Breakthrough to Spiritual Maturity

I have just came back from my church Young Adults (YA) retreat. It was a three days two nights retreat at Sentosa Scripture Union Campsite and my eyes are really opened by God to see the Truth right from the beginning in Genesis.

Firstly, for the first time, I realised that we being God's created beings come in a package of three components namely, Spirit, Soul and Body. This certainly allows me to see the importance of my Spirit because this is my only component which allows me to communicate with God and to receive His instructions for me. My Soul plays the role of decision making like meeting nature calls, eating, drinking and resting. However most of the times, my Body who is the one doing the physical expression of the instructions of the Soul, do not heed to the calling of the Soul. Hence, this often results in sin taking place in our life. Together, my Soul and my Body constitutes my Flesh.

Throughout the retreat, I began to realise the increasing importance of the roles that the Holy Spirit is playing in my spiritual life. Indeed, all of us are spiritual beings although we also have our own flesh (Soul + Body). Ultimately, what really counts in the end is our Spirit because only through the Spirit can we really know God and hear from Him. If I do not know Christ, my Spirit will be dead in my sins. I am only left with my Flesh (Soul + Body). I definitely need Christ to revive my Spirit so that I can establish a personal and intimate relationship with God. The Bible says in Rom 8:10 that if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

Furthermore, the devotion for the two mornings talked about the Spirit too. The first devotion mentions about praying to God to live above my fleshy desires today by exercising my spiritual inheritance at every temptation. The second devotion mentions about being led by the Spirit when praying to God. Overall, I felt ministered by God strongly regarding my Spirit and the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord for reviving my Spirit to know you personally.

Another issue which I learnt from God is Spiritual ties and bondages. The speaker demonstrates to us through actors and actresses in a scenario of a marriage couple. Here he first defines the biblical meaning of "The two will become one flesh." (Gen 2:24) Interestingly, as mentioned earlier, flesh = soul + body. Hence when a husband has laid with his wife, the two of them will become one flesh and spiritually bonded together. This is a beautiful picture of a marriage. However, the spiritual bonding can happen in sexual sins too like adultery, fornication, premarital realationships, homosexual or lesbian relationships, bestiality and pornography. In these cases, our spirits may be actually bonded to other demonic spirits. This is how scary it can be.

When we go into a marriage with all our additional spiritual bondages, we are not getting a "two become one flesh" but "multiple become one flesh"! Hence, this creates a stronghold for Satan to come in to destroy and conquer. Therefore, to cut away our spiritual bondages due to sexual sins, we need to sincerely come before God to repent and renounce of our sins and ask Him to deliver us from our bondages.

Throughout our ministry time, I experienced the power of God delivering me from my spiritual bondages. He is indeed my True Saviour and Lord! Thank you, Father God for delivering me and making me clean and free in Your Presence. In response, I will like to pray this prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, I praise You and honor You as my Lord. You are in control of all things. I thank You that You are always with me and will never leave me nor forsake me. You are the only all-powerful and only wise God. You are kind and loving in all Your ways. I love You and thank You that I am united with Christ and spiritually alive in Him. I choose not to love the world or things in the world, and I crucify the flesh and all its passions.

Thank You for the life i now have in Christ. I ask You to fill me with the Holy Spirit so I may say "no" to sin and "yes" to You. I declare my total dependence upon You and I take my stand against Satan and all his lying ways. I choose to believe the truth of God's Word despite what my feelings may say. I refuse to be discouraged because You are the God of all hope. Nothing is too difficult for You. I am confident that You will supply all my needs as I seek to live according to Your Word. I thank You that I can be content and live a responsible life through Christ Who strengthens me.

I now take my stand against Satan and command him and all his evil spirits to depart from me. I choose to put on the full armor of God so I may be able to stand firm against all the devil's schemes. I submit my body as a living and holy sacrifice to God and I choose to renew my mind by the living Word of God. By so doing I will be able to prove that the will of God is good, acceptable and perfect for me. In the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

To end off this entry, I will like to remind myself of the retreat theme song:

"I Will Never Be"

I will never be the same again

I can never return

I've closed the door

I will walk the path

I will run the race

And I will never be the same again

Fall like fire, soak like rain

Flow mighty waters

Again and again

Sweep away the darkness

Burn away the chaff

And let a flame burn

To glorify Your name

There are higher height

There are deeper seas

Whatever You need to do

Lord, do it in me

The glory of God fills my life

And I will never be the same again