Discover Who You Really Are
Most of us have learned to think of ourselves primarily in physical terms. We have bodies, brains, personalities, thoughts, and emotions.
But Scripture reveals something about human life that changes how we understand all of those things.
You are a spirit person, living and expressing life through a physical body.
That may be a very different way of thinking about yourself.
It certainly changed how I understood myself.
I began realizing that the person I am isn't limited to what someone can see or hear. My body gives physical expression to the life taking place within me.
And if that's how God designed me, it raises an important question.
Where was that inward life designed to receive its direction?
For me, answering that question has opened up the practical meaning of Scripture more than anything else I've discovered.
One Design. Different Ways of Living.
Here's something important about God's original design.
It applies to everyone.
Every person is a spirit person living through a physical body, whatever their religious beliefs. We all take in what's happening around us, give it meaning, form beliefs, and make choices that come through in our words and actions.
What differs is what we give weight to and what we allow to govern our choices. We can build around our own interests or bring our choices into alignment with God's design and let His Love shape how we respond.
Think about two people facing the same difficult situation.
One becomes consumed with what happened, rehearses the offense, and responds with anger or withdrawal.
Another recognizes the same difficulty but responds with patience, honesty, and genuine concern for the other person.
The circumstances may be nearly identical. Both people are functioning through the same human design.
But something different is governing what comes through them.
You can begin noticing what's happening within you, what you're giving weight to, and how your choices shape the life you're experiencing. That's a discovery anyone can make.
That shared design and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are two distinct things. The life Jesus described helps us see the difference.
Designed to Be Led by His Spirit
Jesus didn't describe a life that depends on everything around us going well.
He described a life of abiding in Him, receiving His Love, and experiencing His Peace and Joy.
Through spiritual birth, the Holy Spirit comes to abide within our human spirit.
That's an important distinction.
Everyone shares the same human design. But being a spirit person isn't the same as having the Holy Spirit dwelling within you.
Spiritual birth establishes a restored relationship with God and makes possible the Spirit-led life Jesus described.
Think about what that means.
God hasn't simply given us instructions to follow while we try to figure out how to live on our own.
He has given us His Spirit to lead us from within.
And learning to recognize and follow His leading changes the way we approach everyday life.
Instead of continually looking to other people or circumstances to determine how we're going to feel, think, or respond, we can learn to give greater weight to His abiding presence.
That doesn't mean we stop having emotions or experiencing difficult circumstances.
It means those things don't have to govern us.
Being led by the Spirit is a complete reorientation of how we live.
And it's the foundation of the inside-out life I'm continuing to discover and experience.
What Does That Look Like in Real Life?
Imagine having a disagreement with someone you love.
You know what they said. You know how it affected you. And you may feel a strong desire to defend yourself, withdraw, or make sure they understand why they're wrong.
That's a familiar experience.
But what if, in that same moment, you recognized that you don't have to become what you're feeling?
What if you could acknowledge the frustration without allowing it to decide what comes out of you?
You could listen. You could speak honestly. You could address the problem or establish a necessary boundary.
And if you're learning to be led by the Holy Spirit, you can do those things while remaining attentive to His leading.
The disagreement might not be resolved immediately. The other person might not respond the way you hoped.
But you can still choose how you're going to show up.
And as you learn to live from the Father's Love, you can experience His Peace and express His Love even in the middle of that disagreement.
That's what makes this understanding so practical.
You're no longer waiting for everything around you to change before you can begin living differently.
Living the Design in Everyday Life
Recognizing who you are as a spirit person is only the beginning. The difference becomes visible in everyday life.
It might mean having a difficult conversation instead of avoiding it, responding with patience when you're frustrated, or setting a necessary boundary without allowing someone else's reaction to govern your peace.
You begin recognizing familiar patterns, examining what you're giving weight to, and choosing how you want to respond.
For me, that includes acknowledging the Holy Spirit's presence and learning to follow His leading in the ordinary situations of life.
And as our choices become more aligned with Love, the difference becomes something we experience within ourselves and something others experience through us.
Design. Build. Experience.
These three words describe how we bring these discoveries into everyday life.
Design begins with discovering how God designed human life to work. You are a spirit person living through a physical body, and God designed you to live from His Love.
Build happens through the choices you make. You can build around your own interests or align your choices with Love, valuing others more highly than yourself and choosing what serves their genuine good.
Experience is the life you're living along the way. Your choices shape what you experience within yourself and what others experience through you. As you learn to live in alignment with God's design, you can experience more of His Love, Peace, and Joy in everyday life and express that Love to others.
You don't have to wait until you've achieved everything you want or resolved every problem.
You can begin living differently today.
How Life by Design Helps
I've spent nearly fifty years investigating Scripture to understand how God designed human life to function.
That journey led to discoveries about our spirit life that changed the way I understand being led by the Holy Spirit.
The investigation developed into what I call Inner Man Architecture. The approach I use to investigate Scripture as the Creator's Design Text is called Design Theology.
But I didn't create Life by Design simply to explain those discoveries.
I created it to help people benefit from them.
My books explore these discoveries and what they mean for everyday life.
Life by Design Coaching helps individuals, couples, and groups apply these discoveries to everyday choices, relationships, and challenges.
Heart Alignment Sessions are guided listening encounters centered on personal conversation, listening prayer, and spiritual communion with God.
We begin with your actual life, your relationships, the challenges you're facing, and what you'd like to experience.
You can start by exploring how the original design is working in your own life. Scripture is the foundation of my work, and the invitation to explore how God designed human life is open to everyone.
Because God designed human life to function from the inside out.
And the more clearly you recognize how that design works, the more opportunities you have to begin living by it.
Discover How Life Works. Live by Design.
Free Discovery Experience
What If Life Works Differently Than You've Always Believed?
Explore five familiar situations. Consider what you think is happening, then discover what Scripture reveals about God's original design for life.
Explore the Free Discovery Experience