The Powerless Tangible
The human body is tangible, yet powerless in and of itself up against the spirit realm. So when things break down in the human body it is the first time that we are made aware (consciously) of an issue, naturally. According to Genesis 1:26, humans were made in the image of God. We know that throughout the bible a human is referenced as being comprised of a spirit, a soul and a body, in that order. There is never a mixing of this order and in fact this line up is one of many clues that God plants throughout the scriptures to remind us not to forget certain important things of order. So the question must be asked, when we experience a breakdown of the human body (regardless of how it happened), has this breakdown originated in our spirit, possibly the soul or even a direct tangible attack manifesting in the body?
To know the answer definitively and without further question, we must first get a couple of TRUTHS under our belt.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV)
"May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of Lord Jesus Christ."
The truth of the matter is that we were made to be a perfectly balanced 3 part being, just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who created us are, after the pattern of their likeness and image. Every part of our whole existence is interconnected, with our soul resting in the middle and acting as a fulcrum (think teeter totter), determining which way our entire being is going lean, spirit or body. Of course as Christians the ideal is to lead that spirit filled, focused and fearless life; but while this is very much our ultimate goal, we can all recall how many times we have allowed the tangible (representing the body) to lead, dictate and take us down pathways (tangible or otherwise) that we never should have been on. The obvious ways in which the tangible have taken over, are in the category of vices that we have enjoyed, tolerated and been the prisoner of, over the years of our lifespan. The not so obvious ways are sly and subtle. Think about it for moment, how do you get someone who becomes radically saved and transformed, who knows better now and won't become victim to the same old trappings, to keep living under the thumb of the lies of the enemy, to fall for the oldest trick in the book? Although they are free from those unwanted vices, because of their ignorance they are still in the dark and disconnected from their TRUE identity, being sucker punched with a bate and switch offer of something they already have in Christ, that they are not aware of.
Ephesians 4:17-19 (NIV)
"So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity and they are full of greed."
We say all of that to say this, it is essential for us to be trained to think spiritual life first because that is the true north for the compass of our soul.
Proverbs 23:7 sums up this understanding simply and profoundly, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." As most of us are aware, our soul is made up of our thoughts, our emotions and our will; the most powerful being our will. As spirit beings with a soul having a human experience, we need to understand why the situations in life are much more below the surface than tangibly above. We are two thirds intangible and one third tangible meaning that there is more of us beneath the surface than above. It makes perfect sense that there are constantly "invisible" forces trying to influence our will in order to swing us in the direction of the darkness of futility, being left with more questions about our plight and afflictions than we have answers. Fortunately for us, we have the TRUTH on these matters in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NASB)
"For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."
The spirit world is comprised of both evil (the devil) and good (God Almighty) forces, all of the natural tangible three dimensional world (including us) is actually temporal. Therefore, the real forces of what governs all of creation are the eternal words of a Heavenly Father who put and still holds everything together by what He says. Now, the evil forces, also found in the spirit realm, are attempting to find access and opportunity by way of the lies that they are propagating to counter the TRUTH. From where we sit in the middle of a pandemic without hard natural answers, without true experts, without concrete solutions, with fear mongering and manipulation happening; we cannot afford to acquiesce to what they are selling and peddling and groping for. Our final authority is nothing less than our Father God and His word.
So here's the deal, the tangible, symptomatic, superficial things of the world in which we live are screaming for validation at every turn. Knowingly or not we are being harassed, ever increasingly, to just go along with the many panic driven compliances masquerading as FALSE un-adjudicated legislation for safety of life. The powers of this present evil age simply do not have any right to this push and shove. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 IS THE TRUTH about who is in charge of our lives. All things means ALL THINGS! It doesn't matter what we are being told. It doesn't apply to us, because all things are ours. It doesn't matter if things get even more gnarly it will not dictate how we think, because all things are ours.
The good news is that the permanent solution for us while we are here on planet earth, is simple. Balance. We must start these days in the presence of God, praying in heavenly tongues and charging our environment with an awareness of His presence. We must check those FALSE thoughts at their conception, not allowing them even a blink of an eye's worth of time to gain traction. Lastly, we must keep our bodies (the temple of the Holy Spirit) under the command of the scriptures that declare that Jesus bore our sickness and disease and by His stripes we were healed (Isaiah 53:4-5). Listen, the devil is a liar and a thief, by virtue of the fact that he would even attack us, validates the TRUTH that we HAVE something that he needs to take, so we MUST stand our ground against his lies with the TRUTH that we are INTANGIBLY EMPOWERED by GOD.