Living From the Inside Out: A Spiritual Blueprint

Living From the Inside Out: A Spiritual Blueprint

Through faith, we grow and mature into love for all the saints. Once we reach this point, we are ready to receive the spirit of wisdom, revelation, and the knowledge of Him. However, this wisdom does not come passively—it is not something we merely receive. Paul wrote these words, and his prayer, having fulfilled his part in revealing them, is that through this revelation, believers may receive the spirit and have the eyes of their understanding enlightened.

Now, let’s consider this understanding:

Man is a three-part being—body, soul, and spirit. But at his core, man is a living soul. As Scripture says: 

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28)

The soul possesses both a body and a spirit. Through the body, the soul comprehends the physical world—it sees, tastes, hears, and experiences the material realm. But just as the body allows the soul to perceive the physical, the soul can only understand spiritual truths through the spirit part of his three-part being.

This is how a person receives understanding—through the spirit, not the body. Many people attempt to operate in the wrong order, seeking spiritual truths in a physical manner. But this is backward; we must operate as God designed us—spirit first.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." (Ephesians 1:3)

These blessings cannot be grasped through physical senses. They cannot be discovered through earthly efforts or bodily perception. They are spiritually discerned. We receive them through the spirit.

Thus, man is a soul that has a spirit—to receive spiritual things—and a body, which serves a distinct purpose. The body was never meant to receive spiritual wisdom. Instead, it was created to manifest spiritual truths. It is a vessel for displaying the glory of God.

People often operate externally, looking to the world first, when God designed us to operate from the inside out. This is why Paul prays for believers:

"That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man." (Ephesians 3:16)

So, how is the soul linked to the spirit? Through the mind. Knowledge is taken in through the mind, but understanding is what transforms the heart. Paul speaks of the vanity of the mind and the blindness of the heart:

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." (Ephesians 4:17-18)

After we are saved through hearing and believing the grace gospel, we are awakened spiritually, 1Co 2:9-16. When knowledge is received with spiritual understanding, through studying the word of God, the heart is no longer blind, and we are no longer alienated from the life of God. Through this enlightened understanding, Christ dwells within us. We are reconciled to God, no longer separated from His life.

Inspired and adapted from a preaching by Paul Lucas.