Order in the Court

  Bless the Lord, O my soul. This is a command that shows God's order.  God is a God of peace and order, and He has established order in the "court," the inner place where judgments are handed down to the rest of our being.  The next verse points out the execution of this order, "let all that is within me, bless the Lord."

God created man to have fellowship, to share His life and glory forever.  Man was created in the image and likeness of God to make this possible.  God is spirit (John 4:24) and thus, so is man.  The part of man that is able to be one with God is in our spirit.  However, when man sinned, he "surely died," man's spirit died, and walking with God was no longer possible.  Sin cannot dwell with God. 

Like a rose cut from the bush that still has visible life until it fades, man still had a soul and body, but his "life with God" or spirit was now dead.   Which explains why Jesus told Nicodemus, "you must be born again of water and the spirit."  When a person receives the finished work of Jesus on the cross, he becomes a new creation, he once again has a living spirit that is in perfect harmony with the Spirit of God.  This new spirit is a participation in the very nature of God and lives forever.  "He who believes in Me will never die."

Man is spirit, soul, and body according to 1 Thessalonians 5:23.  God has a perfect plan to restore all three parts of man: spirit, soul, and body.  The spirit goes from death to life through the death and resurrection of Jesus, as man accepts that Jesus died and rose in his place.  The body is only a vehicle in which man lives and because of sin will die.  After our life on this earth, God will give us a new glorious body like the resurrected body Jesus demonstrated to His apostles in the upper room.   

The last, but very necessary change, is to our soul, which is the part of us that thinks, feels, and makes choices.  Rather than God changing our soul instantly like He does to our spirit, or what He will do to our body, man has been given the tools and he is responsible to change his own soul.  As a man thinks so is he.  Romans 12:1-2 points out that we are not to be conformed to the world but rather be renewed in our minds by the Word of God.  God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways.  Therefore, it is necessary to allow His thoughts and ways to replace our fallen nature thinking.  As we do this, Romans 12:2 continues, that we prove or demonstrate God's perfect will.      

Romans 8 clearly explains that the thoughts and ways of the flesh are death, while the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.  We can't even know God through our wisdom, (1 Corinthians 1:21), it requires the Holy Spirit to reveal this truth to our spirit.  When Peter acknowledged that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, Jesus said, flesh and blood has not revealed this, but My Father in heaven.  All truth and wisdom is given in the Word and must be revealed by the Spirit.  "If you continue in My Word, you will know the truth." according to Jesus, and "The Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth."  

Jesus pointed out that the Word of God is spirit and life.  Therefore, the word in Psalm 103 (Bless the Lord, O my soul) is spirit life that flows into our spirit   Our born-again spirit receives it with meekness and in obedience calls our soul to bless the Lord.  Our spirit is literally speaking to our mind to focus on thoughts that bless God, to our heart of emotions to dwell on feelings of gratefulness and affection, and to our will to cheerfully lay down our wants in order to bless God by doing that in which He delights.

God has established perfect order for living in a way that pleases Him.  The Word speaks to our spirit.  The Holy Spirit leads and guides our spirit into truth.  Just as we now have life by the Spirit (being born-again in our spirit), we are called to walk in the Spirit.  Our spirit is the boss.  The spirit instructs the soul, and the soul commands the body.   

The well-known principle in Amos, "How can we walk with God unless we be agreed," has good application here.  If we are to be a light, to move in supernatural life and power, to exercise the ministry of reconciliation, in short, walk as Jesus walked, we must learn to follow God's order in our court of decisions.  Read and hear the Word, let it dwell richly in our spirit, yield our soul to follow the dictates of the spirit, and execute the thoughts and ways of God in our bodies.  Let God be magnified!