Secrets of the Soul
By Alan Griffin
We were all made subject to deception, not willingly, but by a hope that we would be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. All of creation cries in hardship and pain under the weight of sin and death. We wait for the glorious hope of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to liberate us from the curse that was placed on all of mankind because of Adam’s sin. Many believe that it was by some freak accident that Adam and Eve were deceived into sinning. That somehow Satan slithered past God unseen and caused all of mankind to fall. That is not the case at all. God through His infinite wisdom designed a plan to defeat sin in all who will listen. A plan that will transform a race of spiritual beings into immortal physical beings with all the attributes of a spirit. We will be the first of a humanoid highbred race of people who will join Christ with the redemption of our bodies into eternal sons and daughters of God.
Man is a trinity. He is made up of spirit, body, and soul. The spirit and soul are not identical. The spirit of man is his intelligence. It knows and its reasons. The spirit of man is the mind through which all our understanding of God is derived. The God-centered person is controlled by the spirit which in turn controls the soul, and the soul controls the body. The soul is the seat of our emotions, our desires, and our affections. The soul is the part of a man who is happy or sad, is angered or expresses love, and is envious or is giving. The combination of the spirit and the soul creates what God calls the heart. We are spiritual beings dwelling in a body of flesh. Through our spirit, we can communicate with the Holy Spirit of God. This process of communication was made possible by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit helps in our ability to commune with God. Many times, we do not know what we should say, so the Holy Spirit says it for us with mournful sounds spoken in grief which cannot be heard. Those of us who search our hearts, know the mind of the Spirit because He intervenes for us according to the will of God. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to.” Romans 8:28 NKJV
I am confident that I lived as a spiritual being before my birth on earth, and I am confident that I will live after my death. The Bible tells us God foreknew us before the foundations of the earth were laid, and I believe we knew Him. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:29 NKJV These things are hidden from us now so that we can exercise our free will to choose as to who we will follow. I am not sure when sin came into play. Nor do I know how it infected God’s creation. Whether it is something that has been going on all along or it was put into place to expose the minds of those He wanted to be separated from His chosen elect. Our Heavenly Father wants all to come into accordance with His plan for salvation. We are told whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. However, with God’s infinite wisdom, He has already foreseen those who will choose the path of righteousness.
Those who are destined to hear the call of God have been justified by faith. “So, then faith hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 NKJV When we study our Bible daily the Holy Spirit has worked within our hearts, and we grow in faith. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins which causes us to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Therefore, God justifies us as if we have never sinned. We no longer live under the law of sin but under the law of faith. For through the knowledge of faith we realize there is no good in us. The good we would like to do, we do not do, but the evil we do not want to do we practice anyway. If in our minds we wish not to do those things and do it anyway, it is not us sinning, but the sin that dwells within us from the curse of Adam which is passed down from generation to generation through our Dad.
The most wondrous thing is, he whom God justifies He also glorifies in Christ’s name, and “If God is for us, who can be against us.” The love He has for us is so great He did not even spare His only Son but delivered Him up for us all so that we could come back into fellowship with Him. No one shall separate us from the love of Christ Jesus, and in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him. There is no more condemnation to those of us who are in Jesus Christ because the law of the Spirit of life has made us free from the law of sin and death. “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1-2 NKJV
Many people today are possessed by drugs, violence, and sex. Their entire lives revolve around these activities. Whether they are participating in these acts themselves, or are watching others, their heart is consumed with the flesh, and those who live according to the flesh, occupy their minds with things of the flesh. The lustful person is in enmity with God and will not subject himself to the law of God. Those who feed the lusts of the flesh cannot please God. What good does the crucifixion of Jesus Christ do for us if we do not take advantage of the resurrection as well? For with His tremendous sacrifice, He paid the ransom for our sins and with His resurrection, He entitles us to eternal life. To be spiritually minded brings eternal life and peace. If Jesus Christ’s spirit resides in us the body is dead to sin, but the spirit of life is in you because of righteousness. God raised Christ from the dead, and He will also give life to us through His Spirit.
True believers owe Christ for their redemption. If we live according to the flesh we will die, but if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, we will live. If we are led by the Spirit of God, therefore we are sons and daughters of God. We are not forced to do these things in fear but do them voluntarily for our adoption into the family of our heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. If we are His children, then we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ of all creation. We suffer with Him so that we may be glorified together, and all the sufferings during this time we have on earth cannot compare to the glory which will be revealed in us when we are transformed into immortal beings. All of creation is eagerly awaiting the revealing of the sons and daughters of God.
To receive these blessings all you must do is believe and have a relationship with your heavenly Father through daily Bible study and prayer. When we believe, the Holy Spirit enters our soul immediately. However, overcoming the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life very well may take a lifetime. We all grow at different speeds based on our fellowship with our heavenly Father. All of us are one body in Christ, but we all serve in different ways. As we grow in faith, we will discover our service for God. All this is afforded to us through Bible study and prayer. You can believe, but if you do not read your Bible and have fellowship with God through prayer, you will not grow. You will become a stagnant Christian and you may very well fall back into your sins finding yourself questioning your salvation.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35,36-39 NKJV
You can read more from Alan Griffin HERE.
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Alan Griffin started the Kindsnchrist ministries in November 1997. He has worked with inner city kids for 21 years. He found a need for specialized Biblical literature that would reach people fo all ages and has been writing since 2005. The ministry has expanded their websites to reach around the world. Kindsnchrist.com, millennialchristian.com, teensnchrist.com, seniorsnchrist.com, picture-verse.com, and soulworks-smallgroups.com. We had an outreach of over 13,000,000 people last year with 36,000,000 impressions. If you have any questions for Alan you can reach him at alan@kidsnchrist.com
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