EXCERPTS FROM THE MINISTRY

LIFE-STUDY OF FIRST THESSALONIANS

MESSAGE TWENTY-FOUR

TO BE SANCTIFIED WHOLLY WITH OUR SPIRIT, SOUL, AND BODY PRESERVED COMPLETE

(2)

Scripture Reading: 1 Thes. 4:9, 13; 5:8, 16-24; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 John 1:6; 1 Tim. 1:5; Rom. 6:6, 19; 7:24; 8:10-11; 12:1; 1 Cor. 6:13b, 15a, 19-20

In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Paul says, “And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In the foregoing message we pointed out that the way to preserve our spirit is first to exercise it to have fellowship with God. According to 5:16-18, we need to rejoice, pray, and give thanks. If we do this, our spirit will be pulled out of a condition of deadness and will be living. Second, we preserve our spirit by keeping it from all defilement and contamination. In this message we shall go on to consider how to preserve our soul and our body.

CLEARING THE ARTERIES OF OUR PSYCHOLOGICAL HEART

Our psychological heart has three main arteries. These arteries, which are also the three parts of the soul, are the mind, the will, and the emotion. It is important to know how in a practical way to have these arteries unclogged. For the unclogging of the arteries of our physical heart, doctors may prescribe medication. But in many cases surgery is required to remove the blockage. The way to unclog the three main arteries of our psychological heart is to make a thorough confession to the Lord. From experience I have learned that we need to stay with the Lord for a period of time to confess our defects, failures, defeats, mistakes, wrongdoings, and sins.

Concerning the Mind

We may begin by confessing all the sinfulness and uncleanness that is in our mind, in our thinking. The artery of our mind can be compared to a ditch that is clogged with dirt and needs to be dug out so that water can flow through it. Our mind is filled with dirt. As a result, this artery is clogged. In order to unclog the artery of our mind, we need to confess everything that is sinful in our thoughts and in our way of thinking. By confessing our thoughts one by one, we shall remove the blockage from this artery.

As we are making confession in this way, we may confess to the Lord how natural our understanding is concerning many matters. Perhaps you do not feel that your understanding of so many things is natural. This is the reason you need to go to the Lord and say to Him, “Lord, enlighten me and expose my mind. Expose all my thoughts. Lord, bring my mind fully into Your light.” Then you should follow the enlightenment and exposure to confess the problems in your thinking one by one. For example, the Lord may show you that in your married life and family life your understanding is very natural. You may understand your spouse, your children, and your family affairs in a natural way, not at all in a spiritual way. If the Lord exposes this in you, you should immediately confess and say, “Lord, forgive me. Although I love You, my understanding of married life is altogether natural. Lord, deliver me from this natural understanding and take it out of me.” This is an illustration of the kind of confession we need to make concerning our mind. For this kind of exposure and confession it may be necessary for us to stay with the Lord for a long time.