Proverbs 25:28
He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
Man is created in the image of God. Like the Godhead, man is a trinity of body, soul and spirit. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one God in three persons, who are always united in the same will.
Our body, soul, and spirit are not always in harmony with each other. Worse, our will is often contrary to God, such that even if we had a united soul and spirit, we might still be in rebellion, like Ananias and Saphira, who were unified against the Holy Ghost.
The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. We need to let our spirit be lightened by God through receiving his word.
We can come to understand from the Bible how to do this, by first understanding the difference between the spirit and soul. The Bible clearly pictures these two parts of the inner man, as husband and wife. This can be seen from the way David refers to his soul as female, how 1 Peter calls a woman's spirit the inner man, and how Mary's spirit led her soul in humbly rejoicing over the fact that God would choose someone of such a low estate for such a great blessing as to be the mother of our Lord.
Successfully ruling our spirit is one of the best things we can do for God. We need to pray, read our Bible and praise God every day of our lives, to keep our spirit in the will of God.
Proverbs 16:32
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city |
