In this series of articles we have been exploring the nature of man and focusing on his soul. We have defined the soul as having three parts, “Mind-Will-Emotions“, and our soul was meant to facilitate our spirit to be able to learn, grow and enjoy our relationship with God and others. As we already know, our current experience in life is normally a bumpy one even for those that have established a relationship with God through the sacrifice of Christ. If you haven’t read the first three article in this series, please do so that you have the full discussion of the soul.
When God created man and made him a “Living Soul” he treated man as unique and special above all of His other creations, including animals. Scripture says we are made in the image of God, including our soul.
Genesis 2:7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Leviticus 26:11-12
Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. ‘I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.
Scripture says we were made a little lower than angels and thus our “True Self” should be the highest priority. Unfortunately, we are forever building on the lie that the body is the most important element of who we are and the 21st century media world constantly bombards us with both overt and subliminal reinforcement of this worldly message.
Hebrews 2:5-8
For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere, saying,
“WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM? “YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.”
For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.
I shared in article three that man was intended to live by being nurtured with the truth and the principles learned from God. However, Satan is constantly undermining God’s truth and exchanging them with distortions and lies masqueraded as truth. If the role of the soul in life is indeed the vehicle by which the spiritual life of man can once again rule and reign then the nurturing of the “Mind” is crucial to the soul being healthy and productive as God intended.
The apostle Paul speaks of this in the book of Romans chapter 12 when he challenged us to “Present” our bodies to God as a sacrifice. The reason he starts off with the body is that your mind won’t focus on what your body doesn’t surrender to. Think about it. If your body is engaged in sports, entertainment, work or other activities then your mind is being encouraged to focus purely on those things “Unless” you have trained your soul to be attentive to things of the Spirit even in the midst of those activities. Now, I’m not saying that you have to think about spiritual things all the time and never allow your soul to be occupied with “Natural” things. Most of us would confess, though, that we have a much easier time thinking in the natural compared to being responsive to the Holy Spirit. Simply put, we must strive to submit our bodies and our soul to learning from God and his kingdom ways first.
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Paul goes on to say that if your body is in the right place then the next step is to focus your mind on the will of God. How many Christians do you know that “Sort Through” their feelings about whether something is the will of God or not? Take marriage for instance. Normally are emotions lead, instead of the Sprint, because our minds are full of the natural way of doing things. We look at our prospective mate and we struggle with our overwhelming emotions while our spiritual self has little to no influence. This occurs because our mind is more full of the natural world than kingdom truth and principle.
Paul made it very clear that when we try to live purely by scripture and not the leading of the Holy Spirit the scripture actually brings death to us. How many Christians today are reading scripture without the guidance of the Holy Spirit? Instead of the scriptures bringing them into life, it makes the individual hard and judgmental instead of reflecting the love of Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:4-6
And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Jesus was dealing with this problem of inaccurate perceptions with his disciples all through His ministry. His disciples knew scripture, but they didn’t understand how the word, by itself, would not deliver sound understanding. In the story about Mary and her sister Martha, he illustrates the point of spiritual illumination verses good works.
Luke 10:40-42
But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
To be fair, Jesus is not saying that serving others is wrong. He is only saying that there are times when your mind and soul need to focus on spiritual truth and understanding.
I will continue to explore the need to “Retrain” our mind and thinking to experience the Christian life that Jesus promised in John 8: 32.
Questions
- Have you been feeding your mind “Little” bits of truth and expecting major transformation? God often calls us to sacrifice “stuff” that we normally classify as important for learning a new pattern of living. Is that “NOW” for you?
2. Fasting never feels good when you start but often refocus your soul. Are you in need to “REFOCUSING”? You are in control of what you allow in your life. Make a choice to listen to the Holy Spirit and engage.
Pastor Dale
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