The relationship between the Spirit, the soul, and the Body for the unsaved soul is simple!
The body wants what it wants, so the body asks for it by sending signals to the soul, and the soul immediately gets into action by seeking such out!
The soul’s desire in this case is to please the body!
The spirit goes along with whatever the body wants!
As long as the body is comfortable, the soul and spirit are happy!
It doesn’t matter if what the body desired was moral, proper, godly, normal, or abnormal!
If the body desired it, the soul has a duty to provide it!
There are so many examples of such carnal demands in the Bible
A classic example is the popular story of what transpired between David and Bathsheba (Uriah’s wife)
2 Samuel 11 New International Version (NIV)
David and Bathsheba
1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.
5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.
7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.
8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So, Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.
9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, [a] and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.
13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.
17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle.
19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle,
20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall?
21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth [b]? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”
22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say.
23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate.
24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”
25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
Many of us read the story with indignation!
How dare David, a King, do that!
How dare David, a prophet of God, do that?
How dare David, the anointed of the Lord do that?
How dare David, the man after God’s own heart do that?
Don’t forget that David was anointed King as a teenager, he was raised in the court of King Saul, and he was very conversant with the law of God!
He was a spiritual man!
David’s spiritual feat earned him a “forever” throne before God!
Yet, when David’s body demanded that he abuse his power, break the law, and do the unthinkable, he didn’t hesitate!
He went after his objective with determination!
We have all been in David’s shoes before!
Spirit-filled tongue-talking believers!
We find ourselves in a place where we ignored the voice of the Holy Spirit and did our own WILL!
We have excuses!
Some of our excuses are reasonable and others are flimsy, but we find a way to justify and rationalize our poor decisions.
We sleep with someone we are not supposed to sleep with, eat something we are not supposed to eat, say things we are not supposed to say, take things we are not supposed to take, nurse feelings we are not supposed to nurse, encourage the attention we were supposed to discourage!
Whenever we cede control of our actions to the body through the soul, we are practically asking the Holy Spirit to take a back seat in our affairs! The desires of the body and the soul without the guidance of the Holy Spirit is always going to land us in trouble!
We must therefore consciously refuse to indulge in the desires of the flesh!
HOW DO I AVOID THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH?
Many believers approach living a spirit-led life by asking the question above.
They then proceed to tackle the problem from the outward position!
They insist a believer must dress in a certain way, eat certain things, dress in a certain way and befriend certain people.
The approach of the Lord Jesus was simple.
What Defiles a Person?
Matthew 15:10-20
10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides.[c] And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? [d] 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
If you change the inward man, the outward man will change!
Romans 12: 1-2
1Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
See also (1 Corinthians 3:16-18; 1 Corinthians 6:18-20)
How Do I renew my mind?
Ephesians 5 gave us many clues
8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, 9for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. 10 Test and prove what pleases the Lord.
11Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself. 14So it is said:
“Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
15Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wives and Husbands
(Song of Solomon 1:1-3; 1 Peter 3:1-7)
21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her 26to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.
– Expose everything to light (You must have no secret habits): I tell believers who find themselves caught in the web of any form of addiction and bad habit to expose it to the Lord in prayer especially speaking in tongues and reading the scriptures! Within a short time, the habit disappears!
-Your fruit is now goodness, righteousness and Truth!
– Test and prove everything pleasing to God (Don’t do anything because other believers are doing it. Be intentional about your actions)
– Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness (Old habits, friends and beliefs are no longer allowed in your life)
-Expose the deeds of darkness to light (Hide nothing, keep no secrets from the Holy Spirit)
-Walk wisely (in love)
– Redeem the time
– Understand God’s will
– Be filled with the Holy Spirit
-Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs
-Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord
– Give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of Jesus
– Christ sanctifies and cleanses the church by the washing with water through the word! (If you study the word and do as it says, Christ will sanctify and cleanse you too)
If you follow the instructions above, you will automatically find yourself transformed from within!
You will not be a believer who practices religion with bitterness in his or her heart because under the toga of religion still lies a deep love and lust for the old life!
At first, there may be a little bit of struggle here and there but as you persist in His will, it will become your way of life!
You will live this way alone in a desert or in a city
Your Christian walk will not be a roller coaster ride or a yo-yo! Up today and down tomorrow!
Your walk will be constant and consistent
Love will guide you against self-righteousness, a holier-than-thou attitude, and a judgmental attitude
You will not be one of those pleading for the Holy Spirit to come all the time! The Holy Spirit will be your constant companion
Your life is now Christ’s life
-GSW-