Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Whom do you love, and whom do you hate? In your walk with Christ, does your soul – mind, will, emotions and personality – (the older brother Esau) serve the younger Spirit Man (the younger brother Jacob) or does your Spirit Man serve your Soul Man? Do your affections align with the Father’s or with satan’s? Whom do you love and nurture and whom do you hate?
Are you cooperating in the building of a temple for the Lord’s Presence?

Just to review where we have come from and where we are headed. The “older brother” (Esau) – our souls (mind, will, emotions and personality) are supposed to serve the “younger brother” (Jacob) – our spirit man. But this is impossible when the Spirit man has not been brought to life. This resurrection is made possible only through a surrender of rights. What right is that? The right of the soul to be “god,” the “center,” or “command control.” We agree to allow the Lord to take that “right” from us – dying to our desire to be god, in control, and in command. Through our breaking agreement with the enemy within, and without, the Father raises our spirits from the dead. That resurrection creates a whole new conflict as God drops His garden in us behind enemy lines. From that point on the war between spirit and soul begins.

Watchman Nee says that “It is imperative that a believer know he has a spirit, since as we shall soon learn, every communication of God with man occurs there. If the believer does not discern his own spirit he invariably is ignorant of how to commune with God in the spirit. He easily substitutes the thoughts or emotions of the soul for the works of the spirit. Thus he confines himself to the outer realm, unable ever to reach the spiritual realm.” (The Spiritual Man, Volume 1) Thus we have been learning that God seeks those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth. And we learned that worship is more than a song, or posture, but a way of life. Unfortunately, for most in the Western Church that life is non-existent, lived mostly from Watchman Need “outer realm.”

We’ve learned that there were 2 tents: Moses’ Tent of Meeting and the Priestly Tent of Meeting. One was personal, for meeting the Lord outside the “Camp,” and the other was for ministering to the Lord and others, inside the “Camp.” Both tents are accessible only through the “Door” and only through becoming a living sacrifice – facing the fire of the cross of Christ. We meet Jesus outside the “Camp” as we join Him on His Cross – identifying with His death, burial and resurrection. Through meeting His covenant conditions we begin being built into a spiritual house in and for the Lord. This “building” is achieved through alignment with the Word and Spirit. That alignment made possible only through obedience and practice.

We discovered as sons and daughters of God our identification with Him is so intense that the Father’s purpose – which He has for His Son – is also being replicated in us. As Jesus is a Temple, so we too are being built into a temple. We realized that He is the Altar and we are being built into an altar. He is the Bronze Laver, we are being built into a bronze laver. He is the Menorah, the Light of the World, and we are being built into menorahs for the world. And this process is continued on from the Table of Showbread to the Altar of Incense, to the Ark of the Covenant.

Romans 9:12-13 It was said to her that the elder [son] should serve the younger [son]. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated (held in relative disregard in comparison with My feeling for Jacob).

The question remains, Whom do you love, and whom do you hate? In your walk with Christ, does the older serve the younger or does your spirit man serve your flesh? Do your affections align with the Father’s or with satan’s? Whom do you love and nurture and whom do you hate? Are you cooperating in the building of a temple for the Lord’s Presence?