Understanding Spiritual Warfare

By Apostle Sharon E. Harris

The information in this book will change a church, a ministry, and the individual reader himself. Understanding spiritual warfare is as important as a country knowing how to fight and survive the attacks from another country. We are in an epic war for our lives, our marriages, our ministry, our relationships, our country, our cities and states, and the list goes on because Satan, the enemy of our souls, is strategizing assaults against us, and he aims at striking every aspect of our lives. If it can affect us, he will strike at it. This book has great insights into the spiritual realm, Satan's war room tactics, God's war manual, and our position in Christ. We get a glimpse into the unseen world through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. We must no longer suffer defeat and remain in bondage. This book is an eye-opener because the information it contains are Holy Ghost inspired.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781647015688

Book preview

Chapter 1

In the Beginning

God the Creator

The Triune God—, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, had an idea, and they all agreed as one. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (Genesis 1:26, 27). Done. Ah! How the Father must have been delighted to have created Man. God the Father consulted all three aspects of Himself, and concluded with a gift to Himself that would last for all eternity. All three were present and active in this special task: the Creation of Man. God the Father, In the beginning God (Genesis 1:1); God the Son (Jesus), I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was (Proverbs 8:23); and God the Holy Spirit, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (Genesis 1:1,2). God delighted in Man, whom He had created. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good (Genesis 1:31). He created Man, both of them, and He called the male Adam and the female, Eve, the mother of all living. Jehovah enjoyed them; He enjoyed His Adam. He clothed them with His glory. No doubt He had an ongoing fellowship with His Adam daily until something happened. Adam fell; Man fell. Sin entered. God’s glory departed. They became afraid. Adam saw that they were naked. The glory left because the holy God could not dwell with sin. They ran. God searched for them. He knew they had sinned, but He still wanted them. They were His. His gift to Himself. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? (Genesis 3:8, 9). They heard His voice; they heard His words calling out to them. The voice of the Lord God was Jesus the Word of God. Jesus the Father called for His beloved. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:1–3, 14). The voice of God was Jesus who would, in time, be made flesh and dwell among us. The voice of God searches for lost Man. I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not (Song of Solomon 3:2b). No one will seek diligently for anything that they do not want. God desired fellowship with Man, and He sought fervently after him. Sin removed His glory, which He had used to cover them, but through His love, He clothed them so that their nakedness would be concealed. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them (Genesis 3:21). Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1 John 3:1). Sons indeed. He created Man for His glory, and He had no intention of losing Man. God the Father had a plan, a redemptive plan, to restore His gift back to Himself.

Man the Created

Among all created things, Man stood out. He was different from all other created things that had the breath of life. He was a gift to God by God Himself. And now, God wants to give Man a gift besides the gift of the entire earth, where he would rule and have dominion. Man was given a special place. It was a garden; a special garden. "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it (Genesis 8:15). Man had a responsibility. He had a garden that was given to him by Jehovah. He was to be creative in cultivating it. It must have been a sight to see. Everything must have been lusciously green, so full of life and health, so artistically designed. Man, the created being, was very creative, just like his Father. God now has someone who could interact with Him through his own personality and free thinking, a man who can reason with Him. He could think, and because of that, he could reason. A man who can be creative in his thought processes of his own making. He was free to be creative in his likes, dislikes, and display of emotions—he was totally like God and totally Man. He was free. God put no restraint on his choices. He would not control him. Man was in control of his own actions. Man was free to obey rules. Free to disobey rules. Free to Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth (Genesis 1:28). He exercised his dominion. He named everything. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field" (Genesis 2:19,20). Adam made good choices, but he also made a devastating choice. He chose his own way, and he fell. Now, he needed his Father’s help.

Like Father, Like Son

The human race is a walking, breathing, living replica of his Creator. Mankind is the splitting image of God. Like the saying goes, Like father like son, we bear a striking resemblance of our heavenly Father in mood, personality, and character. We are like God: creative, innovative, sensitive, spiritual, eternal. "Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? (John 10:34). I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High (Psalm 82:6). Every human being bears the image of God. That leaves us to believe that God is mind-blowingly diverse. We are miniature gods, bearing the resemblance of our Father, Jehovah God. It is like a father and son who resemble each other so much that they could never deny the fact that they are father and son. So it is with the human race and God. We resemble Him in every way. We were created for His pleasure. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created (Revelation 4:11). He took delight in creating us; we must take delight in bringing Him pleasure. As God formed Man out of the dust of the earth (with His hands), even so we as Man create things with our hands, such as towers: And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar (Genesis 10:8, 10); we create tabernacles, Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle (Genesis 26:1); we make temples, And the house which king Solomon built for the Lord (1 Kings 6:2); we create humans in our own image as well through our offspring, etc. Like God, we also speak, and our words become a tangible, visible reality, just as when God said, Let there be light: and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). We see this reality in the patriarch Abraham and the matriarch Sarah. Abraham’s name was changed from Abram to Abraham, which means father of many nations (Genesis 17:5). Whenever anyone asked him his name, he would say, Abraham. This simply means that when asked his identity, he would literally say, I am the father of many nations. The same goes for Sarah. Her name was changed from Sarai to Sarah (Genesis 17:15, 16), meaning princess; mother of nations. Whenever she said her new name, she was walking in her new identity, which was princess and mother of nations. At this point, Abraham had one son, whose name was Ishmael, and Sarah had not yet given Abraham a child. God told Abraham that He would establish His covenant through Isaac, whom He would give unto Abraham through his wife, Sarah. He told them that they must name the promised child Isaac. There was no evidence that they would someday be the father of nations and mother of nations, but they kept saying that they were, through identifying that his name was Abraham and her name was Sarah. He no longer used the name Abram, and she no longer used the name Sarai. They agreed with God for the unseen, and they spoke their new names. Choosing to speak their new names was an agreement on their part that they were father of many nations and mother of nations. Isaac did come as was promised, then Isaac’s two sons, Esau and Jacob, were born. God continued the covenant with Abraham to make him a father of many nations through Jacob, who then had the twelve tribes of Israel, and Israel becoming a nation, and as they say, the rest is history. Beginning with the nation of Israel, from Abraham came many nations, as the Lord Jehovah had promised. Therefore, through Abraham came the Israelite nation, the Edomite nation, the Ishmaelite nation, but remember, the Messiah came through Abraham, and through the Messiah, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham (Galatians 3:7–9). Everywhere, all over the world, from every kindred, every nation, and every tongue, Abraham is the father of all who accepts Christ by faith. That makes Abraham the father of many nations! God ain’t never lied! He is a faithful God. He keeps all His promises. Abraham and Sarah spoke their destinies into existence. Man creates through actions and spoken words, like his Father, Jehovah. God speaks and His Word comes to life. (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were" (Romans 4:17). Like Father, like son.

Living in Two Worlds

God created a spiritual world and a natural world, and He placed Man in both worlds. Not some men in the natural, and some men in the spiritual. Or that we alternate, as in that we operate in the natural today, and tomorrow we operate in the spiritual. Oh no. Every human being is living both in the natural and in the spiritual worlds simultaneously. Adam had a relationship with this natural world, but he also had a relationship with God the Father, who is a Spirit; hence, he interacted with God in the spiritual realm: "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). We are to worship Him with our spirit. Our spirit man connects us to God, as our physical body connects us to this natural world. You are physically operating in this world right now, and yet at the same time your spirit is operating in the spiritual realm right now. We might not be conscious of our spiritual activities, but it does not mean that we are not interacting in the spiritual realm. What a mystery! That is a big God! Who can compare? Certainly, there is none like Him. Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord; thou art great, and thy name is great in might (Jeremiah 10:6). For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me (Isaiah 46:9). There is no God like Jehovah. In the natural world, our physical self functions through our five senses of touch, sound, sight, taste, and smell. Our spiritual self also functions through its five spiritual senses as well, which are its own touch, sound, sight, taste, and smell. With our physical bodies, we interact with people in our natural, physical world, but with our spirit man, we interact with spirits in the spiritual realm. The physical is the seen, and the spiritual is the unseen. Just as at times in the natural we are in conflict and our world becomes a war zone, so the unseen world can at times become a war zone. We have a real spiritual enemy, and his name is Satan, Lucifer, the devil, Adversary. It does not matter if a person does not believe that the devil exists. That does not change the reality of his existence, nor does it immune one from his diabolical assaults. It is like a person who says that a pole that is clearly visible isn’t there, and then they walk right into it, not expecting any repercussion. They most certainly will feel the full effects of that pole on their forehead. That will let them know that the pole does indeed exist. It is unwise for us to look at signs and deny the reality of what exists. Satan does exist. We have more than enough signs. We must not be ignorant of the fact that we have a real enemy. He is after us to destroy us because he is out for vengeance against God, and humanity is the closest target he can find, because humanity is the heartbeat of their Father, God. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Satan is after every person that God has created. It is his way of getting back at God, and he enjoys it greatly when we deny his existence. It empowers him because where he is denied, he is free to launch assaults because he is not being resisted.

We must fully realize that we have a real enemy, who is called Satan. He is the god of this world. God warned Adam of the reality of an opposing force. "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:28). Why would he need to subdue the earth if there was no opposing force? Why would he need to have dominion when everything was in order with no risk of any opposition? God was giving Adam a heads-up of the reality of a wicked, evil entity who was up to no good. Sadly, they did not take Jehovah seriously enough because that entity, the devil, tempted them, and they sinned. They were assaulted with lies, and because they succumbed to his lies, the dominion that God had given them was now rightfully Satan’s because they now have chosen him to be their god. Their obedience to the devil gave him permission to rule over them. They disobeyed God, which meant that they rejected Him as God over them, and their obedience to Satan meant that they accepted him as god over them. Satan is the master of rebellion; therefore, anyone who obeys him will become like him, rebellious. Satan rebelled against God in heaven. He wanted to be like the Most High God and rule. Because of his rebellion, he was cast out of heaven into the earth realm. "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (Revelation 12:7–9). He was able to draw a third of the angels in heaven. This simply means that he was able to convince one-third of the angels to join him in rebelling against God, and his rebellion continues today. He is still working on getting Mankind to rebel against God. Satan operates from his dark spiritual kingdom. His fight against God continues even today.

A great example to consider concerning the fact that we do operate both in the natural and the spiritual world is the example of Abraham. Remember that God is a Spirit, and He communicates with us through our spirit.

And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. (Genesis 15:7-21)

God visited Abraham while he slept and came into a covenant agreement with him and pronounced His blessings upon him. Abraham went into a deep sleep, and his spirit interacted with God, who is a Spirit. It was spirit to Spirit. His physical body that was asleep had no connection to the spiritual world, because his body was created to interact in this natural realm, while his spirit was made for the spiritual realm. While he slept, God interacted with his spirit and entered into a covenant relationship with him. This covenant relationship manifested itself into the natural world, because his descendants did indeed inherit the Promise Land which the Lord God Jehovah had promised Abraham the patriarch. Our reality is what takes place in the spiritual realm. What is more real is what we cannot see with the natural eyes. When we sleep and have dreams, we are getting a glimpse into the realities of our spiritual world. Not remembering having dreamed does not mean that nothing has taken place in the spiritual realm. It could mean that you have either forgotten the dream or that your subconscious did not tap into your spiritual activities while you slept. Whether we experience dreaming or not, things happen when we sleep. Our subconscious mind either taps into the activities of our spirit or it does not.

Here is another instance where the spiritual realm is played out in the natural realm. Pharaoh’s baker and butler offended him, and they were both thrown in prison. One day Joseph noticed that they were looking downcast, and he asked them why they looked downcast. "And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you" (Genesis 40:8). In the chief butler’s dream, he saw a vine with three branches, and it was as though the branches budded and shot forth blossoms, and the clusters brought forth ripe grapes. The chief butler had Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, and he took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, then he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. Joseph interpreted the dream to mean that in three days, Pharaoh would bring him out of prison, and he would be reinstated to be Pharaoh’s butler as before. The chief baker told his dream and said he had three white baskets on his head. In the uppermost basket, there were all kinds of baked meats for Pharaoh, but the birds ate them out of the basket that was on his head. Joseph’s interpretation was that the three baskets represented three days, and that within three days, Pharaoh would cut off the chief baker’s head and would hang him on a tree, and the birds would eat his flesh from off him. Joseph’s dream came to pass because within three days was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he did unto each what Joseph had predicted. The spiritual world is real. Their dreams were glimpses into what their natural life was going to be like in the near future. In order to prevent the chief baker’s dream from manifesting into the natural, it would have had to be tackled in the spiritual realm. One would have had to enter into that atmosphere where the situation was located and contend with it, just as in the natural, a person would go directly to the site of a fire with a water hose and spray the burning building with water until the fire is put out. You have to be at the site in the natural realm, and you have to be at the site in the spiritual realm. Our spirit travels places in the spiritual realm. In the natural, when things are happening, they are happening in real time. In the spiritual, when things are happening, or are set in motion, the natural realm might not be manifesting it as yet. From the perspective of the natural, there is a delay in the natural realm when it comes to receiving and manifesting the activities of the spiritual realm. That is why we are able to stop the plans of the enemy that are set in motion in the spiritual realm. The Lord might show someone in a dream that a thief broke into their company and stole their computers. What this person has seen is an attack on their business that is already set in motion in the spiritual realm. They can immediately enter into spiritual warfare and intense intercession, where their spirit is transported into the spiritual realm by the Holy Spirit, directly where the situation is taking place, and they can do combat warfare against the demonic spirit of stealing, where they can thwart the plan of the enemy before earth receives it, and before it is manifested into the earth realm. In other words, before someone breaks into their business and steals their computers in real life, they can destroy the activities from the source—the spiritual realm, so that in the natural realm their business would not be broken into because they have destroyed the attack from the root-the spiritual realm.

Our spiritual world affects our natural world. Whatever takes place in the spiritual world is manifested into the natural world, whether it is good, or whether it is evil. Whatever you dream, it will manifest into the tangible, visible world. It is a must! That is a spiritual law. God made a covenant with Abraham’s spirit. In other words, God’s Spirit and Abraham’s spirit interacted with each other and came into a covenant agreement. When the Spirit of God comes into covenant with you, it is to bless you. Satan also forms covenant relationships with us, and he comes to curse us, to bind us, and to defeat us. This he does through our dreams. He appears to us in dreams to trick us into covenant relationships. Satan mimics God’s spiritual laws, and he uses them to ensnare us. He appears to us in our dreams as a loved one such as our mother, father, son, husband, wife, a best friend, etc. These are demonic spirits who appear as people we know and trust. Because our spirit thinks they are who they appear to be, our spirit interacts with them and cooperates with them in their interaction. That interaction is a form of agreement. We have now come into agreement with them by allowing them to interact with us through our spirit. They are now given permission to do to us what they desire because our interaction says, I agree with you to have fellowship with me. They are familiar spirits, and these spirits have each their own agendas. When we interact with those spirits, we are ensnared with whatever they come with. For example, you might dream about walking and talking with your mother, or even eating her home-cooked meal, when in fact, it is the spirit of cancer appearing like your mother, and it is feeding you. When a person interacts with demonic spirits when they sleep, that issue that the spirit represents, or comes with, will manifest in that person’s waking life. Remember, Abraham interacted with God while he slept, and the covenant that was made while Abraham slept manifested in real life. If that mother in the dream is the spirit of cancer, that person will, without a doubt, develop cancer because that spirit has brought that infirmity to that person’s spirit under the deceptive act that she was interacting with her mother. God made that covenant with Abraham and it extended to his seed. The seed of Abraham was blessed because of the covenant he had with God. When the devil makes a covenant with our spirit, his curse and bondage over our lives extend to our offspring; hence, we have generational curses.

We know that God entered into a covenant relationship with Abraham while he was asleep. Abraham’s physical body that was connected to this world, that functioned in this world, was asleep. He was not conscious or aware of anything that was happening between him and God in the spiritual realm, because God is a Spirit and He was interacting not with Abraham’s physical, conscious being, but with his spirit. His physical body needed not be awake. Abraham’s spirit was interacting with God’s Spirit. Our spirit man never sleeps, and it is lightning fast. It goes places, even traveling to other countries. When we sleep, our physical body is not conscious about anything that is taking place in the spiritual realm, but our spirit man is interacting in the spirit world. Note also that our spirit also interacts in the spiritual realm while we are awake. We are not usually aware of it, but sometimes we can become conscious that our spirit is currently interacting with a spirit. One way of knowing this is when we become uneasy, and we do not understand why. Chances are, our spirit is at war with something it recognizes that it needs to destroy. As our spirit is active in the spiritual realm, we need to have discernment so that we can recognize camouflages and crush them.

Here is another example of a spiritual activity. King Solomon offered sacrifices unto the Lord, and then he had a dream that night. "In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said unto God, Thou hast shewed great mercy unto David my father, and hast made me to reign in his stead. Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great? (2 Chronicles 1:7, 8, 10). God granted him the wisdom and knowledge he requested and added riches, wealth, and honor that he did not ask for. All this took place while he was asleep, and we can see that it manifested into the natural. God gave Abraham instructions, and through that law He interacted with him through Abraham’s spirit. As Abraham and Solomon invited the Spirit of the Lord into their lives by communicating with Him, even so we invite spirits into the realm of the earth through spiritual laws and principles. We ourselves interact with the Lord through our dreams as well. God communes with us through our spirit. As God made a covenant with Abraham through Abraham’s spirit while he was asleep, even so we make covenants with spirits through dreams while we are sleeping, whether it be the Spirit of the Lord, or Satan’s spirits. Satan uses everything that is ordained by God. God’s spiritual principles that He has created to bless us, Satan uses them for his own purpose because his aim is to defeat us and our offspring. We invite spirits into the earth realm through these spiritual laws and principles, just like we invite God into our lives through these laws and principles. The spiritual law is that the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of God seek the cooperation of Man through a covenant agreement in order to operate. God does not force us to do anything. He seeks our permission through the truth He reveals to us, while Satan comes to us through deception and trickery in order to gain our trust and acceptance. Satan makes things look appealing, but they are undercover traps. God makes things look appealing through the truth of His intended blessings which would flow to our offspring. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13:58). That simply means that they would not give Him permission. That does not mean that it was impossible for Jesus to do anything. It only means that He would not violate the spiritual law of principals, even though He could override any laws. He does not force us to do anything that we do not want to do. He will present Himself, the truth, and then leaves the decision to us. Unlike the devil, he shows us what is not true so that he may trick us and entice us into bondage. Jesus does not force us into liberty, but Satan tricks us into bondage. Spirits operate through permission or cooperation of a human being in order to enter into our earth realm to operate their intentions, whether it be the Spirit of God, or the spirit of the devil. Adam and Eve gave Satan permission because he gave them enticing offers. Abraham gave God permission through his actions. He obeyed God by performing the acts that God had told him to do so that he and God would communicate. When he did, God interacted with his spirit and blessed him. God seeks our permission to bless us. We must cooperate with Him so that His Holy Spirit will be inclined to bless us.

The Natural World

Nature is the natural force that controls the physical world and life itself. The natural world includes earth, the atmosphere, gravity, humans, animals, air, water, land, plants, fire, oil, iron, etc. We live within the boundaries of the earth’s regulatory system. For example, the earth has a gravitational pull. Gravity is a force that pulls two objects toward each other. It is what keeps us on the ground, and it also causes objects to fall. That is the natural order of this natural world, and we are subject to its system. In this natural world, we experience its elements through our physical, human, tangible makeup. With our human body that is made to function in this world, we experience cold, heat, pain, and the like. With our human emotions, also tailored to function in this world, we experience joy, peace, sadness, rejection, love, and such. We are more familiar with our waking, human side because it is a part of our consciousness. We understand life as we know it, on this side of reality. We know why we cry. We understand why a ball falls back to the ground when thrown into the air, and we understand that air causes lungs to function. It is what we consciously experience, so we accept the system of our natural world because that’s just the way things are. For the natural, we are pros, but when it comes to the other part of our existence, the spiritual, we are sometimes clueless. The spiritual, in our understanding, is complex and possibly nonexistent, as some might believe. Our natural world is the real deal, as many have concluded, and they believe that anything else is simply a figment of our imagination.

The Human, Earthly Side

At some point in time, we became aware of our existence, and we found that we are multifaceted. We experience different emotions, and as we experience them deep in the secret of our souls, we choose to either express them at will or hide them at will. We are in control of our person, and we know it. We are in charge. We open the window of our soul at times and give glimpses into our self as we test the degree of how much we should reveal to our spectator or audience. We have likes and dislikes; we experience the emotions of fear, anxieties, pain, love, anger, joy, hate, disgust, and so much more. We are fully charged by the elements of this world, and we experience the visible and invisible matters of life. We feel hot, cold, and warm temperatures on our physical bodies. We are able to function in this present but temporary world because our Creator has created us to fully master all the elements that nature presents. Though we were created with everything human, we were also created with everything spiritual, but because we are not familiar with the invisible, we place less value on its importance. We focus mainly on how the natural side of us enables us to connect to, and enjoy this natural world. In our innovative, cooperative, stubborn, self-willed, kind, considerate kind of way, we attest firmly that we are everything human. There are traits that define each human being, and they are used as identification markers to define and separate each other from person to person. They are our personality traits, our emotional traits, and our physical traits.

Personality Traits

A couple might have six children, and out of them all, each child bears his own unique identity in his or her personality. There are a combination of characteristics that are blended together to form the very distinctive personality of each child. The first stage of life is where the child calls home. Among those he interacts with, his personality is being formed by the social interaction of his inner circle (relatives, family, babysitter, day care, etc.). The child is integrated into the group through their interactions. As this child grows, he develops mental and moral qualities that are combined with his unique inborn traits and his environment, and they produce the child’s unique personality. There are multiple personalities that people fall under, such as introverts: prefer to be alone; extroverts: outgoing; openness: curious, adventurous; conscientiousness: organized, planners; agreeableness: trusting, helpful, compassionate; and neuroticism: worry frequently, anxiety, depression. Our personalities are developed through our environment. We are products of our environment. Our personality is the combination of that environment in which we thrive, and it is a part of our unique identity.

Emotional Traits

As the replicas of the image of God, we are expected to display evidence of that image, and one way that we do so is through our emotions. God expresses emotions. We resemble our Father; therefore, we also express emotions such as anger, hate, jealousy, grief, and love.

Physical Traits

We are physically intriguing. There is nothing boring about our sizes, ages, shapes, and colors. We are tall, short, average, above average, and below average. We are oval-faced: longer than wide, with a jaw that is narrower than the cheekbones; we are round-faced: wide hairline and fullness below the cheekbones; we are square-faced: wide hairline and jawline; we are diamond-faced: a narrow chin and forehead with wide cheekbones; we are heart-shaped: a wider forehead and narrower chin; and we are triangular-faced: a small or narrow forehead and a larger jawline. We have blue eyes, hazel eyes, dark-brown eyes, and tranquilizing green eyes. Our hairs are blond, gray, brunette, and downright yellow. They are long, short, medium, and most assuredly sometimes we are curiously bald. We are interesting, intriguing, fascinating, and absolutely captivating. Our physical makeup is stunning. We are the expressed image of the awesome wonder of the artistic nature of Jehovah. Our physical traits and functions of our bodies declare that there is a God!

God’s Emotions

God’s Anger

"That the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel" (Numbers 25:4b). When Israel sinned, God showed His displeasure by expressing His anger at their behavior. There are multiple reasons why we become angry. Some are justifiable, and some are not. The point is that we possess the emotion of anger, and we express it at times to make known to others our position in the matter of personal violation. Anger can be a defensive as well as an offensive position.

God Hates

"Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the Lord thy God hateth" (Deuteronomy 22:16). Hate is like a bitter taste. It is a deep-seated emotion that is passionate and intense. It is strong dislike. It is a very serious emotion. When we hate, we are showing strong displeasure about something we deem offensive. God is deeply offended when we choose to worship dumb images that can neither see, speak, nor hear. God does express the emotion of hate and for very good reasons.

God Gets Jealous

"For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God" (Exodus 20:5b). Even from a child, jealousy comes naturally. It doesn’t need to be taught or be learned. Even babies who are less than a year old display jealousy if their mother walks into a room and picks up a child. They want to be the one to be held and cuddled. God wants us to serve Him alone. He wants to have us totally for Himself. This is an emotion that we inherit from our Father, and it is expressed at a very young age. Jealousy is good if it is directed in a positive and constructive way, like when a man is jealous over his wife because another man is trying to woo her. Justifiable jealousy brings us closer to oneness and wholesomeness.

God Expresses Grief

"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30). How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! (Psalm 78:40). And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart" (Genesis 6:6). True grief causes emotional pain. Our Father feels the pain of grief when we violate the commands He has given to us to keep us safe and alive. He delights in us, and He wants to fulfill our joy. He wants us to have abundant life. He sets boundaries so that we can be safe. From a human perspective, we know the feeling of grief. When someone close to us dies, we experience an emotionally gut-wrenching grief in our soul as if we are being wrung dry. Imagine how the Father feels when we violate His commands, causing unnecessary hurt to ourselves. He feels our sorrows and our pain, and He is grieved when we are grieved.

God Loves

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Love is a very common emotion. We love our family, our pet, our school, our cars, etc. Love is a warm emotion, and everyone desires to be loved. Everyone craves to be desired and accepted. God’s love runs deeper than our human mind can comprehend, but we get a glimpse of His unmatched love through the emotion of love that we ourselves experience. God is love. To love is to know God. When we love someone and we compare that love to the love that we know God has for us, we become satisfied in the area of self-worth because we know that such warm feeling is attributed to us from the very One who created us.

The Spiritual World

Your Spirit Man

God created Man in God’s image, and Man laid still on the ground. Then God breathed into Man’s nostrils, and Man became alive for all eternity. This breath that was breathed into Man is the Holy Spirit. He is the breath of God. The Holy Spirit brings life. When Man sinned, he experienced spiritual death. This spiritual death means that his spirit man was separated from God. This is also referred to as being spiritually dead. Adam’s spirit did not become nonexistent after he sinned. It cannot be nonexistent because the spirit of man lives on forever. God is eternal; His breath (the Holy Spirit) is eternal. He breathed into Man, and Man became eternal. He was now a living soul. Alive forever. Living forever. Remember, Man was created in God’s image and likeness; therefore, he is like God—eternal. Because his connection to God was disrupted by sin, there was no longer the divine fellowship that he once had with Jehovah his God. He had relinquished that position and had now taken on a new god, Satan, who came in the