A SAMPLE ASSIGNMENT BASED ON A READING
As God is a Trinity, So Are YOU!
Relevant Scriptures: Matthew Ch. 13, II Corinthians Ch. 4:3,4, Romans 12: 1,2, John Ch. 17, I Corinthians 2:10-14, John 4: 21-24
God is a three part being---Father, Son and Holy Spirit---since we are made in His image, we too are a three part being---spirit, soul and body. Although you are we are one entity, each of our parts is separate and distinct in its functions and abilities. As stated in the previous lesson, our soul functions as the conductor or mediator to our spirit and to our body.l The spirit is that side of our nature that longs for God, hears from Him and learns to understand Him. This is the true meaning of eternal life: TO KNOW THE TRIUINE GOD. Eternal life is the ability to perceive, recognize and understand the Lord. One of the main purposes for Jesus Christ coming to earth was so that He would be a living symbol to mankind of the Father God.
Things of the spirit are difficult to understand without using something that is tangible for the sake of explanation and clarification. Therefore, Jesus on earth is the living, human example of God who Himself is a Spirit. As we watch and study Jesus throughout the gospels, we can perceive the character of God the Father, because Jesus is GOD IN THE FLESH. Halleluia! In my book, to Curse the Root, the spirit, soul and body is compared to topsoil, clay and sand. There are other symbols that add insight into the trhee parts, ie., three rooms in a house, with the attic representing the spirit, the livingroom the soul and the kitchen as the flesh. However, since the scriptures refer to man as the "temple" of God, we can look to the old testament tabernacle for an even stronger comparison. The courtyard is akin to the body, the holy place to the soul and the Holy of Holies as our spirit. The Holy of Holies was the sacred part of the tapbernacle where the Holy Spirit would enter once a year.
Jesus said that we must worship God in spirit, or with our human spirits. Worship is not intended to be a function of the soul. It is not emotionalism. God is worshipped only through the spirit and not with the intellect or the emotins of the soul. Soulish Christians are those kwho have not yet learned to discaern the true spiritual worship because they are not open to the truth about themselves. Jesus said that not only must we worship in spirit, but we must also worship in truth. Wat does Jesus mean by this statement as recored in the 4th Chapter of John's gospel? Well, since Satan is the father of lies and the truth is not in him, and since Satan has always desired to be worshipped, we must not allow Satan and his demons to contaminate our worship and our fellowship with the Lord. Therefore, an important aspect of spiritual empowerment and maturity is to actively seek the truth about yourself and mantain an ernest desire to face the truth at all costs.
We are all born into Satan's territory, for he is referred to as "the god of this world." Almost as soon as we are born, we are conditioned and formed by the world and tis opinions, traditions, attitudes, beliefs and ways of doing things. At this poit, it would behoove me to define "the world." When the bible speaks the "the world", most of the time it is not talking about the physical planet called "earth." The world is not a physical place. It has no real substance that we can grasp or physically stand upon. No, the world includes all of its various systems. Simply put, the world is all the ststems operating on earth where Jesus Christ is not the Head---whether good, bad or indifferent. Education, false or phony religion, politics, sports, occupations other than ministry. They are a part of "the world." Hospitals, racetracks and museums. The world. If it is not of Christ, then it is of the world.
Jesus said in John Chapter 17 that He did not pray for the world. Anyone or thing that belongs to Christ is not of the world. However, it is interesting to note that our Lord clearly specified in His prayer that He did not want those who believe in Him to be taken out of the world. The world will never recaeive the gospel message that Jesus Christ is Lord, unless those who believe on Him--His true disciples and followers---remain IN the world! The Lord's main concern was that His followers be protected from the evil one, who is the god of this world, Satan and his demons.
It is crucial for you to know that as soon as you were born, the main strategies of the "evil one" are to plant negative seed into the ground of your soul and your spirit so that he can produce a negative harvest in your life. As recorded in Matthew's gospel the 13th Chapter, Jesus used the symbols of harvesting to describe the power of words, particularly the word of God, to nourish and develop you from within. The central theme of "To Curse the Root" is derived from Matthew Ch. 13. I strongly suggest that you purchase this book on our Bookstore link. It will help you with this and other bible studies. In the book, the ground is your spirituality. The seed symbolizes words. The harvest consist of fruit. Fruit represent positive results while weeds symbolize negative results.
Those who have been placed in authority over you---parents, relatives, teachers, peers, etc.---and particularly those who have not submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ---have been unwittingly used by demons to fourm you by planting negative seed into your soul. I remember how I was trained to look for favor from the world. I sued to study and wave my hand in the classroom, looking for the praises from my elementary school teachers. Is that wrong in itself? No, it isn't. It is an acceptable norm in the world to do well in school. However, an ungodly habit formed in me from what seemed to be a positive thing.
Demons will work behind the scenes in early childhood, encouraging a child to develop an unhealthy competitive spirit that will ultimately lead to jealousy, pride and strife throughout life. I remember that gaetting high grades in school had such a fixation on my young life, that I would even cheat to maintain an "A." Why? Because I was looking for favor from the world of education and approval from the world of my family. I lusted after the positive strokes obtained from such an achievement. Other children did things that sought favor from the world of their peers. Joining gangs, lying, stealing, fighting and boasting---whatever it took to be popular. It is all the same. Whoever owns your soul, you will attempt to please. Excelling in school for the teachaers appears so wonderful and noble. However, you must be cautious of those thngs that seem righteous, yet whose motives are unrighteous.
Renewing your mind or "putting on the new man" involves dealing with habits that were formed in you by your interactions with the world. Take my childhood cheating to impress the teachers as an example. Patterns of behavior can develop over time, wherein the act of chating to obtain favor with others becomes a repetitive form of manipulative behavior that is enacted in order to remain in good favor with others. In a broader sense, my behavior could have subtly been motivated by a philosopy that "the ends justifies the means", particularly if the results appear to be positive, such as getting high grades in school. Put another way, your mind can become accustomed to peerceive and react to life in "worldly" ways. In order to put on the new man, there are some basic steps you must follow as you are guided into all truth about yourself by the Holy Spirit. We will deal with those steps in future bible studies.\
In this lesson, suffice it to say that the ideal situation for a believer is to allow the spirit to be in control of the soul and the body. This is a difficult task to accomplish. When a person becomes "born again", the spirit is made new but the soul has remained basically the same. As previously stated, your soul has been conditioned by your life experiences in the world with significant others. Your soul has become accustomed to "practicing sin." Some people have lived most of their lives by lying, gossiping, and by not walking in the truth. Before Christ, most of us are filled with lies and walk very naturally and comfortably in the midst of strife and confusion. This kind of behavior is soulish or carnal. It has its roots in pride, lust, desire, a need for approval from others and vanity. So how can you escape falling into the temptations that are brought to bare upon your soul and live the higher life of the spirit?
Praise God! The Father has provided the way in the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. Through His death and resurrection, we receive justification. According to the bible, justification has two meanings: (1) that we have no sin and
(2)that God looks upon us as being righteous or perfect. Since Jesus is righteous and perfect in the sight of God, everyone who believes on His name is seen by the Father as perfect and righteous also. We are removed from the defilement of sin. We are still capable of sin but we do not have to sin. Therefore, each person who comes to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ is accepted by Him even as Jesus Christ HImself is accepted. We are accepted in the Beloved.
Study Questions
1. What negative seed has been planted into the ground of your soul by significant others in your life?
2. Define the word "conformed." In what ways are you conformed to this world? In what ways do you "love the world."
3. Read Matthew 5: 13-16. With these verses as your foundation, describe why a believer cannot be conformed to this world.
4. Read Psalm 1. The ungodly are those people in the world who have not received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Answer this question. Have you been walking in the counsel of the ungodly? If so, in your journal, write down the whos, whats, wheres and whys.
5. List behaviors that have been normal for you when you "practiced sin." For each behavior that you have listed, list also new patterns of behavior that you can practice that will exemplify righteousness.
6. Read pages 20-30 in "To Curse the Root." (Chapter 3 in the e Book version). List the symbols that appear in your dreams most often. Then get yourself a concordance, and find a scripture in the bible where that symbol appears. For example, if you dream about a tree, you might be directed to several scriptures. Where does this dream fit in with the "3R's" of interpretation? If you have a question about this part of the assignment, send us an email about it.
