Living Sacrafice Part II

A WOUNDED SPIRIT

The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?

Proverbs 16:15

According to Solomon, a wounded spirit (soul) is a shattered and broken heart, distorted emotions and disappointment. We call this disposition hurt or pain. If we really examine hurt, it is emotional trauma. The soul is afflicted. It has been traumatized or offended by the actions of another.

According to Proverbs 16:15, the soul or heart is capable of dealing with the infirmities of the flesh. However, when the heart is broken, it is incapable of producing the emotions (agape love) needed to overcome the weaknesses of the flesh. Therefore, we must guide or protect our hearts from such trauma. Of course, the ultimate protection is the Word of God. It must be deeply planted, or as David said, hidden in the heart, that we might not sin against God. Remember, we can be offended in many different ways:

I. OFFENDED BY THE WORD - If there is wantonness of any sort in your heart, you will begin to feel that the Word is too restraining. This mindset will lead you outside the boundaries of Faith to achieve your goals.

II. OFFENDED BY INSTITUTED AUTHORITY - As in the above, if wantonness and unbelief are not dealt with inside of you, people God installs in your life to enforce His Word may be viewed as an offense.

III. OFFENDED BY RELATIONSHIPS - I truly believe this is the single greatest hindrance to spiritual development. Why? Because it is here that the greatest rebellion against truth is found. Relationships are where we are given a platform to glorify the Lord and this is where we blow it.

The Lord gave us two great commandments to live by: (1) LoveGod with all your heart and (2) love your neighbor as yourself. We have allowed offenses to shatter our hearts and traumatize our emotions. They have created bitterness in us beyond measure. This iniquity has stopped the flow of God's love for his people. This is also the single greatest reason the Holy Spirit will not manifest the power of God through us. This is why we cannot get help in the time of need to destroy the works of the devil in our lives or the lives of others. Please, let us take a little time to hear God the Father.

Romans 12:1-2

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.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

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.

Romans 12:1

The heart is capable of sustaining the infirmities of the flesh.

Truth - The Word of God and the way of righteousness.

The greatest rebellion to truth is found inside of relationships

YOUR BODY: GOD'S PLATFORM FOR MINISTRY

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Romans 12:19

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:21

The entire 12th chapter of Romans expresses the desire of the Father for the sons because:

1. It sets the perspective by which we are to live.

2. It expresses the power of the gospel in the life of God's people.

3. It also provides God with a platform to minister.

The Lord wants to procure more sons. He wants to express His great love for mankind to the world. He wants to heal them of their iniquity and wash them of their sins. He wants to bind up their broken hearts, and usher them into His kingdom. To do that, He needs intercessors who will not only pray for His grace to come into the lives of others, but intercessors who will allow God to access the world through their bodies.

The Holy Ghost lives in us, waiting to manifest Himself to the world. But He will never perform unless He knows the Father will be glorified. As we learned in our study of faith, this is why the mountain won't move. Our wantonness will rob God of His glory. We need to look even deeper into this matter that continues to leave us void of the Jesus ministry.

We are not our own. We were bought with a price.

HURT WILL DENY GOD OF GLORY

Hear the Word. Our response to offenses steals every opportunity for the Lord to bless, love and even save His people. We are the ones He has taken from among men and ordained in things pertaining to Him, so that we might offer ourselves as living sacrifices. Through us He can touch those who are lost, ignorant and out of the way.

I. THE ALTAR - Our very life and our territorial sphere of influence should become God's righteous altar. In the tabernacle in the wilderness, the altar was a place where men could come to offer that which would gain them an audience with God.

The world ought to recognize our existence as a place of

inquiry:

A. The altar should stand tall and large enough to be seen.

B. It must accommodate all the ills of our race.

C. The fire in the altar must be hot enough to consume the negative dispositions of others.

It must consume their sins and trespasses. We are charged with not imputing sin unto others, but forgiving them of every offense, even if we are the victims.

II. THE SACRIFICE - The Word is clear. The living body must be offered as a sacrifice. It must be holy and acceptable unto God. In other words, if the Lord puts His stamp of approval on your service to Him, your body, mind and soul must be brought to a place of righteousness.

Consider that God wants to make you His platform of ministry. He wants His spirit to work through you. You are the stage He will stand on. You are the place of His coming together with His people. He wants to heal them through you. He wants to save and deliver them through you.But remember, whenever the Lord comes down to His people, He sanctifies His place of residence, as He did at Mount Sinai, the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. These were all made holy by God. We must be made holy. We must come up to His standard, before He will use this flesh as His stage to speak, heal or deliver His people.

We have discussed many times the effect of wantonness for the things of the world. We have seen how it separates us from true fellowship with the Holy Spirit. We also need to consider that God's potential platform is being defiled by our hurts, emotional traumas and soulish disappointments. We prefer to hurt rather than heal. We refuse to apply the healing balm (the Word) to our lives, which would make us void of any retribution (repayment for an offense).

We have lived in this spiritual location so long that the enemy (the fleshy mind) will not allow us to focus on the healing of hurt, the destruction of iniquity or the joy that comes to us when we have done the will of God. This is simply because we have felt victimized. We see the offender as undeserving of love. We must allow healing (agape love) to flow in the midst of a trauma or hurt.

If you never move to this spiritual location, you will not experience Christ resting upon you. This is truth. This is God being brought to the stage of life. This is how you provoke the Holy Spirit to operate in other areas. But first, you must love with agape love.

Beloved, listen carefully to the tapes that come with this lesson. For I am sure that when ministered, there will be much more increase. Provide God with a platform. His Word to us today is, "Stop denying Me."

Sidebar Notes:

Offense - 1. An occasion to sutmble or fall. 2. Will cause anger, dislike or displeasure which are emotions and reactions of the flesh and the fleshy mind. Banks’ Expository

Our lives should become God's righteous altar, a place of inquiry for the world.

God wants the sacrifice of a surrendered heart.