The word spirit means the nonphysical part of the body basically.  

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I need to begin by giving a brief overview of how various religions look at the spiritual aspect of things in general and what that means to that specific practice in that religion.  I will go through what I have found to be the belief in a few of the major religions.

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In Buddhism the practice and disciplines are to achieve a deep, self-awareness of the harmony of the body, mind and soul.  The soul is a deep seat of emotions and thoughts.  The word spirit doesn't really appear all that much in the buddhist  sutras and scriptures and other the buddhist texts.  In fact the word "ghost" may appear in terms as an evil entity when that word is mentioned.  Buddhism does not really believe in spirit the way Christianity views it.

Actually, many cultures who practice Buddhism believe in the idea that there is a "spirit" for many different objects or things, both non-living and living.

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Hinduism, which Budhism has its roots from, simply believe that all living things are connected via a the main God, Brahma.  It is believed that God is in everything and everything can be worshiped to some degree. The "Atman" is a type of being or part of us that is beyond ourselves and can be referred to as "soul" or "spirit".  There are different views of this "Atman".   It is "self" in that it is the self that is in a temporary body thus leading to the belief

of reincarnation.  It can be viewed in many different ways according to the core Hindu beliefs.

Possibly "Atman" is kind of a spirit according to Budhist beliefs ?

 

The Koran mentions the word spirit about 7 times, possibly a bit more than that.  Here is my point, the Bible mentions the word "spirit" over 600 times, depending on what Bible version you are reading.  It is important for all to understand that real Christianity is not just a lot of good teachings but be following the Holy Spirit and be guided by the Holy Spirit and allow the indwelling of the Lord in us and with us.

 

The Bible is very clear about the spirit in that we have a spirit.   Below are a few verses from the Bible state we have a spirit -

Galations 1:21 - Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—

1 Thessalonians 5:23 - Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify[a] you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:11 - For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

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Now I have to say that indeed there is spiritual healing.  When Jesus went around healing people that were sick and hurting on many levels he drove out dark spirits and demons that tormented people.  That is called spiritual healing.  However, I believe, that when you except Jesus as your Lord and Savior he renews you and your spirit becomes alive in a new way and you will start experiencing the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who speaks to your mind, heart and spirit. However, you need to start devoting time to spiritual growth with devotions, etc.

(Psalm 51:10 - Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.)

I believe that most of our health issues stems from a spiritual influence in some manner.  This took me awhile to understand but this is very true.

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I'll end this teaching with this.  All Christians should be pursuing a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit so that the various spiritual gifts that we all have can be activated and used.

Actually, the "Fruit of the Spirit", see Galations 5:22-23.  In fact read Galations 5:16 to the end of that chapter.

I'll get into spiritual gifts in a another lesson but you can read 1 Corinthians 12 which is a great starting point to get an understanding of gifts God gave us.  There are organizations that offer online spiritual gift tests that can assess, at 80% to 90% accuracy the spiritual gifts you have but the key is to be in prayer about understanding the gifts the Lord gave you.

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