I Choose

It’s quiet. It’s early. My coffee is hot. The sky is still black. The world is still asleep. The day is coming. In a few moments, the day will arrive. It will roar down the track with the rising of the sun. The stillness of the dawn will be exchanged for the noise of the day. The calm of the solitude will be replaced by the pounding pace of the human race.

The refuge of the early morning will be invaded by decisions to be made and deadlines to be met. For the next twelve hours, I will be exposed to the day’s demands. It is now that I must make a choice. Because of Calvary, I’m free to choose. And so I choose:

I CHOOSE LOVE…

– No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness.

– I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.

I CHOOSE JOY…

– I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical…the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I CHOOSE PEACE…

– I will live forgiven. I will forgive so that I may live.

I CHOOSE PATIENCE…

– I will overlook the inconveniences of the world. Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I will invite him to do so. Rather than complaining that the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray. Instead of clinching my fist at new assignments, – I will face them with joy and courage.

I CHOOSE KINDNESS…

– I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid.

– And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.

I CHOOSE GOODNESS…

– I will go without money before I take a dishonest one.

– I will be overlooked before I will boast.

– I will confess before I will accuse.

– I choose goodness.

I CHOOSE FAITHFULNESS. ..

– Today I will keep my promises. My debtors will not regret their trust.

– My associates will not question my word. My wife will not question my love.

– And my children will never fear that their father will not come home.

I CHOOSE GENTLENESS….

– Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice, may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer.

– If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.

I CHOOSE SELF-CONTROL…

– I am a spiritual being. After this body is dead, my spirit will soar.

– I refuse to let what will rot rule the eternal.

– I choose self-control.

– I will be drunk only by joy.

– I will be impassioned only by my faith.

– I will be influenced only by God.

– I will be taught only by Christ.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; to these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek God’s face. And then when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.

— Author Unknown

Meditation: I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. – Deuteronomy 30:19

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Understanding Spirit, Soul And Body (7)

For the end of those things is death. – Romans 6:21b

In conclusion of our series on understanding the nature and workings of the body, soul and spirit, let us consider the final destination of each of these entities at death.

Spirits don’t die. So whenever someone dies it is the soul that really dies. And, once death has happened, the body which was formed out of sand starts to decompose until it finally returns to its primordial state (Genesis 3:19); while the spirit, which is the engine of the body (this is different from the Holy Spirit), departs from the dead body and reports back to God. ‘Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it’ (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

On the other hand, the soul, which is the real person clothed in physical flesh and powered to life by the spirit (breath of God), is the one that dies (Matthew 10:28). It is the soul that will stand in judgement and be released to enjoy everlasting life among other saints or be condemned to the second death. “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4, 20).

It is the soul that is either redeemed to live a new life in Christ Jesus from the earth to eternity; “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11). It is also the soul that will be sentenced to hell. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

So, while the destinations of the flesh and spirit are constant, where the soul will end depends on whether the soul in question accepts Jesus’ invitation to all souls to come to Him (Matthew 11:28-29, Luke 12:20, Jeremiah 38:20). The question is, where will your own soul end?

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Understanding Spirit, Soul And Body (6)

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. – John 6:63

Even as the body relies on food for sustenance and the soul feeds on information, so does the spirit require word to thrive, the best diet for it being the word of God.

The spirit, the third part of a human, responds to words. As much as it is invisible, it can be quickened to tangible activity by the spoken words. That is why you see strange things happen either to an animate or an inanimate as a result of incantations or exchange of words. That is because some spirits must have been invoked there.

However, the spirit, the engine that powers life, comes from God. So the best nutrition it can get to function optimally and effectively to play its guiding role as the big brother of soul and body is the word of God. God Himself is Spirit (John 4:24); therefore, His word is the best diet for any spirit to feed on. His word revives the dead by infusing spirit back into it; spirits don’t die. His word energises a fainting spirit (Psalm 119:25); His word stabilises the spirit and keeps it attuned to divine wavelength such that man is able to easily connect to and commune with his Creator about any matter of interest. God Himself so desires such fellowship or spiritual connection (John 4:23-24).

If you desire a refined and attuned spirit, then you need to constantly expose yourself to the implanted word of God. You can start today.

[This series will be concluded tomorrow].

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Understanding Spirit, Soul And Body (5)

Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival. – Acts 27:34

In continuation of our series on the differences between the spirit, the soul and the body, with particular reference to the intake of each for nourishment, today, we will look at the human body.

Food is the primary source of nourishment for the body. The body must be well fed to flourish and perform at its optimal best. For its frame to maintain a strong outlook, it must be nurtured through constant physical activities or exercise. The extent to which the body is nourished in balanced diet and nurtured in physical activities is the extent it will last and serve its owner (1 Corinthians 6:13, 1 Timothy 4:8).

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Understanding Spirit, Soul And Body (4)

And have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge – Colossians 3:10

In continuation of our series on the differences between the spirit, soul and body, today we shall dwell on how to cultivate these three aspects of human for optimal performance.

Growth is a natural process for most living beings; and by virtue of being a living, the body, the spirit and the soul of human are susceptible to a growth process from a smaller state to a higher or bigger one.

Whilst the body develops through a biological or natural process; the same cannot be said of the other entities making a human. The spirit and soul do not grow or develop through a detached biological process. On the contrary, they have to be consciously cultivated before they can develop.

Even the human body needs more than the workings of biology to blossom and remain fit; as it needs constant attention to be at its best and serve its owner optimally. The same way the spirit and soul require dedicated attention to develop.

For the soul, which has a bearing on the mind and thoughts, it derives its nourishment from knowledge. The best way to develop the human soul is to expose it to learning. The extent that one is exposed to information is the extent his soul will be able. For the soul, the saying, ‘information is power’ is most apposite, as a soul derives its ability to process information and arrives at a course of action based on the exposure it has to knowledge on the matter in hand.

A soul that is not informed will be prone to make bad decisions; while the enlightened soul will most likely make wise choices. Information is the nourishment of the soul. That is why our reference passage above says that the new man within is “renewed in knowledge.” Meanwhile, the depth of bearing of the soul is usually determined by the level of exposure it has to knowledge.

To be continued…

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Understanding Spirit, Soul And Body (3)

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12

Of all the three entities that make a man, the most complex to explain or understand is the soul. Perhaps, that is why it is often confused for the spirit, or its activities misrepresented as that of the flesh.

The soul is the part of man that constitutes his real personality. It is what is otherwise called the inner man. The inner man is not the spirit; it is the soul. The soul is the summation of the personality of man, with direct bearing on the mind, and dictating the pattern and kind of thoughts, desires, feelings, choices, impulses, preferences, peeves, decision making, and other such complex inner workings and processes of man.

The soul is the real person that is powered by the spirit to operate through a body form. Simply put, the soul is the nature of the spirit projected through the flesh. It is what is referred to as the “nature” of man. It is the one that influences individual behaviours and peculiar ways of doing things. The soul is the real person; the expression of the spirit inside through the form of flesh.

Perhaps, this analogy will help us to understand the three entities better: imagine a car; on its own, a car cannot do much without an engine. Even when it has an engine, it cannot drive itself unless there is someone to drive and control its courses. The human spirit is the engine that powers the car; the human body is the built of the vehicle; whilst the human soul is the driver that steers the vehicle in whatever direction he chooses. These three are interdependent and cannot function adequately without one another.

To be continued…

You will succeed in Jesus Name!

Understanding Spirit, Soul And Body (2)

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.” – Matthew 12:43

The spirit is the entity that animates the body and supplies it the energy to live. Spirit gives life (read John 6:63 and 2 Corinthians 3:6). Blood is the tangible representation of the spirit. That is why the Bible says ‘the life of every creature is in its blood’ (Leviticus 17:11, 14). Once a creature is drained of blood, the spirit departs from such being and he/she/it becomes a lifeless body.

However, even while the spirit is emblemised by blood, it is nonetheless an invisible entity. It takes more than the physical eyes to see a spirit. It is not a tangible thing, and it can do little on its own except through a physical form. That explains why the spirit is accommodated in a body, through which it lives and operates.

The body is the physical container that houses the spirit, and the spirit is the power source that gives life to the body, without a spirit in a body, the body will be lifeless, the same way a spirit without a body may just be a nuisance all over the place and may not realise its full potential because a spirit is at its best when it is inside a tangible form. That is why the legion of unclean spirits that Jesus cast out of the man at the country of the Gadarenes earnestly begged Him not to render them homeless, but allow them to enter a herd of swine nearby (Mark 5:1-13, Luke 8:36-33). If Jesus hadn’t given them permission to go into the swine, they would have been floating frantically in the air looking for a willing or unguarded vessel to enter.

Such is the extent that spirits depend on a physical form to function.

To be continued…

You will succeed in Jesus Name!