The Journey To Rediscovery - Part 3 of 3

Through sanctification, our born again spirit, which is the actual bearer of GOD's image and likeness within us, connects us to the Holy Spirit.  It is He who, along with the Word of GOD, nourishes and fortifies our faith as we undergo the process of "dis-covering" ourselves--that is, the real "us" whom GOD purposed and designed us to be before the foundations of the world.  As part of this process, our faith in the Word of GOD as well as the power and presence of His Spirit within us causes our spirit man to wax strong enough to boldly command our souls to line up with Heaven's culture.  What we have established in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series has, therefore, brought us to THIS point: no matter how "good" we--as humans--may think ourselves and mankind as being, it's not until our spirit man is made alive that we can even begin to assimilate to GOD's way of doing things.

We are tripartite beings: SPIRITS possessing SOULS who live in BODIES.  The soul of man is caught BETWEEN the spirit and the body, both of which have the ability to influence our soulish realm (the mind, will and emotions).  The soul is literally the battleground between light and darkness, good and evil.  Prior to the new birth, the spirit lies dormant and the soul is totally influenced by the body's five senses (which dominate how humanity makes sense of its earthly surroundings).  Now do you see the picture coming together? Without spirit--the very core of who we were really designed to be--actually influencing us, we basically grew up and matured in this world's system, relating the pleasures of the five senses to that which is good and likewise relating unpleasant experiences to being bad.  If whatever we saw, smelled, heard, tasted and felt was enjoyable, then it was understood as being good; and vice versa.

The Journey To Rediscovery - Part 2 of 3

As humans, we all enter the Earth realm as the reproduction of a corrupted seed (read Part 1).  We are literally born into an inheritance of sin that's just as influential as being born into a family with "old money."  That's right!  We come here inheriting the sinful estate of Adam in that, given any combination of factors and circumstances presented, we ALL are capable of manifesting ANY form of ungodly behavior, whether rooted in perversions, addictions, dishonesty, etc.  Born as unrighteous seed, we--even young children, as innocent and impressionable as they may seem--are fully capable of engaging in sinful behavior without being taught how to behave in such ways.

When told, for example, NOT to eat the cookies in the jar, a so-called innocent child will go into the cookie jar anyway (because s/he likes cookies) and furthermore lie about doing so when, after the fact, asked about the missing goodies.  Question: WHO taught that innocent little child to do such an evil thing? The reality of this situation is that NO ONE taught the child to do this because the child came into the world a sinner capable of engaging in evil behavior.  When merely presented the opportunity to yield to temptation, the intangible capability to sin that was already in the child visibly manifested itself in the choice made to behave thusly.  And so life goes: as Satan provides us opportunity and chance, we grow up progressively manifesting one sinful behavior after another, until the love of Christ finds us ready to accept Him as the way back to GOD, the Father, and the righteousness that has been made available for us.

The Journey To Rediscovery - Part 1 of 3

As believers, we all are on a journey of rediscovering ourselves.  And when I say that, I mean us coming into an understanding of who we were in eternity before we entered into time.  Born into sin and shapen in iniquity, so much of who we admittedly identify ourselves as being stems from our earthly experiences.  Yet there remains this GOD-ordained identity that was overshadowed by the inherently sinful state we faced at birth.  There's a higher sense of self, if you will, out there somewhere trying to connect with us.  You feel where I'm coming from?

I have come to understand that the inheritance of original sin passed down from generation to generation is what makes this journey of rediscovery so necessary.  Adam's sin set the stage for all mankind to grapple with the pain, the insecurities and the confusion of trying to understand who we really are in a world so darkened by the influence of Satan, that the very five senses we have been taught to use in discerning our realities actually mislead us.  Humanity is so misguided, as a result of Adam's sin, that we even believe ungodly things about ourselves.  And since these things seem to have been part of us as long as we can remember, we further believe that it's just who we are and embrace the notion that we were born to behave this way.