Renewal of the Mind, A Closer Look at Soul and Spirit

There are probably many, many Christians out there who love Jesus Christ, love the Gospel, love the Truth (when they get to hear it), but do not like themselves.

I believe this is a "common to man" thing among believers and unbelievers in Jesus alike.  There is a reason why this is, and certainly a source from whence it comes.

Growing up I was definitely in the category of not liking myself.  It's a very subtle "tape" that runs in the background.   Fear goes with it.  Fear of not saying or doing the "right" thing, not performing perfectly, getting all choked up when someone asks you a question, or when you'd love to express yourself, but not willing to take the risk.  The mode is fleshly performance, but not living by His LIFE.

Being extrovert in personality does not necessarily mean one likes his or her self either.  There are all sorts of "cover ups" to disguise the inner person.  It is easy to reason that if one is not a believer, has Christ Jesus as their Savior, Redeemer, then they have nothing to draw upon.

But today I want to talk about Christians who have never been able to resolve their inner, soulish conflicts.  They are definitely real.  And conflicts they are.  This is where the mind has a playground of torture and condemnation at times.  Back and forth, back and forth.  That sure is not peace.

Peace does not come from having a happy disposition.  Some people's personalities just lend towards whistling in the morning when they get up, being positive, "laid back," as we would call it.  That's still not the REAL LIFE in Jesus Christ. 

This is where the paradigm shift begins - when God truly can divide soul and spirit of a person and that person knows the difference and what is going on in their life.

I realize there are lots of spiritual men, present and past (who have gone on to be with the Lord) that have written many things.  Personally, I have gleaned from many of them - truly sifting out what makes sense according to the word of God, leaving the rest alone.

One of those men that some think are controversial is Watchman Nee.  He has written some good works though, one being "The Normal Christian Life," based on Romans 6, 7 and 8.  When you are searching for Truth, sometimes a book can help explain things.  Of course today we have a huge CRAZE of books and if ever we need to be careful, we do today.  This is because we do not need to substitute books for the Word of God and the Holy Spirit personally guiding us into all truth.

But there is a book I read years ago that personally touched my life and gave me a hunger to want to understand how the Lord has made us - and what happened to me when I was born again.

And this is what I have learned, and again makes some good sense to me.  It certainly matches my difficult Christian journey as I grew up and how I began to understand what all was going on in me.

When Christ came in my heart, He came in my spirit which was dead in trespasses and sins according to Ephesians 2.  There He sealed me with His precious Holy Spirit.  Now for me, it seemed "faint," kind of a distant reality.  And all I knew was to outwardly try to live out righteousness.  There was no deep, abiding reality of WHO lived in my heart.

So in my twenties, that started to change.  All of the sudden I became aware of the Holy Spirit in me.  Whoa - there is somebody in there!  But I still needed a renewed mind in the things of God.  Now I think where we go to church sometimes has an effect on our spiritual growth too.  It's kind of like growing up and the kind of physical food you eat in your household.  If you are poor, you don't have the high quality food necessary for a healthy growing - not getting the proper nutrients.

Same thing spiritually.  If you hear a "law-based" theology, performance based and not the nourishing Words of Life concerning Christ in you, the Glorious Gospel, the powerful TRUTH of His salvation in you, then you tend to live on "potato chips" of the Word so to speak, or an outer crust of the bread of life.

That's not what God has for us.  His Word of Life, divinely revealed, will change the mind - will grow the faith in the Son of God, will increase the stature of the inner man by God's Spirit - AND fill the vessel with life and peace that ONLY comes from God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

I truly want to continue this little walk concerning soul and spirit.  It is going to take a little time to explain some things - but hopefully they are worth pondering to you and you'll hang with me.

This I know:  God says He wants to preserve and sanctify us entirely:  spirit, soul, and body.                        I Thessalonians 5:21.  

This Scripture was a promise to my heart at the age of 21 - I saw it and held on to it.  Why?  Because at age 21, I felt like I was in one of the rides at the amusement park  called "Salt and Pepper" Shaker.  You got in and shook all round, upside down  (my cousin talked me into riding one of those things) - and the only thing I could do when I got out was throw up! 

That's a description of what was happening in my little mind.  For I daily heard the whispers, "Not good enough, scum-bag person, God doesn't like you, etc."  Nobody can live like that.  But people do - all the time.  It's like outwardly be kind to people (which is good) but not to yourself.

So God's heart is to get rid of ALL that kind of stuff, and bring the Light, the Truth, the Glory, the Love, and the fullness of His Son in our hearts to REALLY rule and reign in us.   There is His way of doing this too.  He does lead individually in His work of grace in us - we live constantly in His glorious Hope.

Blessed be the name of the Lord,

Sue Gaither