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1 Timothy 4 v 1-5

Apostasy

4 But the [Holy] Spirit explicitly and unmistakably declares that in later times some will turn away from the faith, paying attention instead to deceitful and seductive spirits and doctrines of demons, ² [misled] by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared as with a branding iron [leaving them incapable of ethical functioning], ³ who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from [certain kinds of] foods which God has created to be gratefully shared by those who believe and have [a clear] knowledge of the truth. ⁴ For everything God has created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; ⁵ for it is sanctified [set apart, dedicated to God] by means of the word of God and prayer.

OUR SPIRIT BEING THE HIDDEN MAN OF THE HEART

First Peter 3:4 reveals that our spirit is the hidden man of our heart. The hidden man is a meek and quiet spirit. When our spirit is meek and quiet, it is hidden. First Peter 3:4 indicates that every part of our being may be considered as a man. Our physical body is our outward man, our soul is our expressed, manifested man, and our spirit is our hidden man.

According to 1 Peter 3, the most beautiful part of our being, the prettiest adornment, in the sight of God is a meek and quiet spirit. This is the hidden man of the heart. This point shows that our spirit is the deepest part of our being. So if we are going to be pretty in the eyes of God, we have to be pretty from the depths of our being. We should not be pretty just outwardly, in a physical way. We have to be pretty inwardly, in the hidden man. This man is hidden from the eyes of man, but it is not hidden from the eyes of God, because such a hidden man, that is, a meek and quiet spirit, is pretty in the eyes of God.

We have to point out that 1 Peter 3:4, on the one hand, says something about the hidden man but, on the other hand, refers to it as being in the sight of God. This means that this meek and quiet spirit is hidden in our heart from human eyes, but it is not hidden in the sight of God. God sees it. So this is the real beauty a godly person should have.

OUR REGENERATED SPIRIT BEING OUR INNER MAN

We have to help the saints realize that our human spirit is the lamp of God, serving God with a purpose. Furthermore, this spirit is a beautiful, hidden man in the sight of God. Also, when our spirit is regenerated, it becomes the inner man (Eph. 3:16). The sense of the word inner is stronger than the sense of the word hidden. The hidden man is one that is not manifested, but the inner man can be very active and aggressive. According to Ephesians 3, the inner man must be very active and very aggressive to live the Lord out. After the inner man is strengthened, Christ has the way to make His home in our hearts. This indicates that the inner man is not just something hidden, meek, and quiet but is something very living, active, and aggressive so that Christ may use it for Himself to make His home in our hearts.

According to the Bible, I believe the above three points are the basic description of what our spirit is. Our spirit is the lamp of the Lord, a pretty, hidden man in God’s eyes, and the inner man, living, active, and aggressive for the Lord to fulfill His purpose. These three points help us to know what our spirit is.

Reference: https://www.ministrysamples.org/excerpts/OUR-SPIRIT-BEING-THE-HIDDEN-MAN-OF-THE-HEART.HTML

• Isaiah 55 v 11: So will My word be which goes out of My mouth;
  It will not return to Me void (useless, without result),
  Without accomplishing what I desire,
  And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
• God’s power is inherent in His word;
• Psalm 62 v 11-12:God has spoken once (God speaks one thing),
  Twice (Two things, I hear) I have heard this:
  That power belongs to God.
  ¹² 
  Also to You, O Lord, belong lovingkindness and compassion,
  For You compensate every man according to [the value of] his work.

To understand the power and love in God’s word, let us consider God’s account of creation, when God created everything in the beginning, culminating in: “Let us make man in Our own image”. This gives us an insight to what is meant by the text in Hebrews 11 v 3 that By faith [that is, with an inherent trust and enduring confidence in the power, wisdom and goodness of God] we understand that the worlds (universe, ages) were framed and created [formed, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose] by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible, and this is a proof that there is a spiritual realm/world and a physical world/realm, which equally evidenced that God is a spirit, He is the Spirit, the Lord of spirits, the Holy Spirit.

In Hebrews 4 v 12: For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged ^[b]sword, penetrating as far as the division of the ^[c]soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Our thoughts come from our mind (that supposedly resides in our soul, or where our soul is located, or synonymous with our soul); while our intentions comes from our heart (where our spirit is located).

The Word of God, well according to the book of John 1 v 1-3: In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (^[a]Christ), and the Word was with God, and ^[b]the Word was God Himself. ² He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] with God. ³ All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being.

Thus, the Holy Spirit (God) reveals to us that God’s Word (Christ) has the power to effect change in the spirit, soul and body of man (as evident in the many healing miracles and exorcism performed by Jesus Christ).

However, despite the power in the word of God, it does not work or achieves success or activate prosperity in the life of everyone, because of its conditionality nature; which is faith/belief with conviction. This is what is meant in John 3 v 16:  “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He[even] gave His [One and] ^[a]only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. Hence the Scriptures also says the just shall live by faith.

You must believe and embrace Christ and do what He says (obedience). You must first embrace and revere Christ/the Word of God/God; and you obey, by doing what Christ says we should do, by living according to the commandments and principles/precepts of God.

Unfortunately, many children of God who believe His word and desire to prosper are not prosperous because they refuse to revere the word.

Christ told us in Luke 6 v 38: Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over [with no space left for more]. For with the standard of measurement you use [when you do good to others], it will be measured to you in return.”

Only those who believe in this word and act on it will prosper by the power embedded in it. It is not the hearers but the doers of God’s word that are justified (Romans 2 v 13: For it is not those who merely hear the Law [as it is read aloud] who are just or righteous before God, but it is those who [actually] obey the Law who will be ^[b]justified [pronounced free of the guilt of sin and declared acceptable to Him]. )

Success/healing/prosperity/life or whatever power is in the Word will stay with them (doers of the word) and overtake them all the days of their lives.

James 1 v 25:  But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and faithfully abides by it, not having become a [careless] listener who forgets but ^[h]an active doer [who obeys], he will be blessed and favored by God in what he does [in his life of obedience].

I pray that you will begin to prosper through the word of God from today in JN, Amen.

O Lord God, You to whom vengeance belongs,
O God, You to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth [in judgment]!
² 
Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
Give to the proud a fitting compensation.
³ 
O Lord, how long will the wicked,
How long will the wicked rejoice in triumph?
⁴ 
They pour out words, speaking arrogant things;
All who do evil boast proudly.
⁵ 
They crush Your people, O Lord,
And afflict and abuse Your heritage.
^6 
[a]They kill the widow and the alien
And murder the fatherless.
⁷ 
Yet they say, “The Lord does not see,
Nor does the God of Jacob (Israel) notice it.”

⁸ 
Consider thoughtfully, you senseless (stupid ones) among the people;
And you [dull-minded] fools, when will you become wise andunderstand?
⁹ 
He who made the ear, does He not hear?
He who formed the eye, does He not see?
¹⁰ 
He who instructs the nations,
Does He not rebuke and punish,
He who teaches man knowledge?
¹¹ 
The Lord knows the thoughts of man,
That they are a mere breath (vain, empty, futile).

¹² 
Blessed [with wisdom and prosperity] is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O Lord,
And whom You teach from Your law,
¹³ 
That You may grant him [power to calm himself and find] peace in the days of adversity,
Until the pit is dug for the wicked and ungodly.
¹⁴ 
For the Lord will not abandon His people,
Nor will He abandon His inheritance.
¹⁵ 
For judgment will again be righteous,
And all the upright in heart will follow it.
¹⁶ 
Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?
Who will take a stand for me against those who do wickedness?

¹⁷ 
If the Lord had not been my help,
I would soon have dwelt in [the land of] silence.
¹⁸ 
If I say, “My foot has slipped,”
Your compassion and lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up.
¹⁹ 
When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,
Your comforts delight me.
²⁰ 
Can a throne of destruction be allied with You,
One which frames and devises mischief by decree [under the sacred name of law]?
²¹ 
They band themselves together against the life of the righteous
And condemn the innocent to death.
²² 
But the Lord has become my high tower and defense,
And my God the rock of my refuge.
²³ 
He has turned back their own wickedness upon them
And will destroy them by means of their own evil;
The Lord our God will wipe them out.

Luke 17 v 11-19

Mathew 8 v 1-4

Hebrews 11 v 17-19

God does things according to how it pleases Him and His Will. The most important gift that God has given us is the gift of Salvation, for Ephesians 2 v 8-9 tells us that: For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; ⁹ not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation].

So, Salvation is by the Grace of God through faith as apportioned (measured) to each of us. Accordingly, Romans 12 v 3 states that: For by the grace [of God] given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of himself [and of his importance and ability] than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has apportioned to each a degree of faith [and a purpose designed for service].

When Jesus Christ wants to perform a miracle, bring about healing, He generally speaks a Word, in that Word is the healing Power of God. Psalm 62 v 11-12: One thing God has spoken,
two things I have heard:
“Power belongs to you, God,
¹²     and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”;
and, “You reward everyone
according to what they have done.”

Note that when Jesus Christ speaks a healing Word, healing takes place instantly; However, when Jesus Christ attaches healing/miracle to a measurement of our faith, healing/miracle takes place at the verification or the measurement point of our faith, therefore not at the moment when Jesus Christ speaks.

In Mathew 8 v 1-4, Jesus healed a leper by speaking a healing Word into the life of the leper, the Word has in it, Healing Power and contained a literal element of action/dynamism; “Be cleansed”, and the leper was healed instantly. In the case(s) of healing/miracles attached to the measure of our faith, the healing/miracle takes place at the verification or the measurement point of our faith, take for instance the miracle of the healing of the ten lepers in Luke 17 v 11-19, Jesus Christ said “Go and show yourselves to the priests”, the healing did not take place immediately, but (see Luke 17 v 14 … And as they went, they were [miraculously] healed and made clean.) at the measurement point of faith, or demonstration of obedience to God, by following His instructions, no matter how strange they are; Hebrews 11 v 17-19, when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and Abraham took Isaac on some days journey to the sacrificial place, tied him up and prepare to slaughter him.

There is no contradiction when Romans 10 v 16-17: says; But they did not all pay attention to the good news [of salvation]; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” ¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the [preaching of the] message concerning Christ, with, the concept of faith being apportioned to us by God. Consequently, it follows that for a person to believe, such one has to have intrinsically (within them) a predisposition or fertile ground for the seed to germinate, the seed being the word of salvation. This fertile ground/predisposition is faith, apportioned to us by God. Prophet Isaiah told us in Isaiah 26 v 12: Lord, You will ordain peace (God’s favor and blessings, both temporal and spiritual) for us, for You have also wrought in us and for us all our works.

Prayer

Yehovah, when You test/evaluate our faith, Help us not to be found wanting. We believe in You Yahweh, Help our unbelief. Amen.