Separation of Soul and Spirit

One of the things that we want to keep in mind is that we are created in the Image of God (Genesis 1). Even though there is theological debate around this subject, I am a firm believer in the Doctrine of the Trinity. I do believe that God manifests Himself in three distinct Persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit (Holy Spirit). Not three different gods, but One God who chooses to manifest Himself to humanity in 3 specific persons (Matthew 3, 1John 5). Based upon this belief, we also believe that human beings are what can be described as "tri-partite beings", meaning that we too are three in one: body, soul and spirit (1Thessalonians 5). The reason this is significant is because a lot of times we mistakenly associate the soul and the spirit and interchangeably make them synonymous. This is incorrect. There is a distinction between the soul of man (humanity) and the spirit of man. It is important that we learn the difference so that we can make a Separation of Soul and Spirit.

The soul consists of one's emotions, will and intellect. The spirit consists of one's values, beliefs and convictions. The Bible is clear on the fact that the soul and the spirit are not synonymous (Hebrews 4). With that being the case, we need to learn to distinguish within ourselves the distinction between the operation of the soul and the operation of the spirit. Why is this significant? Because there are too many believers that have more of a soulish relationship with God than they do a spirit-ual relationship. One of the things that I've learned over the years is that there are a lot of things that we do in the church that grow more out of our soul than they do our spirit. When you're being regulated more by your emotions and feelings than your faith and beliefs, you're being soulish, not spiritual. Jesus said that the Father is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and truth, not "soul" and truth (John 4). That's why Jesus went on to say that God is a Spirit, not a Soul (John 4). So our ability to distinguish and separate the two has a major impact on the development of our relationship with God.

Too many of us are still regulating our relationship based on how we "feel". This, my brothers and sisters, is not of God. Yes, God wants us to be real with how we feel, but that doesn't mean that He wants us to be regulated by how we feel. "I don't feel like praying...I don't feel like studying...I don't feel like praising...I don't feel like serving". With all due respect, who cares! There are a lot of times you don't "feel" like going to work (if you have a job) but you go anyway don't you? (or at least you should) The point is that we've got to stop regulating our relationship by how we feel and how we think. One of the greatest enemies to God's Kingdom Agenda in the church is what people "think". What you think doesn't matter to God when it comes to the execution of His Divine Will (Isaiah 55). God cares about your Obedience not your Opinion! But once again, when we get wrapped up in "how we think" and "our perspective" and "our opinion", that's our soul, that's not our spirit.

We must mature to the point that we're regulated by our spirit. When this happens, then we're not pressed about feelings and we're not pressed about our opinion (or the opinion of others), we're only pressed about the Word of God. Hebrews chapter 4 says that the soul and spirit are separated by the Word of God. Our minds have to be renewed and then regulated by the Word of God (Romans 12). Then the Lord will "teach us" how to feel. He'll "teach us" how to think. And once we let the Word of God through the operation of the Holy Spirit, allow our spirits to regulate our beings, not our souls, we will be witnesses of the Miracle of the Separation of Soul and Spirit.