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.”
And man became a living soul. By some marvelous fiat of God….man became a living soul….meaning man had intellect or mind, he had affections or heart, he had will to be active in the Will of God.
Man’s body was formed out of dust by God, the only part of creation that God handled (the others He spoke)….and God breathed into his formed nostrils, the breath of life or the Holy Spirit…giving him a spirit, and then:
Man became a living soul…to live to God and enjoy Him.
We were whole then….our consciousness was Godward. Our desire was toward knowing His Will, and doing it.
Ecclesiastes 7:29 “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”
This “sought out” is exactly what happened when Eve, leaving her duties as a helper to Adam, went to “look” at the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil.
Adam, leaving the duties of seeing to the garden, found Eve and “sought out” the Way to death and destruction, by:
First: listening to her, as she had listened to the devil (Genesis 3:17 “And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife,…”)
Second: staying,…when he should have run from the temptation.
Third: taking what he knew to be wrong, and eating it,…choosing her, over God. (Gen.3:6)
What they “sought out” was evil….for they already had good. And are not Adam’s children all the same….our inclination to evil…
…till, (and praise God there is a till)….The Holy Spirit convicts us, and the Lord Jesus Christ saves us….then we can become whole again…with a desire to know and do God’s Will.
Our soul’s are our true personality….the real us. Granted, they are influenced by our bodies which are in the external world….and they are influenced by our spirits which are the spiritual part of us.
(If they are still in a darkened state….that darkness blinds the soul to God (2 Cor. 4:4)
If they are in a enlightened state (Eph. 1:18), with the Holy Spirit within, after being born again….then they are influenced by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to the soul.)
Accordingly, the principal thing God does when He gives admittance into the covenant of grace is to teach man to know Him.
Hosea 6:6 “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
To truly know the Lord, is to love Him. And this knowledge of God leads us back into the garden of our souls….. to get to work for Him, there.
I desired mercy….this mercy is “hesed” or affection for our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
It is the love of God and love of all the household of faith. (And true love is a willed action of our whole being.)
These things are the results of the genuine knowledge of God. (notice it is “of God”,….not about God.)
I want to mention here, that when we are born again…there becomes a unity in our life again.(2 Cor.5:17) We learn of the Lord, how to be one with Him.
Our spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit can be ablaze with love, our soul given a new nature can become holy unto the Lord, our bodies yielding to God’s Will can become pure and undefiled.
Our eyes are toward heaven, where our citizenship is.
Our hearts are toward His Will done here, that we might please Him, Who gave all for me.
Our thoughts are not wandering into “maybe”, “if”, and “why not”….for we have learned…the whole of “me” has…”learned, that in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content”. (Philippians 4:11)
Our souls are where the warfare rages.
But by the force that is the Holy Spirit within our spirits, we can bring all the faculties of our soul under His control….by His grace (the unmerited favor of power).
True fellowship with the Lord is in surrender to His Will and Word.
We fellowship in prayer
(and true prayer is asking, seeking, and knocking for HIs Will done
John 7:17 “If any man will do His Will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”)
We fellowship in sufferings for His name sake. (Col. 1:24)
Philippians 3:10 “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death;”
We fellowship in rejoicing in Christ.
Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”
We fellowship in the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18-20 “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;”
We fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Philippians 2::3-4 “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”
For fellowship is our meat and drink in the Lord.
Our souls are who we really are….our wills, our minds or understanding, our hearts or affections, and our conscience.
When we surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ (and this must be first)…
…”For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” (1 Cor. 15:25)
Then we must present our bodies a living sacrifice to the Holy Spirit….
…”..to whom ye yield yourselves, his servants ye are…” (Romans 6:16)
Then that blessed divine nature, through the Holy Spirit, transforms our minds into the reality of a spiritual force within our lives…to think after Christ.
No matter how we say it….
….or what terms we use to try and explain it….we, as Christ’s servants….must yield to God and let the natural us…..become spiritual….usable to God, in the garden of our souls, first….
….and then in the wilderness of this world….holding out the Word of Truth.
Philippians 2:15-16 “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shines as lights in the world;
Holding forth the word of life;…”
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 