When God created man, He created us in 3 parts:
Body
Our bodies are made of dirt. From dirt we are made, to dirt we will return.
Soul
The soul consists of your mind (conscious & sub conscious thoughts), your will (power to choose – decision making), and your emotions (feelings). The soul is the mediator between body and spirit – everything passes through the soul.
Spirit
Our spirit is what is resurrected when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. Our spirit is what communicates and connects with the Holy Spirit. You are a spirit. Your spirit is eternal – on the day your dirt body dies, your spirit has 1 of 2 destinations – one they call She ol or Hell, the other the bible calls Heaven.
In our walk of maturity, we must learn to train all parts of who we are.
Sometimes we focus so much on training our body – if I simply remove myself from temptation, then I will not fall to sin.
Sometimes we focus so much on our spirit – if only I speak in tongues then no sin will be able to tempt me! Have you ever tried speaking in tongues at temptation?
We need to do these things – avoid sin, run from it! Strengthen our spirit – learn to hear God so clearly, grow in the fear of the Lord.
But we must not neglect our soul. We must also train our soul (mind, will, emotions) to live by the convictions of the spirit.
Train Your Soul
Mind
Mark 4:24
Consider carefully what you hear
If you don’t control what comes into your conscious mind, it will eventually become part of your subconscious mind. When it gets into the subconscious mind it is very hard to remove. It becomes what we believe, or at times what we identify as/with. This directly impacts the next part of the soul, the will.
Will
The will is the most powerful thing God gave mankind – the will gives man the power to choose. Even choose against God! It is the only thing that God does not control
· Famine in the world? Give Jesus 5 loaves, 2 fish and the problem is gone
· War? God can wipe out them out with simply an angel
· Natural Disaster? Jesus simply says, “quiet” and any storm will calm
But mankind’s will? God does not control. God does not control our choices.
The will of man lives in the heart of man. The heart of man is the subconscious mind of man.
Mark 7:20-23
What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s HEART, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person
Our subconscious mind is the heart. We are the sum total of what we listen, watch, and hear. That is why when you fast Netflix, Disney + and you replace it with God, you begin to have the thoughts and the mind of Christ! Train your soul by carefully regulating what enters your eyes and ears.
Emotions
Emotions and feelings can be a very strong part of the soul. There are people like Laura whose feelings are at the forefront, there are people like Josh Chee who can try so hard to cry, but are unable to squeeze out a tear!. Both are amazing, we are just created unique.
Bottom line though, I think we can all agree, is that feelings are extremely powerful. Feelings can drive a person to do crazy things – we can all think of a time where feelings have compelled us to action. Feelings are so powerful! Feelings are God made – created by God. God often uses feelings to direct us – when I was called into pastoral ministry, my feelings were off the chart! When Alvin prays for the city, he often does so with emotions and feelings! God often uses feelings to direct us.
Feelings are POWERFUL
But Jesus demonstrated how to deal with power. Jesus was MEEK.
Meekness is not weakness – meekness is power restrained. Jesus had all the power in the world, but did not release it. He only did as His father directed. When standing before Pilate – Jesus told him, if I wanted to, legions of angels would come. To have power, yet restrain it for the purpose of God…. that is meekness.
There is power in feelings, but feelings must always be aligned under meekness. Feelings must be restrained – hear me, not stopped, restrained. That even in the midst of great feelings – we always align to the direction of God and be obedient to it. I can feel strongly about social issues, I can feel strongly about injustice, I can feel strongly about all things – but if those feelings do not align to the Scripture, do not align to God – then those feelings must be rejected.
At Lifespring, we are called to be a Kingdom Family: Genuine Love for God & Genuine Care for Others. We are called to do this by first being the Huios (mature sons). Maturity requires us to care for entire person , this means it is time to nurture our soul as well.
Make Every Effort to nurture your soul, For His Name’s Sake.