Two Sides of Life

There are two sides to our existence: One (our Spirit) the is perfect, and two (our body & soul) that becomes more and more perfect till it becomes like the Spirit (achieved fully when we receive our new bodies).

1 John 3:3
And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself [body / soul], even as he is pure [Spirit].

Titus 3:5-7
But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

His Spirit makes (brings life to) our mortal bodies to be more like Him (His Holy Spirit in us).

Romans 8:11
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

He strengthens us and helps us overcome our body & soul infirmities.

Romans 8:26
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

1 Peter 1:21-22
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

We grow into unity and the fullness of Christ in our being. Our Spirit is just like Him, but our body and soul become more like Him (our Spirit).

Ephesians 4:11-15
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory (in our Spirit) to glory (in our body and soul / flesh), even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 7:1
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

The way we do this is forgetting the things of our former ways (the flesh) and strive to live out from the Spirit that IS us; not the flesh that was who we thought we were and formerly behaved according to whatever our flesh spoke to us to do.

Ephesians 4:22-24
That ye put off concerning the former conversation (manner of life of) the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

When we are to "Just Be", it's that the Lord wants us to Just Be Him in us; not "just be" the flesh that was us.

We used to only just be our flesh, our body, and our soul, doing whatever they wanted without reign and not knowing we had a choice in the matter.

But God gave us a new Spirit from which to make our decisions in life. We now not only have a choice in how we source our decisions, but He gave us Himself and His ability to make that choice: that same ability as Christ Jesus.

That doesn't make it not hard, it just makes it sure (and with the strength to do it).

Jesus made that choice through sweating blood. We don't have that most-difficult-choice to make His Sacrifice for All) for us worry about how hard it COULD be. No. Instead, even though our choices we need to make in the Spirit are hard for our flesh, our choices are less troublesome and severe as was Jesus's.

And because He succeeded in overcoming His flesh, we have the confidence that we can do the same: Him in us, "I can do all things THROUGH Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).

We are dead in Him, let us keep ahold of that truth that our flesh was crucified in Him on the Cross--so that we shine from the Spirit within.

Colossians 3:1-3, 9b-15
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God... Ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Our body is a living sacrifice. Living, in that it is His Life living through us:

Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me

A Sacrifice, in that it is dead—whatever what brought to the alter, once it has been sacrificed, is now dead. It cannot be brought to life again.

Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Our obligation is to maintain that presenting of our bodies as having already been sacrificed in Christ on the Cross. And as such, our bodies are no longer in control of who we are, how we act, or what we do. We may feel like it still does, but that's where the renewing of our mind comes in: we may feel it still has control, but in reality (God's Reality), it really does not have control. It doesn't. We believed the lie of the body for so long telling us it was the truth, that it's hard for us to immediately accept that God's Truth is the Real Truth.

But His Truth is our Truth and our Reality. And boy, does it hurt sometimes resetting our mind to believe God's Truth over our body's former "truth". And sometimes we have to continually remind ourself that our body (our Flesh) is already dead. Even Paul had to.

For Paul & the others had to remind themselves of the dead state of their body in and through the persecutions they faced. And they became a testimony to us as what it is to walk with a dead body to Glorify the Lord. And to also bring and share those experiences to us now to bring life to us by example:

2 Corinthians 4:7-12
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

God can also use aspects of our life to bring healing to others who are facing the same troubles. When we face and experience trials, we can testify of them to others to alleviate their pain and struggles. God then takes each of the different pain and suffering testimonies to minister as a group or whole to others to bring freedom and relief to them. The more we all share, the more we all get set free. Be open and aware and seek out to hear from others so that I too can be set free from those pains and sufferings. Sharing our struggles and pains bring healing and freedom:

James 5:17
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.