SHIFTING CONTAINERS – Intentional Capacity
“Choices are the hinges of destiny.” — Edwin Markham
This chapter is not about having a “purpose-driven life” but “living an intentional life”. The difference is subtle yet defining. Purpose is what we try to achieve or an aim and a goal we set ourselves. A “purpose-driven life” relates to what we wish to accomplish and answers the “why we do what we do” on our spiritual journey. Intention sets the direction of the mind towards what we intend to do and the choices we make. “Living an intentional life“ refers to our resolve and answers the “why we choose what we choose” on our spiritual journey. Once we have started the process of expanding our EMOTIONAL CAPACITY (see previous two weeks), we need to expand our INTENTIONAL CAPACITY – the ability to not only choose the GOOD things, but especially the GOD things
One area of human nature that is too often neglected in teachings is the choice-making component of our spiritual journey. We are keen to emphasise the indwelling of the Spirit and that we are dead to the world, but we neglect to highlight the need to expand our intentional capacity of preferences and choices. Living an intentional life is reflected in the heart of Joshua when he gives the people of Israel the following option: (Joshua 24:15) “… choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
When Jesus finds His disciples sleeping in His hour of need (Matthew 26:40) He warns them not to fall into temptation because even though “the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak”.
Scripture continuously warns believers to intentionally choose the way of the Lord, and to do it today:
- Joshua 24:15 … choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve
- Deuteronomy 30:19 … Now choose life, so that you and your children may live .
- Psalm 119:30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws.
- Psalm 119:173 May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.
- Psalm 25:12 … He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.
- Romans 2:18 You know what God wants you to do, and you have learned from the Law to choose what is right.
In 2 Corinthians 10.3-5, Paul tells us of a battle—then where the battle is fought—and finally for what objective. This struggle pertains exclusively to man’s mind. The Apostle likens man’s arguments or reasonings to an enemy’s strongholds. He pictures the mind as held by the enemy; it must, therefore, be broken into by waging war. He concludes that many rebellious thoughts are housed in these strongholds and need to be taken captive to the obedience of Christ. All this plainly shows us that the mind of man is the scene of the battle where the evil spirits clash with God. The mind is a battlefield and our choices will ultimately determine our actions.
Building capacity in our intentions will involve two areas of our lives:
- The place where we build intent
- The space where we build intent
THE PLACE WHERE WE BUILD INTENT – THE SOUL
F.M.Perry shares a teaching on the internet[1] that should be re-examined and re-assessed in our quest to expand our capacity to choose wider in order to live deeper.
Perry argues from the Scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:23[2] that the complete makeup of a human being can be described with a combination of three different words: spirit and soul and body.
The words spirit, soul, and body are translated from the three original New Testament Greek words: pneuma, psyche, and soma, respectively. In the original Hebrew language of the Old Testament, the same three words are ruach, nephesh, and geshem, respectively. Considering the usage throughout the Old and New Testaments of these three different words, Perry concludes each word has a distinct meaning. A spirit is different from a soul or a body. And a soul is different from a body or a spirit. Paul used all three words to describe the complete or entire makeup of a person.
The body and spirit components of every human being are more easily identifiable than the soul. According to Scripture, the human body was formed by God “of dust from the ground” and God gave spirit to the human being when He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life[3]“. Human beings, therefore, have both body and spirit. But the human characteristic that is more than just body and spirit is called soul. Human beings are living souls.
In Genesis 2:7 we find that “the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul”. When God formed the body of man from dust and gave a spirit to him by breathing into his nostrils, “man became a living soul”. This is confirmed in 1 Corinthians 15:45 where Paul writes: “So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” The soul (life) is therefor the connection between body and spirit. It is, as Derek Prince rightly describes it; “The body was clay infused by divine life. The soul came about through the union of Spirit and body.”
The soul represents the unique human personality, that which makes us who we are. The soul is the “intentional” component of our human nature, the decision-making unit, the who I am, and what I feel. The soul becomes the “policymaking” unit in our bodily armour.
That is why David declares in Psalm 103 “Bless the Lord O my soul”. David is intentionally calling on his soul to choose to worship the Lord. In Psalm 6:3 the Psalmist confirms that his “soul is in deep anguish”. In Psalm 57:8 the Psalmist calls out “Awake, my soul!” If we want to expand our capacity as believers it will require that we awake our souls and make godly decisions in the difficult times of our lives
It is this consciousness within our souls that we need to develop intentionally.
THE SPACE WHERE WE BUILD INTENT – GETHSEMANE
Jesus presented His followers with a calling that required life choices that few accepted. It was a calling that required self-denial and would ultimately lead to death. And although thousands followed Him, only a handful imitated Him.
This still applies today. Millions follow Christ as Lord but those who choose to make Him Lord of all, are far fewer in number. The challenge for every believer is to make “life-choices” before “life happens” and not to trust ourselves to make intentional choices on the spur of the moment and hope our capacity would then increase. We have to make choices in advance in order to face our “moments of truth” without any doubt.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor and author of the classic book “The Cost of Discipleship”, became known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and executed by hanging in April 1945. While imprisoned at a Nazi concentration camp, Bonhoeffer wrote the following on embracing persecution:
“When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die. The Christian life is a crucified life. ‘Take up your cross and follow Me…’ was the command of Jesus. ‘I am crucified with Christ’ was the confession of Paul. But just as we must all take up our cross daily and be crucified with Christ, before we get to Calvary, we always pass through Gethsemane; the place where our will meets the will of God. It is here, in this garden, that the battle is fought – and either won or lost. The Roman soldiers did not take Jesus’ life when they crucified Him. He had already laid it down Himself. You cannot kill a man who is already dead! Jesus was victorious at Calvary because He was victorious in Gethsemane. The disciples faltered and fled at the crucifixion because they slept in Gethsemane. Gethsemane is the place where you make the decision every day to get on the cross or to run from it.”
The truth is that this capacity building will not come easy. Choosing to forgive those who hurt us is not an easy option but not doing it will have far more devastating effects; it will stop capacity growth. Choosing to love our enemies will never come naturally and will require intentional Gethsemane moments, relentlessly, progressively and continuously.
Unless we can truly expand our capacity to make Godly choices our containers will remain small and unable to contain the spiritual riches of a Saviour who died and rose again. And amazingly, once we start building our intentional capacity we will soon discover the need to expand our geographical capacity.
You are most welcome to order the book CAPACITY from Mike at thirdwayinfo@gmail.com
[1] http://www.faithhopelove.net/SpiritandSoulandBody.html
[2] 1Thessalonians 5:23 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.
[3] Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live.