God's Tree: A Revelation of Spirit, Soul, and Body

By John Hensel

How did three circles become God's tree?

Understanding what happens in our spirit, soul, and body, before and after receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and what does not happen, will help you in every area of your Christian walk, opening the floodgate of God's blessings.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Nov 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781637698433

Book preview

Acknowledgements

This book is the result of many small steps over many years. I never saw myself as an author, and certainly not a published author, but here I am.

First, I must acknowledge and thank the true author of this book, Almighty God in Heaven who was, and is, and always will be. He is the source of the revelation you will read about in this book. This book is dedicated to Him. Thank you, Lord!

I would also like to thank my parents who are at home with the Lord. They admittedly were not perfect, but they showed my siblings and me a love for family that required many sacrifices in their lives. Their love and discipline kept me from many wrong decisions in my life, and made it easy for me to understand the love of God when He truly revealed Himself to me. I also dedicate this book to them.

I thank my wife for her love and patience during the writing and publishing of this book and her help finding the best title and cover design for the book.

I thank my brother in Christ and friend, Stephen Snyder, who read the manuscript many times and gave me feedback that was invaluable. He also was kind enough to write the foreword for this book.

There are many others I would like to thank. Those anointed pastors and teachers God placed in my life over the years, and friends who helped guide me in my Christian walk. Thank you to all of them.

Lastly, I want to thank the staff of Trilogy Christian Publishing for guiding me through the process of publishing a book. They were always helpful and encouraging.

John Hensel Jr.

Foreword

Becoming a mature Christian is not an immediate process–it is a journey, much like life with its ups and downs, with its trials and tribulations, with its rewards and what we might perceive as punishments. This book is about that journey, but more so, a journey of spiritual transformation. We cannot become a Christian and just coast the rest of our lives. We must be aware of and recognize perils and challenges as they rise to face us. God gives us the tools, embodied in our personal spirit, soul, and body, for our Christian journey, but they remain dormant unless we identify them and develop the skills to use them. Through God’s grace, He will assist you, but you must request and embrace that assistance. There is no magic formula–it takes hard work and constant vigilance, but the rewards are immense. Your spiritual transformation only ends when Christ Jesus returns.

This book can assist you in your journey through Christianity and life by giving you an understanding of the interrelationship among the spirit, soul and body. Being transformed more into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ our Lord is what all Christians should be straining to achieve, and it is a lifelong journey. It is not necessarily the good deeds we do in our life that propel us forward, but who we become. The individual achievements along the journey are achieved only because of our spiritual transformation. How do we know when we complete our spiritual transformation? This book will not tell you, but through God’s grace, it will open your eyes and mind to your goals. You will know when Jesus tells you, Well done good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:23).

I have known John Hensel since 1986. His passions are the Lord Jesus Christ, his family, and nature photography. He has an inquisitive and intellectual mind. This document began several years ago when John sought the answer to a fundamental Christian question: Who I am in Christ? Being a visual person, John’s desire was to map out the internal and external relationship of the spirit, the soul and the body on paper. I was honored when John asked me to read a draft of this document, and even more so when he asked me to write the foreword. In the beginning, my first thought was how should I read this document. Certainly not as a biblical scholar, for I am far from that, and not as a proofreader. However, I am a Christian. My choice was to read it as an average Christian reader, which made the bar achievable for me, seeking knowledge and understanding from the words herein. Much thought-provoking information is presented in this document. It was both challenging and rewarding to search my own soul as I asked myself the questions and concepts raised herein. I feel I have a much better understanding and deeper meaning of the Holy Trinity, and realized I need to be, and can be, a better Christian having done so. The many graphics helped me visualize concepts that were at times difficult for me to grasp from words alone, and all conclusions were meticulously scripture-based and cited.

I implore you to read and immerse yourself in this document.

Steve Snyder

Introduction

To introduce this book, I decided that it would be helpful to give you a little information on where I am coming from as I write. I will also give you some explanations on terminology that I will use in this book. My hope is that it will help you better comprehend what I am trying to present. I also want to state from the start, that the revelation of spirit, soul and body is not new, and much information is available on the subject. Since I am a person who comprehends things better when I can visualize them, this is just a new way of looking at the spirit, soul and body, from a visual perspective. This revelation of spirit, soul and body is one that God gave me to help me better understand this topic. So please read this introduction before you read the rest of this book. It will be helpful.

First and foremost, I am a born-again believer who has received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I believe Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for my sins so that I have been forgiven of my sin and disobedience, and I have been reconciled to God (who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). I believe in the Trinitarian nature of God, and that God has, as His child, given me the gift of His indwelling Holy Spirit. I also believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God given through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and that God’s Word is Truth, the Truth that sets us free from the bondage of sin and death. It is God’s Truth, and I believe it, even when I do not understand it or like it. I have come to understand that my emotions and feelings are not always to be trusted, that what I feel is not the issue; the issue is what I believe and how I let my beliefs impact how I think, feel and act.

I am convinced, from God’s Word, and my own experience, that we have a determined enemy in the world that the Bible talks about quite often. This enemy is Satan (the devil), and he is relentless in his lies, deceit, counterfeit, and temptations. They always sound too good to ignore, but can, and will, take us out of God’s Will and plans for our lives. We always need to be on guard for his presence in our lives and be aware he will show up when we least expect it. When we are going through trials, troubles, grief or just feeling low, he will show up. He loves to catch us off-guard. He is a master manipulator and knows us all too well. One thing that troubles me most about Satan is his patience. He does not mind working slowly and subtly. Therefore, developing discernment and knowing how to conduct spiritual warfare is a necessity in the Christian life. This revelation will also help you see more clearly who God is and who He has created you to be.

I will show scripture with chapter and verse. I find that showing the full scripture instead of just a chapter and verse reference makes the reading and studying much easier than having to look up the scripture, especially when using different translations. Hopefully, this will make what I am saying easier to understand.

As you read this book, you may find I use some unfamiliar words or wording. This terminology will make more sense as you read through this book, but to help as you start reading, let’s briefly look at a few of these words. I will frequently use the term mindsets, which can be either good or bad. When I use the term mindsets, I am referring to our beliefs, developed over our lifetime. Mindsets are where our opinions and beliefs come from, and these, in turn, determine how we think, speak and act. This manifests in how we respond to what goes on around us. Our mindsets are developed from the things we receive through our five senses: what we hear, taste, see, smell and feel. Mindsets that are worldly, self-centered and contrary to God’s moral, ethical, righteous laws (the truths presented in the Bible) I will call wrong mindsets.

The good mindsets I will call God-centered mindsets, meaning they are God-oriented, Christ-centered and in line with God’s Word and Truth, and His moral, ethical, righteous laws. I will also use just the term mindsets when it is obvious what type of mindset I am referring to.

I will also often use the term stinkin’ thinkin’ to describe thinking that results from wrong mindsets. Stinkin’ thinkin’ refers to self-centered thinking that is in opposition to what I will call Kingdom thinking, referring to Godly, biblically-based thinking. Stinkin’ thinkin’ develops from wrong mindsets developed over our lifetimes. Wrong mindsets and stinkin’ thinkin’ can be hard to deal with because they open the door to the enemy (Satan) allowing him access to our lives where he will establish strongholds, beachheads, footholds, bondages, encumbrances and entanglements in our souls, and this makes changing our stinkin’ thinkin’ to Godly (Kingdom) thinking a more difficult process. Let me define the terms strongholds, beachheads, footholds, bondages, encumbrances and entanglements, so you understand how serious they can be and how difficult they can be to deal with.

The following definitions are from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (online)¹.

Stronghold is defined as a fortified place; a place of security or survival; a place dominated by a particular group or marked by a particular characteristic.

Beachhead is defined as an area on a hostile shore occupied to secure further landing of troops and supplies; foothold.

Foothold is defined as aor the feet: footing; a position usable as a base for further advance.

Bondage is defined as the tenure or service of a villein, serf, or slave; a state of being bound usually by compulsion (as of law or mastery); captivity, serfdom; servitude or subjugation to a controlling person or force.

Encumbrance is defined as something that encumbers: impediment, burden; a claim (such as a mortgage) against property.

Entanglement is defined as the action of entangling: the state of being entangled; something that entangles, confuses, or ensnares.

Once established, these strongholds, beachheads, footholds, bondages, encumbrances and entanglements, can grow and become hardened. This is what the Bible calls a hardened heart, and the longer we deny or ignore this condition of our heart, the more difficult it can be to deal with.

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the

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ord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.

Jeremiah 17:9-10

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Proverbs 4:23

When we receive the gift of God’s grace, the gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, His Spirit comes to dwell in us, empowering us to be able to overcome stinkin’ thinkin’ and replace wrong mindsets