Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the spirit of man, the spirit of Satan and the Spirit of God and how man’s spirit can be influenced by the other two. The truth is that our maturity in Christ is a direct product of that influence.
There is a huge battle going on in the Heavenly, with God trying to protect and guide His people and Satan trying to destroy and misguide God’s people. The weapons are respectively Faith and Fear.
The Spirit of God is humility
, submissiveness and interdependence. The spirit of Satan is pride, rebellion and independence. They are the exact opposite of one another. And the spirit of man is being pulled in both directions, depending on the will of man and the man’s daily walk.
I shared about the 3 priorities in the world today (God’s, Satan’s and ours) in a recent leadership teaching and I passionately believe that they are the keys to our victory in Christ in an increasingly secular world.
Dan Brown (author of Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons) made the headline again with his latest book “A Lost Symbol”. The prologue to the book was an initiation ceremony of Freemasonry – a man willingly welcomed a death curse upon his own life! The book sold over 300,000 copies in the first 36 hours of release in the UK.
We are what we eat, naturally and spiritually. For our well-being, we need to differentiate between what is good and what is junk. Sadly, junk food, whether natural or spiritual, seems always more appealing and "tasty"!
The Word of God is good food for our soul. It is a light to our path, a lamp to our
feet. Different books in the Bible are there for special purposes, offering us various aspects of God’s instructions to us.
The Book of Psalms shows us man’s relationship with God. Through the psalmists, we see God’s hand and God’s heart. God spoke through the psalmist who and what He is. “Praise the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendour and majesty. How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number — living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the
face of the earth. I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD [Ps 104:1,24-30,33-34 NIV]. They teach us how great our God is and why God deserves our praises and our worship.
Many Christians find some part of the Old Testament uninteresting, not unlike food for patients, esp. chronic ones, often bland & boring. The Book of Chronicles 1 & 2 are such examples. “The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar…… Azariah the father of Seraiah, and Seraiah the father of Jehozadak. Jehozadak was deported when the LORD sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar……These are the men David put in charge of the music in the house of the LORD after the ark came to rest there. They ministered with music before the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon built the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem. They performed their duties according to the regulations laid down for them [1 Chron 6:1-3,14-15,31-32 NIV]. Such information, I dare say, is good bedtime reading, esp. for insomnia sufferers.:o) But without them, I would not know the names of the great gra
ndfather, grandfather and father of Aaron, Moses and Miriam! They are a special group of people whom God has chosen to minister before Himself.
The New Testament not only consists of the 4 Gospels that tell the story of Jesus, it also contains a lot of the instructions for believers. Through Apostle Paul, God spoke about the sinfulness of man. “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin [Rom 7:14-25 NIV]. He openly confessed that it is a struggle for man to live for Christ, which further demonstrates how amazing God’s grace and forgiveness is.
The Book of Proverbs is a treasure house of God’s wisdom. Through the writing of the wisest king of all time Solomon, God shares with us His wisdom, as opposed to the wisdom and wickedness of man. “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favour and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Honour the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed. By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew. [Prov 3:1-20 NIV]
May the Word of God continue to help us to know God and build us up in Him. Amen!
There is a huge battle going on in the Heavenly, with God trying to protect and guide His people and Satan trying to destroy and misguide God’s people. The weapons are respectively Faith and Fear.
The Spirit of God is humility
, submissiveness and interdependence. The spirit of Satan is pride, rebellion and independence. They are the exact opposite of one another. And the spirit of man is being pulled in both directions, depending on the will of man and the man’s daily walk.I shared about the 3 priorities in the world today (God’s, Satan’s and ours) in a recent leadership teaching and I passionately believe that they are the keys to our victory in Christ in an increasingly secular world.
Dan Brown (author of Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons) made the headline again with his latest book “A Lost Symbol”. The prologue to the book was an initiation ceremony of Freemasonry – a man willingly welcomed a death curse upon his own life! The book sold over 300,000 copies in the first 36 hours of release in the UK.
We are what we eat, naturally and spiritually. For our well-being, we need to differentiate between what is good and what is junk. Sadly, junk food, whether natural or spiritual, seems always more appealing and "tasty"!
The Word of God is good food for our soul. It is a light to our path, a lamp to our
feet. Different books in the Bible are there for special purposes, offering us various aspects of God’s instructions to us.The Book of Psalms shows us man’s relationship with God. Through the psalmists, we see God’s hand and God’s heart. God spoke through the psalmist who and what He is. “Praise the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendour and majesty. How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number — living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the
face of the earth. I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD [Ps 104:1,24-30,33-34 NIV]. They teach us how great our God is and why God deserves our praises and our worship.Many Christians find some part of the Old Testament uninteresting, not unlike food for patients, esp. chronic ones, often bland & boring. The Book of Chronicles 1 & 2 are such examples. “The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar…… Azariah the father of Seraiah, and Seraiah the father of Jehozadak. Jehozadak was deported when the LORD sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar……These are the men David put in charge of the music in the house of the LORD after the ark came to rest there. They ministered with music before the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon built the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem. They performed their duties according to the regulations laid down for them [1 Chron 6:1-3,14-15,31-32 NIV]. Such information, I dare say, is good bedtime reading, esp. for insomnia sufferers.:o) But without them, I would not know the names of the great gra
ndfather, grandfather and father of Aaron, Moses and Miriam! They are a special group of people whom God has chosen to minister before Himself.The New Testament not only consists of the 4 Gospels that tell the story of Jesus, it also contains a lot of the instructions for believers. Through Apostle Paul, God spoke about the sinfulness of man. “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin [Rom 7:14-25 NIV]. He openly confessed that it is a struggle for man to live for Christ, which further demonstrates how amazing God’s grace and forgiveness is.
The Book of Proverbs is a treasure house of God’s wisdom. Through the writing of the wisest king of all time Solomon, God shares with us His wisdom, as opposed to the wisdom and wickedness of man. “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favour and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Honour the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed. By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew. [Prov 3:1-20 NIV]
May the Word of God continue to help us to know God and build us up in Him. Amen!
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