (NKJV)  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

Galatians 5:16 (NKJV)  I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

As we follow Israel in their journey from Egyptian bondage to freedom and destiny in the promised land of Canaan, we have seen that to get there at all they had to be willing to follow the leading of the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire.  We find that for us to reach our “land of promises” and our destiny in God, we must follow two pillars as well. 

One is the direction that comes from the written Word of God and the other is the interaction of the believer with the indwelling Holy Spirit.  We do not have a physical manifestation of the guiding ministry of the Spirit like Israel did.  However, what we do  have is far more sure and powerful.  We have the Holy Spirit within that will guide us into both the truth of the Word and in life itself.

John 14:17 (NKJV)  the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

In the Old Testament it speaks of the Spirit of God being with people and upon people.  What Jesus tells us is that the church is going to have something new available to them.  The Holy Spirit shall be in us not just with us or upon us.  Since he is in us, we have his guiding hand available at all times and no matter where we may be. 

As we look at Hebrews 4 we find that Israel was supposed to enter something called the rest, but they never did.  Under Joshua they did enter the promised land, but they never fully entered the rest that God wanted for them.  They were supposed to occupy the land and the land itself was supposed to provide for them.  They would no longer need Manna from heaven or water from a Rock.  If they had obeyed God and driven out all the people that dwelt there, I do not believe they would have fallen to the point where they were taken into captivity.  However, since they allowed the influence of the world to bring compromise, Israels history is one of strife and struggle.  That was not what God wanted.

The good news is that someone is going to enter what God provided.  It is still available to those who will believe God.  The rest is the heritage of the Church of Jesus Christ, but many never enter fully into it.  They enter salvation, but there is so much more for us here on earth as well as eternity with God.  We can enter a rest that Israel never did.  The two questions we must answer are, “What is this rest?” and “How do we get there?”

We have seen that the nature of the rest is the ceasing from our own works as God did from his.  That means we do not try to do things in our own ability and that we make his work the priority of our lives (Matthew 633-34.)  We have also touched on Galatians 5 which highlights the difference between walking in the spirit and walking in the flesh.  I want to look a little more closely at this “rest” today.

First we need to look at what the word rest in Hebrews 4 means.  The specific Greek word in this verse means a reposing down or a putting to rest.  This word also means “abode.”  I think this is very important in understanding what this rest is.  The writer says it is the same as the rest God entered when he finished the work of creation.  Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 are tying this to what Israel was supposed to experience in the promised land.  In both cases the rest is a manifestation of a relationship.

Some commentators say that this is a type of the rest of heaven.  We labor here on earth so that we can rest in heaven.  Multiple commentators made statements that “rest is much sweeter when we have labored and are tired.”  That is true in the natural and a poetic statement, but let us look at the rest God entered into after creation.  Did he stop being God?  Was he no longer involved in the affairs of his children?  Did he stop doing miracles?  Even before the fall of man, did God somehow retire?  I do not believe he did.

When Israel came to the promised land, were they to stop working?  Initially they would live in houses they did not build and reap harvests they did not plant but what about the next year?  What about when the houses they had not built wore out.  Did they simply sit back and expect God to plant and build for them.  I do not believe they did.  They planted their fields as time went on.  They sowed the vines for the grapes and they built new houses when the old ones were no longer usable.  They also had to drive out the inhabitants of the land even after they crossed the Jordan river.  There was always more to be done, so what was the rest?

I believe there is one thing that defined the rest more than anything else in terms of man and God.  That is relationship.  God created the heavens and the earth.  He put everything in place and crowned his creation with the race of man, his children.  They he rested, but not from being God.  He rested from building the place of relationship.  The rest was living, working and interaction in that relationship once the creation of it was finished. 

Israel was to be the nation from which the messiah would come.  God delivered them from captivity and built them into a nation as they progressed through the wilderness.  In the wilderness they never stayed and one place.  They continued to wander until God had worked in them to the point that they could enter the promised land.  The idea was that once they were in the land they would come into relationship with God through the covenant and the law.  The law was not separate from grace, it was grace.  It Gave Israel things that they could do that would enable them to stay in relationship with God until the messiah came. 

Unfortunately in both cases relationship was disrupted and broken by sin.  In the Garden of Eden the nature of man changed and the relationship God intended was no longer possible.  In Canann, Israel simply refused to “walk in God’s ways, follow his commandments and heed his voice.”  Since this was the basis for the best relationship they could have without Christ, they never really enjoyed the fellowship of that relationship.  As a result they could not rest.

There is a related word that gives more insight into what this rest is.  It means a cessation or refreshing.  It was used of soldiers when there was a pause in battle.  However, Vines Expository Dictionary gives more information.  He says, “Christ’s “rest” is not a “rest” from work, but in work, “not the rest of inactivity but of the harmonious working of all the faculties and affections, of will, heart, imagination, conscience, because each has found in God the ideal sphere for its satisfaction and development.”

Putting these Ideas together we can say that the rest spoken of in Hebrews 4 is first of all a rest of relationship.  It is the rest we feel when we are able to abide in a place.  We see this in a healthy home.  It is good to travel, but there comes a time when we want to come home and “rest.”  In the case of the biblical rest it is the relationship between God and man in Christ. 

It is also the rest of harmony.  It is the place where all parts of our being are flowing together in balance; our spirit, our soul and our body fulfilling the role God created each to fill.  It is also the harmony between God and man.  Paul simply calls it walking in the spirit which is living our lives with the inner man in control and not the soul or the body.  We must labor to the point of entering that rest and then we will walk into the place of our destiny in God.

For Audio Messages Visit: https://anchor.fm/bill-kiefer or search Practical Wisdom from the Word of God or Bill Kiefer on Spotify or where you listen to podcasts.

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What is the Rest (Part 1)

Hebrews 4:9-11 (NKJV) 9  There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10  For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

As we have been looking at Israel’s journey from bondage in Egypt to destiny in Canaan, we have discovered that this is a type of the journey every believer takes in their Christian walk.  I also believe that it is very relevant in our day for the body of Christ as a whole.  Israel was living in a pivotal time in their history and I think we are as well.  Israel had to complete their journey to Canaan so that the Messiah could be born their.  We must come to our destiny as the Body of Christ so that the Messiah can continue to be preached in the world.

The first thing Israel was required to do as they started on this journey of learning was to learn to follow the leading of the Spirit of God as manifested in the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud.  This supernatural guide caused them to be where God wanted them to be, when he wanted and for as long as he wanted.  This guide led them all the way to Canaan.  Once there they were to exchange that kind of guidance and the miraculous provision for a land that would sustain.  In their case, God gave them a law to guide them into his will and his way.  However, Hebrews 4 indicates that Israel never entered into the fullness of what God had for them.  Hebrews calls it a rest.  In today’s scripture we find that this rest is still available to the people of God and that someone must enter it. 

This rest has been available for all in the church.  It is a main component of walking in our Godly destiny.  Many have entered it.  More born again believers have not entered the fullness of the rest than have.  Israel had to enter in to a certain level just to physically occupy the land.  However, that is not all there is to it.  Israel constantly failed to walk in God’s ways.  The law was a guide that they could never fully follow.  They were not born again as Jesus taught in John 3.  We on the other hand are.  We can enter into that which Israel could not.  Salvation gives us the ability to enter it but it is our choice whether we do. 

What is this rest?  In Israel’s case it was a place.  Israel was a physical nation called to a spiritual purpose.  We are a Spiritual people called to a spiritual purpose that will affect the physical world.  Our world needs that influence desperately.  We have already seen some aspects of what this rest is.  Verse 10 gives us an important insight.  Like God rested on the seventh day of creation, a characteristic of the rest available to you and me is that we must cease from our own works.  What does that mean.

I think it means two things.  First, we must stop trying to do God’s will in the natural alone.  We will never enter the rest God has for us as long as we depend on natural wisdom, natural means and natural abilities alone.  One of the reasons God had to remove Moses from Egypt and change his entire way of thinking was because he was so qualified in the natural.  All his natural qualifications were irrelevant when it came to leading Israel out of Egypt.  They were useless when what was needed were plagues, Passover and the parting of a sea.  We must understand that, although God will use our natural gifts and abilities, they are not enough for what is needed today.  We must come to a place where we cease from our own works.

Second, we must begin to understand that the priority of our lives must be his works as opposed to ours.  We must find out what he wants from us.  We must focus on his will and his ways not our own.  Paul said it this way.

Colossians 3:1-2 (NKJV) 1  If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

The original King James Bible says we should set our affections on things above.  Both words give us a clear picture of what we must do if we will “cease from our own works.”  We must allow the things of God to take a main place in our thinking and we must also focus our affections or desires on those things and not the earthly.  Only then will we cease from our own works.

When we try to do those two things with will power or just natural discipline we find very quickly that we will fail.  There must be something more at work.  We must enter the rest, but what is this rest and how do we get there?  I think we will find an answer in the life of Israel.  God led them to the land of rest with a supernatural guide or influence that they had to be willing to follow.  They could not move if this guide did not move.  If they tried, they would have gotten lost since they were not on the familiar, normal trade routes.  They had no choice once they began but to follow.

In our case it is both the same and different.  Once we are born again, we are in a world that must be navigated in a very different way.  We have a destiny in God.  There is a life for us that is far superior to anything the world can offer.  We must follow the guide God provides if we are going to navigate successfully through the obstacles that face us.  However, our guide is not physical.  There is no pillar of cloud or fire that will lead us to where we need to go.  What we have is what Jesus said he would give us.  Another comforter called the Spirit of Truth that will lead us into everything Jesus wants us to have (John 16:13.)  It is a helper and guide that is not outside of us but inside (1 John 2:27.)  It is the indwelling abiding presence of the Holy Spirit of God.

To me, Hebrews 4:11 is pivotal to how successful we will be in following that guide to the place of rest.  It says that we should labor to enter the rest so that no one will fall through disobedience.  That is and interesting statement.  How will following this inward guide keep us from failing because of disobedience.  The answer is that if we make entering this rest our priority, we simply will not disobey.  Let me quote again a scripture I quoted in the last post.

Galatians 5:14-18 (NKJV) 14  For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15  But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! 16  I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

There is a great deal in this section of scripture.  All the law is fulfilled if we can “love our neighbor as we love ourselves.”  Yet he points out that they were “biting and devouring one another.”  This is not going to bring them to a place of destiny and rest.  Verse 16 gives us the solution.  If we could walk in the spirit we would not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.  If we could do that, whatever that is, we would not “bite and devour” one another.  Why not?

There are two forces at work to govern our behavior.  One is the flesh.  I have heard the flesh called the union of the body with the intellect, emotions and will.  When those two things control our behavior it will result in strife, problems and failure.  We will not be at rest.  He says there is a solution.  The flesh and the spirit fight against one another.  Those who are controlled or led by the spirit are not under the law.  They are not trying to overcome their flaws by self effort.  If they “walk in the Spirit, they will not fulfill their lower tendencies.  They will enter a rest.  We will continue this in our next post.  Be sure to look for it.

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The Pillar of Fire and the Pillar of Cloud

Hebrews 4:4-10 (NKJV) 4  For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5  and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.” 6  Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7  again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” 8  For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9  There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10  For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

In our last post, we began to look at the journey Israel took from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan.  This was not just a journey from one place to another.  It was a journey from bondage to destiny.  God had promised Israel a homeland.  A homeland requires that there be a nation to occupy it.  The physical location of this homeland was to be strategic at the time the Messiah is born.  It will be at the crossroads of the world.  Israel must learn how to become a nation that is dedicated to God and serves him alone.  They must become a channel through which God can bring the savior of the whole world. 

As I said in our last post, this is not just a journey Israel must take.  It is the journey every believer must take once they receive salvation so they can leave the bondage of sin behind and enter into the destiny that God has for each one of us.  However, as each of us walk the path to Canann, the corporate Body of Christ must also leave behind bondage to the world and rise up in righteousness and the power of God.  This is necessart so each generation of the church can fulfill its call.  We are no different.  We face great challenges and God expects us to overcome them and preach the Gospel in our day.

Israel’s journey began with great power.  They had nothing to do with their release from captivity.  Moses was their deliverer.  That meant he delivered the Word of God to the worldly powers that held them.  It also meant that he became the channel for the power of God that set them free.  They did nothing until the Red Sea.  At the Red Sea they had to take a step of faith as they walked through the waters that brought them to the other side.  Still it was Moses who held the rod that parted the sea, not them.

We begin our journey with a great manifestation of the power of God provided not by our works or even by our faith, but by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. 

Colossians 2:13-15 (NKJV) 13  And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14  having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Just as Israel could not part the Red Sea we could not disarm principalities and powers nor pay the penalty for sin.  Jesus did that.  Just as Israel only needed to walk through the waters to get to the other side, we only need to receive what he did as having been done for us.  We must believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and accept his Lordship over our lives.  If we do those things sincerely, we shall be saved (Romans 10:9-10.)  

Ephesians 2:8 tells us all that Jesus did was through grace.  We did not deserve it.  We did nothing to produce it.  All we need to do is access what Jesus did by faith.  Once they were through the Red Sea, they still did not produce the power that sustained them.  That was all God as he worked and directed them through Moses.  In our day, Jesus is the source of all things. 

In their day there was something they had to do if they were going to fulfill their destiny in God.  They had to follow the pillar of fire by day and the pillar of cloud by night.  They did not move unless the pillar moved.  They stopped when the pillar stopped.  In this way they were always where God needed them to be when he needed them to be there. 

In our journey from bondage to destiny, we do not have a pillar of cloud or of fire to follow.  However we do have a guiding force in our lives that is just as real though not to our physical eyes.

John 16:13 (NKJV)  However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

Here Jesus calls this guide the spirit of truth who will “guide you (us) into all truth.  This same John also spoke of the “anointing that abides within.”

1 John 2:27 (NKJV)  But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

John is not saying we do not need teachers in general.  He is saying that there is a “spirit of truth” that abides within the believer that will lead and guide him in his journey to destiny. 

Paul adds to this idea in Galatians 5. 

Galatians 5:16 (NKJV)  I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

All of these scriptures are pointing to the same thing.  There is a helper called the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Truth that is an anointing that abides within us.  He will lead us and guide us on our journey from bondage to destiny.  Hebrews 4 speaks of the same thing as well.  In today’s scripture he ties this directly to Israel’s journey to the promised land. 

God promised Israel a rest in their new homeland.  It was to be a place of supernatural blessing and supernatural living.  If they had truly entered into the rest of faith God wanted for them, I think they would not have been invaded and led into captivity.  However, once the pillars that they followed in the wilderness were gone they did not seem to know how to follow God.  They had the Word of God left by Moses, but they did not understand that it was not just a physical word but a spiritual one as well.  

In Hebrews 4, we find that there was something left undone by Joshua’s generation.  Indeed we find that it was actually reserved for us.  If we will mix the promise of an inward guide with faith, we can enter a new kind of rest.  It is a rest from doing our own works.  It is a rest from trying to serve God our own way.  It is a rest of following God and walking in his presence instead of relying on our ways, our abilities and our wisdom. 

Just as Israel had to be willing to follow the two pillars in the wilderness, we must be willing to follow two pillars in our lives as well.  One is the pillar of the Written word of God, the Bible.  The other is the  active presence of the comforter that dwells and  speaks within us.  He will let us know when to move and where to go.  He will lead us into all truth if we follow him.  The question is, do we know him.  Do we cultivate his voice so we can hear him.  Will we obey him when he guides us.  Or do we simply live life under our own direction, going where we want to go and doing what we want to do.  Only one way leads to destiny.  The other leads to defeat and frustration.  I do not know about you but I want the former, not the latter.

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Israel’s Journey from Bondage to Destiny

Exodus 13:21 (NKJV)  And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.

We have been looking at Israel’s encounter at the Red Sea.  I believe this was significant because it was God that led them into the situation.  The Egyptian army was behind them and the Red Sea in front of them.  Whichever way they went, it looked like death.  However, God had a plan.  He was going to destroy the Egyptian army once and for all.

I believe God often does the same thing in our lives.  He leads us into things that look bad, but he has a plan that will defeat our enemy.  I believe this is especially relevant to the church as a whole today.  Things look bad.  I do not think the church is in an especially strong place in the spirit.  Media, culture and some political leaders seem committed to destroying the Bible believing church or at least making it irrelevant.  I believe this is God’s design.  I also believe he has a plan.  I do not know exactly what it is, but I do know that in historical times like these we often see a move of God.  That is what I think is going to happen now.  What that will look like, I do not know, but I know that God is in control!

The Red Sea was only the beginning of Israel’s journey.  There were many things God needed to teach them and develop in their corporate life.  They were nothing more than a group of slaves when they left Egypt.  Although they had a family identity, they were far too large to function that way.  They needed to become a nation.  They needed to grow up into what they had to be to fulfill their destiny in God.  The place of that destiny was Canaan.  Before they got their they would have to become much more than what they were when they left Egypt. 

It is important to note that there were established trade routes through the wilderness from Egypt to Canaan.  When God told them to go to the specific location by the Red Sea, he took them off any of these routes.  That is why Pharaoh thought they were lost.  They were not lost, they were following the specific and personal direction of God. 

The journey should have been about 600 miles.  Average walking speed of 3 miles per hour would have gotten them to Canaan in about 6 weeks.  The actual journey took 40 years.  I believe it could have been much shorter if the generation that left Egypt as slaves could have cooperated with the transformation God wanted to do in them.  They could not.  It was necessary that the slave generation die in the wilderness so that the new “nation” identity could immerge. 

The 40 year period has a symbolic significance as well.  It represents transformation, learning and spiritual growth.  That is exactly what God was doing in them.  I believe he wanted the first Generation to be able to go into the promised land.  He gave them time to grow and the opportunity to go in.  According to some accounts it was one year from the time of their deliverance from Egypt to the first scouting expedition into Canaan.  Ten of the twelve spies said, “We cannot take the land.  The people are too great and the cities too strong.”  This led to thirty-nine more years of wandering in the wilderness. 

A whole generation missed out on what God wanted to do in their lives.  They saw God move for them many times.  God supernaturally provided for them with the Manna from heaven.  He provided water from a rock that followed them.  Their shoes and clothes never wore out for the whole wilderness journey.  They won battles against enemies.  Nevertheless, they never entered the land that God had promised to give them. 

To us it may seem that this period of miraculous provision was the highest form of living in God’s best.  It was not.  His will was for them to occupy a land that flowed with milk and honey.  He wanted them to grow and mature to the point where miracle provision would be replaced with provision born from a supernatural life.  The land of Canaan was to be an example of God’s blessing to the World.  They never got to their destiny because they would not grow up.

As I have gone over this period in Israel’s history, it is clear that it is not just an historical journey taken by one group of people.  It is also a spiritual journey that every believer takes in their own walk with Christ.  God does not save us for the wilderness alone.  He has something more important for us.  He saves us for our “Canaan”, not so much a promised land, but a land of promises.  Many Christians never get there.  Others get their partially but never fully enter and occupy what God has for them.  Some do, but I think far too few. 

This has important significance for each individual believer.  God has something better for you than simply getting by.  Your relationship with Jesus is not a religious practice that has a place in your life.  It is meant to be the central thing.  It should dominate your lifestyle, your experiences and your thinking.  It should determine how you see the world and respond to it.  The promises of God are yes and amen according to 2 Corinthians 1:20.  Those promises should become the channel for the provision of every need of life. 

Matthew 6:31-33 (NKJV) 31  Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32  For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

When necessary, God will provide through miraculous means.  However, that is the exception not the rule.  God wants to provide for you through the process of your relationship to him as you live in his presence.  That is the highest dimension of living in the power of God.  There is a reason for that.  When we constantly need miracles for provision, that means we must be focused on our own lives.  When we grow up into spiritual adulthood, we can fight battles for others.  We can become a channel for the miraculous to touch them while we simply rest in the provision and power of God in life.

That was the will of God for Israel in Canaan.  They were supposed to come to a place of rest in him so that they could be an example and blessing to the whole world.  The ultimate manifestation of this would be the Messiah.  I believe it could have been much more, but Israel never did fully walk into their destiny.  This was inevitable for them because they did not have the same relationship nor the same covenant that we do.  We can enter what God wanted for them, but we must be willing to give Jesus the proper place in our lives. We must let him do in us what he needs to so we can become what he wants us to be, and walk in the fullness of our individual and corporate destiny.

This is important for you and me.  It is also important for the world because of the time in which we live.  The church will never be the force for God in the world that it needs to be if we, as the Church of Jesus Christ, do not rise up and take our place in the story God is writing for us.  I believe we can learn from Israel’s journey in the wilderness.  We can learn what to do and what not to do.  We can follow them to the promised land and cross over the Jordan with them.  We must, however, do what they never fully did.  We must enter the rest of destiny as we walk according to his direction and his promise. 

The first step for Israel was to abandon the normal route they could have taken through life, and be willing to follow the Spirit of God as he led them with a pillar of fire by day and cloud by night.  This is what we are going to look at as we continue with them from bondage to destiny.

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