When a young child is
introduced to math he first learns to count 1, 2, 3. It is just rote. Then he
is shown pictures of one balloon, two pencils and three bears. But when the
child sees one pencil he says two because pencil means two and when the child sees
one bear he thinks three. Then a miracle of the mind takes place when he grasps
that the objects are representative of quantity. Then he is able comprehend and
apply his understanding and 1, 2 and 3 have meaning.
So it is with spiritual
understanding. Unless we have the miracle of the mind we cannot understand
spiritual things. It is the Holy Spirit within us that allows the miracle to
happen.
Lura and I were discussing
spiritual things with a Chinese couple and used the parable of one house built
on sand and one built on rock. Having been brought up in China
The eternal soul is created
and implanted in the body by God as early as the zygote stage and departs
sometime before the body’s life processes cease. To the physician, the soul is
the “will to live” and to the psychologist, it is the Id or superego. To the
theologian, the soul is our spirit, the essence of our being which we aptly
call the “heart” (not the physical organ). The soul is the place where God
created the capacity for beauty, virtue and His presence. It has a special
place for God’s Spirit, if invited, or it can be left empty to be filled with
self-centeredness or even Satan.
The
mind is the avenue to the soul. It is when our mind interfaces with our soul,
where the Holy Spirit resides, that we can think like God thinks and have His
understanding, discernment and wisdom to reach good conclusions and decisions.
It is the degree of mind management capacity, rather than DNA or environmental
factors, which give us the option to choose God and freely choose to love Him
back. The mind is the battlefield where body needs, self-esteem, evil, and spirits
versus good clash. The mind needs to be well exercised in healthy patterns of
godly thinking to engage in warfare; it needs to have well practiced routines
to draw on the godly. With a high state of readiness and commanding mind
management skills, we win the battle. When these flow naturally, abundant
living flourishes.
One
of the soul’s functions in prayer is to interface with the mind. Our soul is
coached by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and nurtured by the abiding
presence of Christ. While our soul is safely covered by the atoning blood of
Christ and is fit and ready to go to heaven, the mind has its own will and is a
“free fire zone”. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that flows to our mind to
produce the mind state that we know as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self (mind) control. It is the
indwelling presence of Christ that provides the mind with indomitable
determination and energy to do all things for Christ’s kingdom. It is the
enablement of the Holy Spirit that gives our mind faith to believe, turn the
words of scripture into meaning, helps us recognize and use our Spiritual
Gift(s), and distinguish sin, evil and evil spirits before there is evidence
for a conclusion. It is the soul that provides the arms cache, which fully
equips us for the battles of the mind. Be ready to put on a full set of armor
before entering mind combat.
Another
soul function is direct soul-to-Soul prayer which transcends words and mind
thinking. It is prompted by our innate need for the presence and love of God.
The soul has an ineffable prayer language of its own. Since the mind is so
occupied with directing all the activities of a busy body in a dynamic
environment, it only prays when directed. The soul can pray without ceasing.
Head knowledge and heart
knowledge are both necessary to withstand the storms of life and have an
abundant life.
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