God created us with a “Soul” that is both living and active.  The question is whether we cultivate the right skills or perspectives needed to live as we were designed for or not.  Getting married is a good example. We travel through life expecting to pick up the needed “Equipping” along the way and yet at least 50% of marriages end in a divorce and those who stay married are often living substandard marriages, not because they desire to fail, but because they aren’t educated enough to gain the proper tools needed. As our souls are made of three parts, “Mind-Will-Emotions” each of these parts needs the right equipping to function as God designed. If one part is ill-equipped or crippled then that part will affect the whole soul. This article is part five in a series on “Maintaining a Healthy Soul.” If you have not read the previous articles please stop and read them or you will miss the connection between them.

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.

We have been discussing the important subject of the “Soul” and how many believers have not been taught much at all of its importance nor its operation.  In article one we discussed how most churches don’t teach on the soul anymore and therefore fail to deliver to the saints the “Multiple Keys” that such understanding would yield all of us if we just understood the soul. We talked about how the end game of such a study is a “Healthy Walk“, not just being blessed as many of the church teachings now revolve around. Lastly, we talked about the human experience is composed of “Spirit-Soul-Body“. These three do not work separately but in tandem with each other. Hebrews 4:12 speaks of the difficulty of dividing between soul and spirit.  In article two we talked about many Christians feel like they are “Shooting in the Dark” when it comes to walking in true healing for their lives based a lot on not understanding their own soul. Paul said that in coming to Christ we should be becoming a “New Creation” (1 Cor 5:17) yet few today can confess such a state or experience. If you haven’t read the first two articles the rest will make more sense if you go back and read them first.

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.

My “Life Experience” has always been affected by my curiosity with how and why things work the way they do. In my life path I quickly discovered that life doesn’t get better just because I introduce “New Things” into my life but also and, more importantly, because I learn to treasure and maintain what I have already been blessed by.

My blog is focused on the human soul so I look for topics to write about that hopefully will cause readers to evaluate their lives based on scripture rather than on the latest trend or what is often taught in schools. Human logic is so twisted because we refuse to consider God’s thoughts or ways. Human logic often is less than honest again because of a lack of information from scripture. Even among Christian believers, scripture is often the last place people turn to acquire facts or wisdom. Instead, especially among the young, reasoning is now more about how we feel.  If we feel someone is a racist, well they must be. This circular logic reinforces the pathway to a total breakdown in the human soul.  The worst part is that it happens while the person or persons think they are headed in the right direction.

In the first article on this subject I explained that often we focus too much on our problems and brokenness and thus fail to encourage our walk with focusing on the goodness of God. Let me explain up front that I do not believe you can ignore our many problems or deny them, but if the problem is taking up most of your perception in life you are bound to continue in them and develop greater damage to your soul. As a counselor and pastor I would try to help people see their main problem and then help them focus on God’s ability to resolve and overcome these problems. By helping people see God’s proven faithfulness in other’s lives, we gain hope and confidence for ourselves. If you have not read part one on this same subject please read before continuing with this article.

In my last two articles I talked about the “Battle in our Soul” and how we all must struggle to keep a healthy soul.  The Soul does not take care of itself, it is something that directs us towards a healthy life or a sick and broken one. I would like to start this article on exposing what I consider one of the prime hinderances of the modern church and believers everywhere. Most of today’s preaching revolves around our personal need and brokenness and although this condition is often true, the fact that more often than not we are in a broken and needy condition is due in large part on our focus on the problem rather than the solution. So much hinders our ability to see the way out of this dilemma and if all we do is focus on the problem we never or rarely gain enough hope to expect a change in our condition. If you keep telling a child that he or she is stupid that will not motivate them to expect something different and our words become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In the first article on “Battling for a Healthy Soul” I talked about how “New Year Resolutions” are often hard to keep and thus we often fail to even try to make them.  Admitting our weaknesses is often the first step in real meaningful change, yet that very confession is often so hard to make. I discussed Psalms 103, a favorite psalms of mine when starting the New Year because it motivates me to start challenging my “Soul“.  This way I remember the goodness of God rather than the failure I might have had the previous year. If you haven’t read part one of this topic please do so before continuing.

Those of us who are over 45 years old or more ( that was a long time ago for me ) rarely take seriously the tradition of making a New Year Resolution mostly due to that fact of not keeping those resolutions after January. Truth be told, what we call resolutions aren’t truly a solid decision to change but rather an admitting of a weakness in our life style we regret. Sometimes admitting we need to change is very difficult depending on how many areas we struggled with the year before and yet to admit a weakness of failure can be the first step in becoming healthier.