From author

Wade J. Carey

“a practical approach to faith”

1 Thessalonians 5:23
“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body (emphasis added) be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ..”

This week’s THEOLOGICAL FOCUS is on mankind’s makeup

An old school way of looking at mankind’s makeup is to merely refer to a person as a “soul.” While I can certainly understand that, the theological opinion I’ve long since landed on is that we have three distinct parts to our being:  our body (physical presence), our soul (unique personality) and our spirit (made in the image of God—distinct in all of creation). The passage above is one which supports this position. All three of these components, if you will, of our makeup are what make us uniquely sons and daughters of God through Jesus Christ. All of that makes sense, right?

Enter, the Hedgehog.

In Job 1:10, we see Satan speaking to God about Job. Here is a key part of what he says:  “… Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?” Many sermons and prayers have centered around this “hedge of protection” God has around all of us. I actually pray about this all of the time. All is well when our hedge is strong and we’re protected. But life on the current earth has more to it than that. There’s a much more sinister element lurking around our lives.

In a way, I think of Satan and his demonic followers as a type of “hedgehog.” They wander around our hedge of protection and do everything they can to throw us out of balance. Unfortunately, when we’re out of balance, we often turn to sin as a remedy. That’s actually the goal of the demonic hedgehogs—to discourage us and turn us towards sin. If they can knock us out of balance, they win. Only the Lord can keep us in balance between our body, soul, and spirit.

It seems to me that most of the attacks from the evil realm are covert. The enemy largely operates outside the limelight so as to not have their treachery exposed to the light of God’s truth. So they bury themselves around our hedge, constantly launching spiritual attacks in the hopes we’ll turn to ourselves or the world for the remedy, not God. So what is God’s best prescription for thwarting the hedgehogs? Consider this …

Hebrews 4:12 … “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

Spiritual wars must be fought with spiritual weapons. Or rather, wea-pon (singular). The Word of God is certainly powerful as an offensive weapon, but it also provides an incredibly soothing defensive medicine for our spirit and soul through the blessed gift of hope.

Hope is the one thing we absolutely cannot live without. Biblical hope transcends physical death and gives us a glimmer of light in our momentary troubles through the One who spilled His blood for our sins, Jesus Christ. I’ve written a unique book on hope titled, “Late Night Breakfast * a vision of hope.” It’s about a truck driver who feels like he’s lost everything, only to discover how biblical hope can bridge the gap between our momentary troubles and an eternal life of joy with Jesus Christ.

For the price of a couple of lattes, you can follow Juan’s journey of discovery. For about half the price of one latte, you can read it on Kindle. What are you waiting for?

Have a great week!

Wade