Are You “Maintaining” a Healthy Soul? (Part 2)

This article is part 2 in the series on maintaining a “Healthy Soul”. The subject of the soul is an important topic from both the  scriptural and theological point of view.  The practical side of maintaining your soul will not happen without greater insight more than pure observation. In my opinion, the soul needs to be taught about regularly yet in many churches the subject is rarely identified let alone discussed except for a glancing word that the average believer doesn’t understand nor apply in life.
This understanding can and should cultivate in the body of Christ but sadly it does not. If you haven’t read the first part on this subject, please do so before continuing.

Part one of this article discussed how some people don’t think they need to “Maintain” their soul because it will just take care of itself.  Anyone studying basic physics and the third law of thermo dynamics knows that “Everything “ works towards a state of disorder, not higher complexity. Not only is evolution absurd considering this law of the known universe so is the topic of the soul. If we don’t understand the soul we surely won’t take care of it nor cultivate a healthy one. Ignorance is not bliss.  It is a train wreck waiting to happen.

The apostle Paul prayed a very simple prayer for believers in the early church, which was packed with multiple keys in gaining and developing a healthy walk with God and others. We would do well with asking some questions about why he asked God to assist in developing each saint’s life by identifying humanities three-part make-up.

1 Thessalonians 5:23                                                                                                                                                                

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These three “components” of man’s makeup are key areas that we should be concerned with when developing a life that is both pleasing to God and fulfilling to us. To live neglecting any one of these three areas hinders any progress we attempt.  As was discussed in part one, man was created whole and complete before the first rebellion started by Adam and Eve, our first parents. Since the fall of man’s original completeness, mankind has been at war with Satan, who is trying to destroy individuals by distorting our make-up and the true knowledge of our souls. Satan knows if he can distort man’s understanding of the human soul, man will never recover God’s true intent for man’s divine calling. The end result is man blaming God for all his sorrow and pain.  Consequently, Satan wins by hurting not only man but the very heart of God.

These three elements to humanity, “Spirit-Soul-Body“, work in a unified way to create the “Whole Man” and it very often hard to distinguish between the various parts except by the Hoy Spirit’s guidance.. Look at what the writer of the book of Hebrews says about the Holy Spirit and the Word being able to divide and distinguish between these three elements.

Hebrews 4:12                                                                                                                                                                                 

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

God blesses us with so many illustrations in the natural world, like “Bone & Marrow” to help us understand spiritual principles. The marrow of a bone is in the very core and it is there that most of the red and white blood cells are produced.  The joint is the point of connection on the outside of the bone that joins it to another bone.  Just as the “Word of God” is sharp enough to separate between the intent of the heart and the actions of a person, so science has uncovered the difference between the inside and the outside of the bone and it’s importance.

A lot has been learned in the last 100 years about the human body and it’s complexity. From nutrition to fighting cancer, great advancements have been made to help us get the most out of healthy bodies if we so choose, but relatively little has been understood about the human soul or the spirit.  Humanity has learned how to overcome gravity to land a man on the moon yet more and more counseling offices, guided by human understanding, are opening to deal with the brokenness of the human soul. Although I strongly believe in the importance of counseling to help people work through their personal challenges, only the Holy Spirit can truly untie the twisted condition our modern soul gets into.

For now, let’s just understand that we are made up of three elements which are similarly woven together in each person.  I would like to now unpack the human soul as it is also composed of three parts, “Mind-Will-Emotions“.  The reason this is so important is that the makeup of the soul holds keys to our success or failure.  If we don’t know how the soul works we are fooling ourselves into thinking human intuition and education, coupled with will power, will unravel the messed up human condition. We will find ourselves “Shooting in the Dark” at a target that is illusive. Consider this. Every week millions of people are gathering around the world to listen to the scriptures being talked about, yet after thousands of hours of listening the average Christian is not very far along in their spiritual journey.  We expected or hoped for transformation when we came to Christ but instead we are left with a greater load to carry instead of the lighter one that Jesus promised us.  The scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:17 defines very clearly what “Should Happen” when Christ comes into as person’s life.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19                                                                                                                                                        

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

At face value, and if we are truly honest, it seems our expectations and experience in being “Born Again” is often far different from what Paul defined.  My belief after being in ministry for 45+ years is that we have a very incomplete understanding of the human soul and what the Holy Spirit wants to do with each of us in our souls. Our efforts to get the word of God into our spirits has often been fruitless because our soul is often conflicted and confuses, which keeps Satan laughing at the church. Reconciliation becomes a fantasy rather than the reality Christ promised.

Looking at saints in both the Old and New Testament, it is clear how people who understood their own souls found God helping them straighten out what was crooked in themselves. They figured out they must be reshaped and transformed if their whole life was to be impacted. The prophet’s mother in the story of Samuel understood the importance of the soul finding the structure and vision for a life that God wanted by giving herself extraordinary prayer. During an intense prayer time Hannah so engaged in prayer that she was being accused of being drunk because the priest  saw her lips moving but heard no wards. Her heart was speaking to the Lord and her mouth followed. Her soul was united and her spirit was leading her life.

1 Samuel 1:15                                                                                                                                                                                  

But Hannah replied, “No, my lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD.

In the next article, we will dig deeper into the working of the human soul and the importance of us grasping how the soul affects our spirit and body. Suffice it to say, I believe your soul is crying out for the hand of God to come and take your vision and faith for a healthy soul to a whole new dimension.  Seek the Holy Spirit’s hand and power to release all that he has to bring into your life from the very heart of your Heavenly Father.

Questions:

1) Have you ignored the prompting of the Holy Spirit to understand your soul and its importance? If so, search your heart and tell the Father of your regret and willingness to seek the revelation He so wants to pour out to you.

2) Do you find yourself resistant to the Holy Spirit in changing? Maybe the enemy of your soul is behind that feeling and you need to ask the Holy Spirit to give you a fresh picture of the Father’s heart regarding change.

May the Holy Spirit equip us to be more than conquerers.

Pastor Dale