Meta-more-foo-may-I
Declaring good news of real change out of, through and into the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Rom. 12:2 Rom. 11:36
Faith
(part 3)
The spirit of man
Let’s look for a moment at some of the truth we know about or of God. We know that He is our Heavenly Father, yes/no? We know that He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, yes/no? We also know that He is a loving God, yes/no? We know that He loved us so much that He sacrificed a uniquely born part of Himself in order to redeem us yes/no? Dear Brother and Sister, these are among the most basic of principles and some of the deepest truths that we as believers can embrace. Each of these questions should be reverently asked and studied as to exact meaning and understanding of the riches of depth found therein. We can know these truths because there is a depth in us that corresponds to the deep which is in God. It is Spirit. The spirit of man is that which enables us to recognize the Spirit of God. If man did not have a spirit, if man was not spirit, I tell you in no uncertain terms, he was not created in the image of God. But God did say; “let us make man after our image, and after our likeness,” yes/no? So then, we are spirit beings, yes/no?
“Deep within every man there is a secret sanctum where dwells the mysterious essence of his being. This inmost reality is that part of a man which separates him from every other living creature and makes him uniquely mankind. (Of the kind, man--author’s note) This deep hidden power is what it is of itself independent of any other part of the man’s complex nature. It is the man’s ‘I Am,’ a gift from the I AM who created him. The deep-in human entity of which we speak is called in the scriptures the spirit of man. ‘For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him?, even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1Cor. 2:11). As God’s self-knowledge lies in the eternal Spirit, so man’s self-knowledge is by his own spirit, and his knowledge of God is by the direct union of the Spirit of God with the spirit of man.”
J. Preston Eby, The Seed in Every Man
Faith works
It is extremely important for us to understand that we are spirit beings. Eyes to see and ears to hear will provide no benefit if we are not spirit within which to apply and walk out that which we see, hear and thus learn. We are walking spirit. We are not dormant or lazy spirit; we are not laying down spirit. Neither are we arm-chair spirit; all that we perceive and come to know by experience, we must be able to walk out in our everyday lives. Don’t believe me? Let’s look in James 2:14-18. “What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no [good] works [to show for it]? Can [such] faith save [his soul]? 15. If a brother or sister is poorly clad and lacks food for each day, 16. And one of you says to him, Good-bye! Keep [yourself] warm and well fed, without giving him the necessities for the body, what good does that do? 17. So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead). 18. But someone will say [to you then], You [say you] have faith, and I have good works. Now you show me your [alleged] faith apart from any [good] works [if you can], and I by [good] works [of obedience] will show you my faith. The Amplified Bible Again, James 4:17 tells us, “What it comes to is that anyone who knows the right thing to do and does not do it is a sinner.” The Revised English Bible But there is a real key to our daily lives found in the precious words of our Lord Jesus, (like you needed me for that, huh) where He told His disciples that: “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” Jn. 13:17 KJV. You might ask me, “how are these different scriptures even related?” Oh, you know.
To Perceive and Do
Knowing to do the right thing (Jms. 4:17) and knowing these things (Jn. 13:17) both come from the same Greek word eido. Eido, pronounced eh-due (Strong’s # 1492), is a primary verb which means properly to see, and is translated in the bible in the following ways: be aware, behold, consider, know, knowledge, look (on), perceive, see, be sure, tell, understand, wist and wot. Brethren, it takes some real dedication to look up each of these words and follow them through to allow the Holy Spirit of Truth to guide us into the truth expressed by this little word. And that is not my intention here, but I will give credit where credit is due. I know Bro. Stacy Wood has done this. I know that Bros. Elwin Roach, Robert Torango and J. Preston Eby have done this. There are others, and I am willing to learn from them, as I can attest to the Spirit in which they teach.
So what these two particular verses are talking about is a perception of things practical or spiritual in which there is need. James deals with food and clothes, which can be taken either naturally or spiritually. And our Lord Jesus is talking about the washing of each other’s feet which in this day and age, is not really a practical need, mostly, but a definite spiritual one. If we perceive the need, happy (blessed and to be envied) are we if we meet the need.
Dear Brothers and Sisters let’s not be so caught up in the spiritual that we ignore the practical. Conversely, we can forget about being practically minded and thinking we are righteous thereby, if we are not in the Spirit. True faith is a product of and mindful of both. I do not mean that you willy-nilly go and give everything away and live as a beggar. You then would be the one in need. Rather as the Spirit gives you perception, do that which you see needs doing.
Father does-Father says
Bro. Stacy Wood mentioned one time, that if you feel the anointing, and you receive a word to share, then share. If perchance, you were not hearing as correctly as possible, no harm done. As long as you are firstly concerned with being in the Spirit of Christ, and secondly, the well-being (spiritual and natural) of the one to whom you spoke, your Heavenly Father will either honor your word, or not; but He will use that incident to instruct you further into a better hearing and understanding of that which you are hearing. We have a faithful instructor. Truth-be-told, He is a jealous God who will not suffer long in allowing us to make mistakes, but will bring about just the right set of circumstances to instruct us. Remember, He is not only jealous of you, but of those to whom you are speaking at the time. This is truth we would all do well to keep in mind. Me too!
Jesus did only what He saw His Father do, and He spoke only what He heard His Father say. This is the path we must tread. As mentioned earlier, if we perceive something but do not do what it is we perceive, we sin. We miss the mark. So then what? Do we cry and lament, maybe…it is Godly sorrow which works repentance unto salvation. But we do move on; we go before the Father recognizing the shed blood of Jesus is for the remission of sin. We approach the throne of grace boldly, because where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. We confess our sin, and we accept the forgiveness which is ours by way of the free gift of the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. This does not mean to continue in sin and wallow in it; that would be to crucify the Son of God afresh, and we are told that, “Those who live on the level of the old nature have their outlook formed by it, and that spells death; but those who live on the level of the spirit have the spiritual outlook, and that is life and peace.” Rom. 8: 5-6 The Revised English Bible Paul goes on to write in verses 8-9: “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you…” KJV Do we see then the importance of recognizing the spirit we are? Do we see? In Christ, yes we do! In Christ, we do have eyes to see and ears to hear; and we are come into the recognition of who we are in the Light of who He is within us. This is why it is so important for us to recognize our essential spiritual quality, so that we can begin to accept that God could inhabit (tabernacle-dwell) within us. Know ye not that ye are the temple of the Living God? We are the dwelling place of God, can you see? Oh my God, how great and unsearchable are your ways, but you reveal them to us in the Spirit of your Life, in the mind of Christ. WOW ! I know, I keep going over the same point, but it is needful that we see and know this. We are spirit beings, God is Spirit. They that worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth. Know ye not that he that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit. We are created in His image. We are spirit. It is by the Spirit of Christ within us that we move and have our being. It is by His Spirit that we can hear our Heavenly Father and say. It is by His Spirit that we can see our Heavenly Father and do. It is by His Spirit.
Out of, through and into
Ok, let’s return to the opening statements/questions. How do we know these truths? The answer is of course by and in the Spirit, because of, through and in faith, right? Of course it is. But it is faith that is built into a knowing of Jesus Christ. We are transformed out of, through and into knowing Him, in His Spirit. This is why it is so important to see that we are spirit beings. We know and understand that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Now, we can see why, because God was reconciling part of Himself, which is spirit in His Spirit, which is in every one of us. But the faith to see any of this does not come from us; it is a gift of God our Father. It is faith that will allow us to see the Lord Jesus as Author, and Finisher of faith. But it is not of our selves. We cannot just conjure up or manufacture this faith. Scripture, and equally important the Spirit that teaches us and leads us into all truth plainly say that this faith is the gift of God. Romans 10:17 tells us: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word (rhema-spoken word/utterance) of God.” We know any truth because God opens this truth up to us and allows us to partake of it. He gives, we receive. If we take, it is not faith but presumption, and will be cast down within us as a false god or idol. Carnal man wants to take, Adam took of the fruit. Jesus said: “receive ye the Holy Ghost:” Jn. 20:22. But we are not takers, we receive. So let’s look elsewhere.
By and By
Romans 10:17, with just a little bit of diligent searching yields an amazing and interesting understanding. Remembering, we are receiving, as we are instructed to be diligent (KJV uses the word study) to show ourselves approved in rightly dividing the word of truth. Let’s look deeper, shall we, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” We have already looked a little bit into the word, word. It is a spoken word or utterance of God. Does God still speak in today’s time/age? You bet your sweet bippie He does. Forgive my colloquialism, but God most assuredly does speak; and if we have an ear to hear, we can hear. So let’s look at the word by. This word occurs here twice in English, but you might be surprised to note that there are actually two different words written in the Greek. The first is ek (Strong’s Concordance # 537 and it means-origin, the point whence motion or action proceeds and it is usually understood to mean out or from). For this word, I do not think we would be incorrect to say out from. The second time by is mentioned, it is written in the Greek as dia (Strong’s Concordance # 1223 and is usually understood to mean the channel of an act, or through.) So let’s open this verse up and use these words a little more correctly; “So then faith cometh out from hearing, and hearing through the word (spoken word/utterance) of God.” The voice of God is speaks , and we hear through His speaking, and out from the hearing He gives us, faith is created. The example I can use is: “Let there be Light.” God spoke and I heard. I heard, and knew that He existed. I heard and knew that I needed Him. I heard and knew that He loved me. I heard and faith was created to believe. I didn’t believe before that, because I had not heard before that. But out from that hearing, faith was created, and in Him, Praise God that faith is being fulfilled. I then saw Jesus as the Author, but I see Him now as Finisher as well; but that understanding, the faith to see Him as Finisher, only came through hearing the Rhema word of God, which created faith in me. This is only one verse to give us insight into the origin of faith, but I believe it is one of the most powerful ones. There are others, but I will give you opportunity to be diligent (study) in this matter. We must first see Him as the Author of faith. To see Him as Finisher can only come after faith has been authored. First birth then growth and maturity, do we hear? God speaks! If you’ve an ear to hear, then hear what the Spirit says.
Joy and peace to all who read in Christ Jesus…Larry
References: The Companion Bible with the King James Translation, The Revised English Bible, The Amplified Bible, The Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and The Seed in Every Man by J. Preston Eby.
Larry Hakala