The Two Laws: The Struggle Within

Imagine you're at the mall to buy new clothes because you've lost 50 lbs. You was a person who loved sweets. You had to have them after ever meal and for every celebration. The changing point for you was when you went in for a check-up and found that you were pre-diabetic and obese according to the size chart for your age. Therefore after consulting God, you made a conscious decision to leave sweets alone and change your eating habits with food. Now you have reaped the benefits of your labor. The weight melted away and your numbers are now at good levels. You're walking through the mall and a smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies alert your senses. You imagine that they're gooey with warm milk chocolate. You turn to the direction of the smell. Now you are battling. Do I go get some cookies or do I keep going so I don't disrupt my progress? Your flesh is saying "GO GET THE COOKIES!" and your spirit is saying "God didn't bring you this far for you throw it away for cookies. You know how hard it's going to be if you open that door." The flesh says "Two cookies won't hurt you." Next thing you know, you're at counter buying five cookies instead of two and a bottle of cold milk. What just happened? Well Paul tells us about the war between our flesh and spirt. He explains how much of a struggle it is to do the right thing without Jesus Christ. Turn to Romans 7:18-25. 

The Struggle Within

 

Romans 7: 18-25 Paul explains in this block of scripture the battle of good and evil. He says he wants to do right but he can't in his sinful nature. He wants to make the right decisions that God would be pleased with but he continues to make the opposite choice. You can see his frustration through scripture when he says " Oh what a miserable person I am!" Paul is showing us that he totally understands the fight to do good but you keep doing bad. We all go through this from time to time. In the story above it was cookies, for you it may be sexual immorality, alcoholism, bad parenting, etc. You ever heard the saying "The devil made me do it" Through the sin that satan caused to come in this world through trickery we now have a war to fight daily. Paul speaks of two laws: The law of God and the law of sin working in his body. He wants to please God but he continues to succumb to sin. As you read this block of scripture you can almost become discouraged. You may begin to think what's the point of trying to do right if I'm just going to keep failing. DON'T GIVE UP! Paul has a answer that will not only stop you from continuously failing but make you victorious in living a life for God.

The Old Man

Remember in verse 18 Paul said that nothing good dwells within his body. I want you to understand first that Paul isn't saying our body is inherently evil and it will do nothing but bad. What he is saying is that because we were tainted with sin and in bondage to it we have been using our body for our sinful lusts. Our body in itself isn't evil, God made our bodies and said that it was good. He also made us in his image and likeness. Nevertheless, our bodies are on a collision course for death in eternity due to sin. The Bible tells us the wages of sin is death. The way sin works is first through the mind as temptation of something we lust (desire) for. Then we are lured by it to commit sin. Once sin is committed it produces death. Glory be to God he gave us a way of escape from this vicious cycle of sin, JESUS CHRIST. Because we were tainted with sin we must be born again without bondage to sin and that's where Jesus come in. When we accept Jesus and believe that he is the son of the living God and died and rose again on the third day we become saved. The old man has been crucified with Christ but nevertheless we live in our new nature. When we are born again we become free from sin. We are no longer on the collision course to Hell. We now have victory over sin and when we are tempted we have the power of the Holy Spirit to resist the devil and his evil schemes. We no longer have to do the wrong thing when we want to do right. We can now do right through Jesus Christ saving grace. 

The New Man

Now that we are born again we can walk in the newness of life. We often forget this luxury. Many have become so comfortable in sin they think they can"t fight it (they're right) but you don't have to, Jesus has done that work for us. Now it's time to walk in our new nature. One strategy against sin is to make a goal to please God with your body. James tells us in Chapter four a few strategies we can use to walk in our new nature.  

• Submit yourself to God
• Resist the Devil and he will flee
• Draw near to God and he will draw near to you
• Wash your hands of sin and Purify your heart (so that your loyalty won't be divided between the world and God)
• Repent of your sin and show sorrow for it

When we follow this list God will lift us up. He will strengthen us against sin. We must crucify the flesh daily. Paul tells us in  Galatians 5 chapter that we must live by the Holy Spirit. We must learn to keep our flesh under subjection of the spirit. Be aware of the power you have over your old nature through Jesus. If you don't reject the old man and it's practices you will continue to stay captivated by sin. We do not become robots programmed to do right but we become empowered to do right. We must do the work by making a conscious decision to choose God and his commandments. Not by our works that anyone can boast but by the Grace given to us by God through Christ. Now go and be VICTORIOUS!

Scriptures in this blog came from the NLT and the ESV versions for better clarity. If you have any questions please leave them in the comment section. 

What Is The Soul? What Does It Have To Do With My Mind?

When I tell you this was the hardest subject for me to learn. I don't know if it was because years later I would be called to study it and explain it to others or I just couldn't get it :) God has been showing me the importance of the mind for some time now. I have watched countless videos and looked up all scriptures pertaining to the mind. God is constantly giving me a subject and showing me how it ties to the mind. Well ladies and gentleman the reason why God keeps bringing me back to the mind is because that is our Soul. Even in typing this blog right now God is giving me revelation of this subject. He is Awesome!!! Now back to the mind. Everything that we do begins in the mind/soul. Let's go to scripture to give you more understanding. Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Adam's body was made of dust. This is our physical appearance that everyone knows us by (the Body). When God breathe into Adam, he put his spirit into Adam. The spirit man is who Adam really was, not the dust. The dust was just a cavity to hold the spirit and soul.  Then Adam began to inhale & exhale. His heart began beating. The blood pressure was regulated and he became (Aware) a living Soul. Our consciousness, awareness is our soul. The brain center was turned on. See we are a Spirit being (invisible) with a soul (consciousness) that lives in a body (physical representation on earth). 

The Soul (Mind) 

The Soul is our Mind, Will and Emotions. It is the center between the body( flesh) and the spirit (real you). Our soul receives information through our senses from the flesh. Our senses are taste, touch, smell, sound and sight. Once this information goes from the senses to the soul we make a decision. This chicken tastes good. The sun is really bright today. That music is too loud. This tree feels rough. The smell of Lavender is soothing. Those were examples of sensory decisions. It goes a lot deeper than this like what different chemicals in the brain do like dopamine. I will touch on that in a later blog. For now let's keep to the basics. These sensory decisions are made in a matter of seconds. Then through your emotions towards what you've experienced through the body, you will make a choice. That choice is your Will. This is how our soul works. Your soul is affected by the body and your spirit is affected by the soul. The body is worldly (carnal) and our Spirit man wants to please God, for our spirit comes from him. The two battle daily and it's with our Soul that we make the decision as to who wins, namely our Will. 

The Brain (Physical mind)

Let's look at it from a scientific biological point of view. First let me say it is fine to talk about God and Science at the same time. According to sciencecouncil.org Science is "the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence." Shorter definition (my words) The created is trying to figure out the Creator (God). That's all science is in my opinion. Now, let's talk about the brain. The brain is the physical representation of the invisible conscious. If the physical part of us is out of whack, the spiritual is having a issue also. I will explain more of that at a later time. For now, notice how there is a physical representation for all spiritual things. From the Science point of view, the brain is responsible for most of all the body's functions that are essential to life (www.nhs.org). These functions include but are not limited to

• Breathing
• Thought
• Memory
• Emotion
• Heartbeat
• Motor Skills
• Blood Pressure
• All processes that regulates the body

There is a term in the medical field called: Brain Dead. To be clinically brain dead a person is put on artificial life support ( artificial Breath). During this time doctors are trying to recreate the breath of life from God. Nevertheless, the person no longer has any brain function. This means they will never be aware (conscious) again. A person who is brain dead is legally confirmed dead. The spirit and soul (invisible) has left the (physical) body at this time. Why is this important? Remember I said the created is trying to figure out the Creator. They have figured out that we are not our body. If the brain dies, nothing in the body can work because the body needs the soul to instruct it on what to do. 

In Conclusion

So you see the soul has everything to do with the mind. The brain is the physical manifestation of the mind/soul. We can't see our soul but the brain is visible/physical. Isn't God Awesome!!! Your body is the physical representation of your soul and spirit. The real you is a spirit being which is who we worship our Heavenly Father with through his Holy Spirit. John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Isn't God Amazing in his creativity. Scientists are learning something new all the time about how the mind works. Guess What?! The created will never figure out the Creator for his thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways his ways says the Almighty God, As the heavens are higher than the earth, so is his ways from us Isaiah 55:8,9.

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments:)