Format for Topical Research:

1. Pray for the Spirit’s leading. 
2. Pick a Topic.  In this case, I chose the topic of the relationship between our behavior and our walk with Jesus.
3. Collect and organize verses.  I found eleven passages that I studied to see the relationship between faith in Jesus and our choices in treating our physical body. You might choose more or less. Do not worry if you chose different verses than I did.
4. Read the verses and ask questions about the verses.  My questions were designed to help me understand the verses in more detail. You will probably have different questions than me.
5. Write your answers. I wrote my answers separately for this post, but for myself, I just write the answers right after the questions.
6. Summarize your ideas. 
7. Repeat Steps 4-6.
8. Final Paraphrase. 
9. Pray for deeper understanding even after you finish studying.

MY EXAMPLE STUDY FOR MIND, BODY, AND SPIRIT

Topic:  What happens when the Spirit comes into our lives?

VERSE 1: John 14:15-26

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

QUESTIONS

1. What does Jesus say is the pre-requisite for keeping His commandments? 
2. What names does Jesus use when referring to the Spirit?  
3. What does that mean—helper for what/what truth?
4. How can we be in Jesus and Jesus be in us?
5. How can we see Jesus when the world does not see Him?  What is the key component that Jesus keeps reminding us about? 
6. What are other positions that the Spirit has in our lives? 

ANSWERS

1. We love Him.
2. Helper, Spirit of Truth
3. This question has many answers.  The Spirit helps us to resist temptation, to make the right choices, to strengthen us in our weakness, to heal us when we are wounded, to succeed in telling others of Jesus;  in short, through the Spirit’s help, we can actually live as if we are in heaven while we live in this broken world.  The truth refers to the truths found in the Bible, but also refers to discernment in our personal lives, and being able to differentiate between good and evil disguised as good.
4. Through the Spirit, we are connected to Jesus.  The Spirit communicates our heart’s desires to God and God’s love to us.
5.  Loving Jesus is the Key to remaining connected to Him even when the world cannot see Him.
6. The Spirit is our Teacher and helps us to remember God’s words

SUMMARY:  The Holy Spirit will comfort, teach, bring Jesus’ words to our remembrance, and enable us to be intimate with Jesus, i.e. Jesus will live in us and we will live in Jesus, and we will keep Jesus’ commandments.  All of this is based on loving Jesus.  All believers are to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so these promises were not just for the disciples.  They were for everyone who loves Jesus.  A lot of people seem to think that loving Jesus is a feeling, not a total commitment.  They view loving Jesus like loving chocolate.  It’s great and makes you feel good, but it’s nice to keep your options open and eat a little strawberry shortcake too.  That’s not love.  That’s preference.   In this passage, Jesus requires our total commitment and in return, He also gives His total commitment to us.  That’s love.  That love requires a change in our lives and behavior.  Not because someone is forcing us, but because we have been drawn into a love relationship that is worth more than any other options. 

VERSE 2: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

VERSE 3:  1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

QUESTIONS

1. What does Paul say that we are to do with our bodies? 
2. What does Paul say is special about us and our bodies? 

ANSWERS

1. Glorify God / Don’t destroy your body! 
2. The believers’ bodies are holy. / We are holy.

VERSE 4: 1 Corinthians 10:31

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

QUESTION

• What areas does Paul expect us to modify our behavior in? 

ANSWER

• Eating/drinking/everything we do

SUMMARY:  Paul says that there are changes that we should expect to happen in our lives when we have a relationship with Jesus.  God is not telling us to stop abusing our bodies because it becomes uncomfortable for Him to live in us.  He is doing it because He loves us and wants us to be happy. 

VERSE 5:  Proverbs 23:29-35

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”

QUESTIONS

1. What problem is this describing?
2. What are the effects of the problem?

ANSWERS

1. Being habitually drunk
2. Woe, sorrow, strife, complaining, injuries that the person cannot remember getting, red eyes, seeing strange things, doing and feeling perverse things, getting into fights and not feeling the effects, needing another drink

SUMMARY:  God understands our bodies and minds intimately.  He created us.  This is one of the best descriptions of the affects of alcohol on humans that I have seen.  Thus, one of the changes that God wants us to have is that we do not get drunk.  There is a long list of the bad effects that alcohol has on the body, but most people already know them, or they can do a little study to find out.  What most people do not think about is the spiritual problems.  How does getting drunk or high on drugs affect a person’s ability to give and receive love?  Drunk people do not give love well and are not aware that they have received love.  Can a person focus on deep spiritual truths when under the influence of alcohol or some other mind-altering substance?  No one can hear the Spirit’s voice speaking to them clearly if their brain is all cloudy with drugs.  Jesus demands total commitment.  He wants every part of us, just as He has given every part of Himself for us.

VERSE 6: Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

QUESTION

1. What does the author of Ecclesiastes say is the best thing to have in life?
2. What is the essential component of being able to enjoy life?

ANSWER

1. To find enjoyment in work, food, and drink when one is connected to God.
2. We can only find enjoyment as we are doing our activities in conjunction with our walk with God.  Working, eating, and drinking separated from God is emptiness.

SUMMARY:  These verses present a very different picture from the fighting, complaining, and red eyes of the slave to alcohol described in Proverbs.  Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes.  Basically, he binged on experiencing everything that he could from alcohol to sex to strange religions to accumulating money.  In the end, he warned us that all of those activities bring emptiness.  There is no fulfillment.  The only fulfillment is through a connection to God.  Like verse 25 says, apart from God, there is no enjoyment.

VERSE 7:  Psalm 84:10-12

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

QUESTIONS

1. Where does David want to be?  Why?
2. What do these verses tell us about God?

ANSWERS

1. In God’s court / a doorkeeper in the house of God; because it is better than anywhere else
2. God is the light to our lives and a shield to protect us.  He gives good things to those who trust Him.

SUMMARY:  This psalm was written by Solomon’s father David.  King David also knew where the best things in life were found.  He had wives, power, and military success, but he knew where he was happiest.  We know that sin brings us personal problems.  The Holy Spirit convicts each person of the don’ts that they need to cut out of their lives and the changes that need to be made in order to be happy.  However, those changes are not the end goal of God’s objectives for our lives.  The changes are to get rid of the barriers that interfere with reaching the end goal.  Our objective is to live in a committed relationship with Jesus.  If all we do is get rid of the bad stuff, some other bad stuff will come in to replace it.  Or the same old bad stuff will come back even stronger. 

VERSE 8: Matthew 12:43-45

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

QUESTIONS

1. What situation is the house in when the unclean spirit returns?
2. What happens after that?
3. What was Jesus trying to teach with this story?

ANSWERS

1. The house is empty, swept, and in order.  The key word here is empty.
2. The unclean spirit goes and gets more of its kind and comes back to live in the house.
3. It’s not enough to get rid of the bad.  If you do not fill your life with the good, you will have no defense against the bad.

SUMMARY:  A transformed life is not just about white knuckling it and stopping bad behavior.  It’s about being filled with the Spirit and loving Jesus so much that the bad stuff has to leave because we do not want anything to interfere with our relationship with God.  When we have that kind of relationship with Jesus, we trust Him to be with us through thick and thin.  He will strengthen us in our weakness and guide us through confusing situations. 

VERSE 9:  Philippians 4:12-13

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

QUESTION

• What was the secret that Paul knew about living well even when he was experiencing bad situations?

ANSWER

• Leaning on God for strength.  Receiving power to finish and pull through hard times from God.  It is only by dependence on God that we can have joy in every circumstance.

SUMMARY:  Not very many people remember the context where these verses were spoken.  Paul was reflecting on his experiences in life.  Paul had gone through quite a few problems in his life.  Paul was shipwrecked at least three times, probably four.  One time he was floating out on the water for a night and a day before he was rescued.  He was stoned to death.  At least the people throwing the rocks at him thought he was dead. After they left him, his friends were standing around looking at his body, and he got up and simply returned to the city that he had just been dragged out of.  Paul received 39 lashes with a whip on five different occasions.  He was in prison quite a bit.  He also had people lying about him a lot.  One time a mob searched the homes of his friends trying to find him.  In other words, Paul went through a lot of “bad” experiences by our standards.  However, his outlook on life was that he was fine as long as he had Jesus by his side.

VERSE 10: Romans 12:1-2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

QUESTIONS

1. What is Paul saying that we should do? 
2. Paul contrasts being conformed to this world and transformed by the renewal of our minds.  What does that mean?
3. What is the result of our minds being renewed?

ANSWERS

1. Present our bodies as a living sacrifice
2. Conformed to this world means to think and act by the standards of society as opposed to opening our minds up to God’s way of thinking and acting.
3. We will be able to discern God’s will.  We will understand the difference between what is good for us and what is bad for us.  We will know how to act and live.

SUMMARY:  Each person has his or her own private demons, i.e. their own besetting sins.  However, when we choose to start learning more and more about Jesus, it will bring about a renewal of the mind and lead to the Spirit convicting us of the will of God in our lives.  The big question that we have to ask ourselves is if we love Jesus and believe that He loves us?  God is calling us to give him our whole heart and body.  He is calling us to commit to Him completely.  He has already committed Himself to us totally. 

Verse 11: 1 John 3:1-3

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

FINAL SUMMARY:  We are God’s children.  He loves us.  We love Him.  That’s why we choose to become more and more like Jesus.  We restrain ourselves from eating foods and drinking beverages that would harm our bodies and cloud our minds because we do not want anything to interfere with our connection of Jesus.  We reject the world’s way of thinking and embrace the ways of the kingdom of heaven because we want to be with Jesus.  We turn away from empty pleasures that lead to death and focus on the pleasures that last for eternity.  Those pleasures come from simply living our lives out with our Friend Jesus beside us in all we do, eat, drink, and say.