When I asked the Lord what I should write about for the blog, the word that came to my spirit was “voices”. H-m-m-m, what can I say about voices? This is what I believe the Holy Spirit brought to my mind.

         Our voices are very important. We use our voice to get saved. Romans 10:9-10 says, “... if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

        Salvation occurs in two places – in our hearts and in our mouths.

      With our voices, “we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ...” (2 Corinthians 10:5). With our words, we triumph over the enemy. “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Revelation 12:11 NIV).

     We defend the Gospel with our voices. “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame” (1 Peter 3:15-16 ESV). “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16 ESV).

     Our voices bring deliverance. “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14 NKJV). Esther took her life into her hands, spoke up for her people the Jews, and God delivered them.

        When we use our voices to speak the truth in love, we grow up in Jesus. "Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church” (Ephesians 4:15 NLT).

        With our voices, we praise the Lord. “So I will not be silent; I will sing praise to you. LORD, you are my God, I will give you thanks forever” (Psalm 30:12 GNB). Praise removes chains and opens doors. “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose” (Acts 16:25-26 NIV).

        We can use our voices to defend the rights of the downtrodden. “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9 ESV).

       May the Lord help us to examine ourselves to discern how we use our voices. Do we use what we say to tear down or to build up? “Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out” (Colossians 4:6) MSG). We need to remember, with our voices we can kill or give life. “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose” (Proverbs 18:21 MSG).

    In closing, Psalm 119:130 NKJV says, “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple”. When we use our voices to speak God’s Word, we bring light to the world.

                 


​                 As humans, we are made in the image of God. We are a three part being. The essence of who we are is our spirit. It is with our spirit that we connect with God. We have a soul, made up of our mind, emotions, and will, and we live in a body, our earth suit.

THE SPIRIT
           
             Before we are born again, our spirits are in a dead state toward God and alive to sin. Ephesians 2: 4-5 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)...”

            When we accept Christ as our Saviour, the old sinful nature is crucified and buried into death with Christ. “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—” (Romans 6:6 NIV). Colossians 3:3 says,  “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (NKJV).

            Now, as born-again believers, our spirit is alive to God. “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:11, NKJV). When we put our faith in Jesus, our born-again spirit is recreated in the righteousness of Jesus, holy, with the very nature of our Saviour.

                God made Jesus to be sin in our place so we can receive His righteousness as a free gift. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (NKJV). This reborn spirit in us does not change – it has been made righteous forever. This is amazing news!

THE SOUL

            The soul consists of the mind, emotions, and will. When we are born-again, this part of us does not change instantly. It still carries with it the old thought patterns and habits we had before we accepted Christ. It is the part that is constantly being made holy. “For by the one offering He has perfected forever and completely cleansed those who are being sanctified [bringing each believer to spiritual completion and maturity]” (Hebrews 10:14 AMP).
 
           The soul is the part we spend a lifetime renewing. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2 NLT).
   
    This requires setting our minds on things above. “Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]” (Colossians 3:2 AMP). As we do this, we will starve our old sinful patterns of thought and bring our minds into agreement with our reborn spirits.

THE BODY
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            Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, He purchased us and when we are born-again, our bodies become a temple of God. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NKJV).

            As born-again believers, we are to give our bodies to righteousness rather than to sin.  “Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.” (Romans 6:19, NKJV).

            God’s Word tells us to put to death the misdeeds of our body through the power of the Holy Spirit. “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).

WITHOUT FOOD, WE DIE

          Just as we need physical food in order to survive, we need spiritual food to grow spiritually. The Word of God is our spiritual food. If we don’t meditate on it day and night, we lose our spiritual strength. That’s why Satan works so hard to keep us out of God’s Word. He wants weak, anemic Christians. His desire is for Christians to feed their minds with the things of the world, and their bodies with the lusts of the flesh.

      To overcome the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16), we need to do what God told Joshua before he led the Israelites into the Promised Land to conquer it.  “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful” (Joshua 1:8 AMP).

      The Apostle Paul tells us to, “...walk habitually in the [Holy] Spirit [seek Him and be responsive to His guidance], and then you will certainly not carry out the desire of the sinful nature [which responds impulsively without regard for God and His precepts]” (Galatians 5:16, AMP).

       We are to live our lives from the inside out, not the outside in. As we feed our re-born spirits with the Word of God, our bodies and souls will walk more and more in line with our spirit and we will become committed to the righteous purposes of God. I want that, don’t you?