Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

• Job 7:11

My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

• Isaiah 26:9

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• 1 Thessalonians 5:23

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

• Hebrews 4:12

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

• Hebrews 6:4-8

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

• John 17:24-26

“Some people use ‘spirit’ to mean that relatively supernatural element which is given to every man at his creation—the rational element. This is, I think, the most useful way of employing the word. Here again it is important to realise that what is ‘spiritual’ is not necessarily good. A Spirit (in this sense) can be either the best or the worst of created things. It is because Man is (in this sense) a spiritual animal that he can become either a son of God or a devil.”

• C.S. Lewis, Miracles, Appendix A

Some argue that the spirit and the soul are two different words for the same thing, that part of us that will live on.  Spirit and soul are mentioned in the same verse only four times.  Job 7:11 and Isaiah 26:9 could simply be poetic.  But in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, both are mentioned by Paul as he wishes the Thessalonians to be kept blameless in their whole spirit, soul, and body.  Was he being redundant?  Yet, in Hebrews 4:12, it states that God’s Word is a double-edged sword that can divide the soul and spirit.

So, maybe we have an element of spirit within us, and the soul, our essence, is what will live on.

Thus, there are three spirits that can develop a spiritual moment.

The Holy Spirit can convict us of our sins.  The Holy Spirit can indwell us once we have opened the door for Jesus to enter.  Jesus brings the Holy Spirit along to be our advocate, counselor, and guide.  That is definitely a spiritual moment.

An evil spirit can produce within us a spiritual moment, a feel-good moment that you might remember for the rest of your life.  Yet, you did not surrender your will to God.  You simply felt good, but that evil spirit can convince you that this was the moment God saved you.  Thus, you never listen when you are told to repent.  You do not have Christ in your life, and you have no ability to repent long term.  You can repent on your own steam for a while to convince others that you are really saved.  See, I cleaned up my act, just to go back to the bad behavior after the onlookers look away.

Why would an evil spirit do this?  You are being good?  Doesn’t the evil spirit want you to be bad?  But there is nothing more dangerous to have this good person sitting in the pew next to people who may truly be seeking the Lord, and the person, under the influence of the evil spirit’s notion (the evil spirit long gone by now with other fish to fry), telling the others in the pew that they only need to climb a mountain, see God’s majesty, and they will be saved.  There is no need to read the Bible, pray, or repent of your sins.  Have your moment and then live your life the way that you want.  In essence, feeding these seekers a false god that does not truly save.

But then, you can convince yourself of a spiritual moment without an evil spirit trying to trick you.

I have written about one of the most spiritual moments I ever had before becoming a true Christian was at a campout with the Boy Scouts.  There was a thick dew on the ground.  There was more than just fog in the air; there was a mist that shifted as the sunlight bounced off water droplets.  It was a Sunday morning and the scoutmaster led us in a hymn and then he said a prayer.

That was a very influential spiritual moment in that I can remember roughly 55 years later as if it was this morning.  But if I had convinced myself that I had Jesus within me because of that moment, would I have been convicted of my sins two years later, to the point of feeling a wretch, as John Newton wrote in Amazing Grace?  I might have said, “I had my spiritual moment!  Leave me alone!”  I would have grown up to be worthless, unusable by God, and a hazard to those around me.

So, is Hebrews 6 telling us that we can fall from Grace?  I do not think so.  You can feel the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin, feeling the conviction but doing nothing about it, and then your selfish internal spirit, with or without the help of an evil spirit, can convince you that you need not go further.  You do all the other stuff on your own steam, some of it actually enjoyable.  But in your quiet place, you are empty inside.  Yet, you can solve that problem with a distraction.

I tried to say the right prayer for hundreds of times, but only when I surrendered my will did I truly have Jesus come into my heart.  For others, they may have chosen Jesus at such a young age that they hardly remember.  They’ve always relied on Jesus for everything with that child-like faith that endures forever.

But the proof comes out.  The Truth endures and produces good fruit.  Even an introvert can hold out a hand and help another up with God’s Love in his heart.  An introvert can teach a Sunday school class, although public speaking is the last thing they would want to do.  That chatty, constantly talking extrovert can sit quietly and hear what a hurting person has to say, including their lament that no one cares enough to listen.  They can have understanding.  They can have peace in the midst of the strongest storm.

And with relying on God every day, those fruits continue to be produced.

God never lets go of those who have truly come to Him.  God the Father granted Jesus that request that not one who was Jesus’ own would ever be lost.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.