The REAL You

Peter identifies the real man as the 'hidden man of the heart' in 1 Peter 3:4.

You are more than the body that houses your spirit. When a man's body dies, his spirit lives on. He is still as much the human person as he was before he died, except that he lost the ability to function in the physical world.

According to a story Jesus told, the spirit man, the 'real' person, has all the consciousness he had before he died.

Read Luke 16:19-31.

Note that when the two men died, their bodies were buried in the earth, but Jesus said that in hell, the rich man lifted up his eyes and saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, and he recognized Lazarus. This means he could still see and comprehend. Jesus said the rich man called out to Abraham in verse 24, "...Father Abraham, have mercy on me...for I am tormented in this flame." This verse reveals to us that he could feel.

He could even remember. For he said, "...send [Lazarus] to my father's house: for I have five brothers...lest they also come to this place of torment." He could remember his family on earth and even the fact that they didn't know, understand, or believe.

Your physical body is your house, but it is not the 'real' you. The senses are man’s medium for relating with his environment. The human body can only receive information from this world through its five senses. The inward man, however, is the human spirit and his soul; the seat of his mind, will, and emotions. When you speak, it’s the inward man that talks through your mouth; he’s the one expressing himself through your physical body.

The “inward man” is the 'real' you. It's the spirit man who is born again. When you believed and confessed the Lordship of Jesus, it wasn’t your body (the outward man) who was reborn; it was your inward man—your human spirit. Being born again is the recreation of the inward man—the human spirit—to become God’s dwelling place; His holy tabernacle.

Too many are more concerned about what’s going on in their bodies, the outward man, not realizing that they’re indeed spirit beings. The premium should be on training and educating your inward man because that’s the person and character of your being.

The Lord relates with your spirit in leading and guiding you; He contacts you through your spirit, the inward man. Therefore, practice the exercise of educating your spirit, the inward man, with the Word to discover all the new things that became yours when you were born again.

PRAYER 📣

(Say this outloud).
Dear Father, thank you, for my old life has been completely supplanted by the divine life, which is superior to all depravities that affect the natural man. Your Word reveals to me every new thing You have given me in place of the old that is all gone. I walk in the knowledge of this truth, and its power is fully activated in my life to live the transcendent life and walk in the fullness of my new nature in Christ, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.