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.

Failing Forward

The leadership expert John Maxwell has a book that he wrote years ago entitled "Failing Forward". The gist of the book is about failure being designed not to stop your efforts, but as a means of improvement and development towards the reaching of one's goals. This is a lesson that a lot of us as Christians could afford to learn. There's not a person alive on this planet today who, at some level and in some area, hasn't failed. Failure is a part of life. If you're going to live, you're going to fail. The question is not, am I going to fail. The question is, how am I going to respond after I experience failure? This is how we want to make sure that we're Failing Forward.

So many of us, and I'm guilty of this, want to succeed "the first time around". We want to make sure that we get it right "the first time". If it goes down that way, Great. But if it doesn't, what do you do then? Many times in the spirit realm, particularly in the area of ministry, if we don't get it right initially, or if our efforts don't meet with immediate success, then we think it's not for us or that it's "not God's will" for us to engage in that particular area. This is incorrect. A lot of times God will "allow" us to fail in a particular area for which He's ordained us to participate in, just to test our resolve and our Perseverance. Saints, we have to reach a point in our faith and our commitment to God where we recognize that Failure is Not Final. Just because we didn't get it "the first time" doesn't mean we got the Call wrong or that it isn't God's will. This is significant, because there are some areas that the Lord is going to lead us in that are actually going to require "practice". Areas of spiritual gifts and callings that some of us may have never operated in before, and God is calling us to function in those areas of anointing. Just because you "mess it up" the first couple of times or so, doesn't mean you're supposed to throw up your hands and "quit". Neither does it mean you're supposed to try to justify your "temporary inactivity" until you "mature in your gift" and can get it right. No, you grow "through" it. You learn to Fail Forward.

A good example of this, believe it or not, was Jesus. Do you remember the time when Jesus was healing the blind man (Mark 8)? If you remember the story, the man didn't receive his full sight "initially". Oh oh, Jesus failed! Now, of course we know that Jesus didn't fail, but it looked like it didn't? I believe that the Lord allowed this to be written (at least in part) to inspire us to forge ahead in ministry, regardless of the area (but particularly in the Ministry of Healing) even when we don't get the complete results right away. God is getting ready to call many of us into areas of ministry that we've never done before. Do you know what that means? We're going to make mistakes! We're going to mess up. We're going to get it wrong. But be Encouraged. Don't let your mishaps and foul-ups get you down. Don't hang your head. Persevere.  Hang on in there. And let the Holy Spirit teach you the art of Failing Forward.

REST

As we continue to progress through this Season of Summer, I'm finding that many of the Saints who have been on the Battlefield for the Lord are tired. This is something that has been addressed previously, but the soldiers are getting weary. In addition to continued encouragement and inspiration from the Lord, what a lot of the Saints need is simply REST. 

Believe it or not, this simple admonition is the key for the weariness of many of our souls. A lot of us are still convinced that once the Lord turns our circumstances and situations around, this will bring us the needed relief for which we have been expecting. This is true to a very large extent. But what needs to be realized is that when God makes this turn and the breakthrough is manifested, we are going to war. God might give us a brief reprieve, but the Season of Harvest and Warfare will commence and the battle will be On! So, now is the time to get your "second wind" and learn to REST.

The first area of REST we need to focus on is our ceaseless activity. Some of us just need to sit down. There are too many of us that are always "busy." Busy for the Lord mind you, but busy nonetheless. This is not the will of God. God wants us to learn how to REST.  Not just relax, but REST. For many in our society, rest is equated with relaxation and leisurely activity. Yes, the Lord wants us to have a good time from time to time. But if you notice, sometimes you've got to work "harder" just to prepare to have a "good time." The God we serve is a God of Rest (Genesis 1). Don't become a proponent of the "Martha Complex" (Luke 10). Martha was busy serving Jesus and wanted her sister, Mary, to come and help her; and Jesus told her, in essence, you're busy doing a lot of work, but Mary has learned to rest. It's alright to take a nap every now and then. It's ok to go to bed early. To go to bed period! We need to make sure we're getting enough physical REST.

Then the Lord said, "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden...and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matthew 11). For a lot of us, our minds and our souls are restless. We're worried about this and we're worried about that. We're anxious for this and we're anxious for that. REST. There are some things you just can't do anything about. And worrying isn't going to help it get better, neither is it going to help you. The songwriter had it right, take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there. Many of us are tired because we're thinking too much. Give it to God. Take it to Jesus. Let Him give you rest, and you'll find rest for your weary mind and soul. REST.

The last thing is, we need to labor to enter His Rest (Hebrews 4). This seems like a contradiction, but it's the key to renewal and revival that so many of us are longing for. True rejuvenation for many of us is not rooted in the shifting of our circumstances, it's rooted in us learning how to rest in the Lord. The challenge is, you have to work for this. You have to be diligent. You have to make sure that you've allowed the Holy Spirit to conform every aspect of your will to the Divine Will of God. It's not easy. It requires sanctification, purification, consecration, self-denial, crucifixion, circumcision, dedication and commitment. Once again, it's not easy.

And for many of you, you're tired of the process. But when you resign yourself to the Cross that God has called you to bear, when you wrap your mind around the word that says "we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter" (Romans 8), the Holy Spirit will bestow upon you a supernatural rest that will give you the second wind that you're looking for. 

Resign yourself to the struggle. Concede to the Lord that you're willing to die daily (1Corinthians 15). Quit fighting it! And when you do Saints, God has a rest that will facilitate your "crossing over to the other side." Be Encouraged Saints, and get some REST!

Cross-Identification

We are in a season saints where Discipleship Development is going to be significant. No longer will one be able to get away with just being a "church member". If you're claiming to be saved and a born-again believer in Christ, then the requirement and the standard will be Christian Discipleship. Unfortunately, Discipleship to Christ is not something that is always strictly adhered to in the Body of Christ. This slackness in faithfulness and commitment to our Lord is found significantly in our church leadership. As preachers and ministers of the Gospel, a lot of times we get more preoccupied with our gifts and anointing than we do the Anointed One. This lack of focus in church leadership has created a ripple effect in the Body of Christ to where the majority of believers are not reaching for Discipleship to Christ as the standard for their relationship with God. This is about to change.

For those that have made a commitment to Discipleship to Christ, I'd like to reinforce the requirements of Discipleship as laid out by the Master Himself. Jesus says in the 16th chapter of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, "if any man will come after me let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me". The question I'd like to ask today is, have you identified your Cross? A crossless church is an un-discipled church. No matter how much praise and worship is going on, Jesus said that if you're going to be my Disciple you have to Bear Your Cross (of course praise and worship is a fundamental part of that). We have too many Cross-less Christians professing the name of Christ. This is one of the reasons why the church doesn't have the power to usher in the Kingdom of God. The Key is the Cross. And if you haven't identified and embraced your Cross, I can assure you, there's an aspect of your relationship with God that is off. We need to make sure that we've established Cross-Identification.

One of the preludes to bearing one's cross and the identification thereof is self-denial. That is the first prerequisite of Christian Discipleship (Matthew 16). Remember, self-denial is not synonymous with the stopping of sin. There could be an area that you need to deny yourself in that is not overtly sinful or against the word of God. One area that I've recently had to deny myself in is TV watching. Not that I watch an exorbitant amount of television, but the times I was watching it were not congruent with God's "discipleship agenda" for my life, so I had to shut it down. It may be an area that's very simple and subtle, but critical to the formation of Christ's Discipleship spirit within you.

In your pursuit of Cross-Identification understand this on the front end, you're going to have to Suffer. In identifying and bearing your cross, you are going to have to experience some pain. You're going to have to endure Sacrifice. If you're "pain aversive" or you're not into Sacrifice and personal inconvenience, let me tell you right now, you do not qualify to serve as a Disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll be one of the followers that "walks away" (John 6). Our society has conditioned us that Pain is bad. However, this is not totally true. Not all pain is bad, particularly when it's Ordained of God. I still believe in the saying, No Pain, No Gain. The Holy Spirit will give you the strength to endure the pain of your Cross. But the first item of business is the identification thereof. The Lord is allowing me to identify mine. Yes it's painful, but it's also liberating. Hebrews chapter 12 says, "looking unto Jesus...who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the Cross". Saints, there is reward for those that allow the Holy Spirit to discipline and teach them how to identify and thus bear and endure their cross. I'm not talking about in the "bye and bye" either. I'm talking about the here and now! God has some rewards and promotions that He's getting ready to bestow upon His chosen. But the rewards will not be received without Cross-Identification.

From Death to Glory

One of the things that I'm discovering is that in order to truly get to where God has ordained one to be, you have to be willing to die. This is not a message that is frequently preached, but it's a message that is consistently supported and reinforced in the Word of God. I'm beginning to believe that part of the reason why the church has not witnessed a major move of God within the last half-century or so is due in large part to our lack of acclimation to self-denial and sacrifice. However, as we prepare to enter into this next Move of God, it's going to be imperative that His people understand how to transition from Death to Glory.

The Apostle Paul says something in the third chapter of Colossians that ought to be the mantra of every born-again believer in Christ, "for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God". That is a very powerful, powerful, statement. Do you recognize yourself as Dead? Not dead in Christ, but dead to self. Most of the time many of us are trying to obtain self-affirmation, self-recognition, self-promotion, self-reinforcement. Believe it or not, a lot of this is counter to the declaration that the Word has pronounced upon our being. Why are we trying to get recognition for that which is dead? Why are we trying to get affirmation and reinforcement for that which God has said is not alive? Once again, we think the problem is with sin, but it's not. The problem is with self; and if you haven't taken the time to agree in your spirit with the Word of God, then you're going to find yourself sub-consciously seeking for things and reaching for things that run counter to the identity for which Christ died for you to be. We need to definitively declare today according to the Word of God, I am dead. 

However, that's not the end of the scripture. The text also says that we are hid in Christ. When you reach for self and the promotion and fulfillment thereof, you become exposed to all of the wiles of the Devil. Yet, when you're hidden in Christ, you're Covered. Saints, I am persuaded that a lot of the drama and a lot of the heartache that many of us are experiencing is due in large part to us not taking the proper posture of being hidden in Christ. That's why Colossians 3 goes on to say "put on the new man". Put on Christ! Don't wear your own personal attitudes and opinions and dispositions. Let your disposition and approach towards life be hidden in Christ. Let His Spirit cover you. This requires a degree of humility because, quiet as its kept, many of us like our personality and perspective towards life. The only problem with that is, a lot of times our perspective is not congruent with God's (Isaiah 55). We need to be deliberate about being Hidden in Christ.

Lastly, the Good News is that our being dead is not the Final Analysis. There is Hope! The scripture goes on to say, "when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in Glory" (Colossians 3). This is the part that we miss. Your being dead is not the focus. The Focus is the Glory of God, which is in Christ Jesus! (Colossians 1) As we embrace being dead to self, the Promise of the Father is, once Jesus appears, then we will appear with Him in Glory. Notice the scripture doesn't say "when He returns", it says when He appears. Jesus can appear to you at any time! (1Corinthians 15). And when He does, if you've adequately and sufficiently died to self and embraced your spiritual death sentence, then your New You will appear with Christ In Glory! Hallelujah!!! Aren't you excited about that? I am. But we have to be willing to embrace and endure the Transition from Death to Glory.

The Spirit of Fear

The Bible clearly states that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and of a sound mind (2Timothy 1). I am beginning to believe that one of the biggest impediments to the advancement of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven is the spirit of Fear that has gained a stronghold in the church. If we are going to be available and fully engaged in the Kingdom Calling for which God is calling His chosen, then we must be delivered from this spirit of Fear. One of the challenges with fighting and defeating this spirit of fear is having a proper understanding of what it is. The general conception of fear is a state of being afraid or intimidated. Of course this is correct, but it's deeper than the surface. A lot of times we associate fear and the spirit thereof with anxiety and nervousness, an outward emotional expression based upon an internal disturbance for which we are overwhelmed. Once again, this is correct to a very large extent, but the spirit of fear that is paralyzing the church is a little more covert and subtle than this.

The spirit of fear that has a hold on the church is the fear of Insecurity. One of the basic psychological needs of human beings is a sense of Security. When people do not feel secure, then they act out this insecurity in very delinquent and dysfunctional ways. There are things that God is calling His people into that, quite frankly, many of us have never done before. That can be scary. Nothing's wrong with acknowledging that, but there is something wrong with giving into that. Why? Because that spirit is not of God (2Timothy 1). We need to understand during this Season that God is purposefully allowing us to encounter some situations that are over our heads. He's intentionally allowing us to be "overextended". Why? So that He can move us beyond our personal limitations and get us beyond our fears. The Kingdom of God cannot be established operating in a spirit of fear. Personal doubts, circumstantial questions, skeptical what ifs, not of God. So am I supposed to just charge ahead? There we go! That's it. What was the Battle Cry when the soldiers were getting ready to head into battle? CHARGE! Yes saints, that's what God wants us to do. He's Faithfully given you Revelation of what He's assigned you to do. Just Do It! I'm pressing this because any other "skeptical-cynical" spirit is not of God. That's why the Lord was so displeased with the children of Israel when they refused to march into the Promised Land at His Command. They were operating in a spirit of fear (Numbers 13).

What should allow us to rebuke and overcome the spirit of fear that is subtly shackling many of us, is the Word of Comfort that the Lord has given to us, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13). When we demonstrate and manifest a spirit of fear, we are basically saying that we don't trust in the Security of the Lord. That is an Insult to Him. I'm sure we don't mean to be insulting, we're just trying to be real with where we are. But how would you feel if you were leading your child into a situation that you knew you had total control of, but yet they still didn't trust you. Notice I didn't say they were still scared, I said they still didn't trust you. The reality saints, when you experience fear over an area that the Father is leading you into, you're saying in essence that you don't trust Him. That He as God is not sufficient. I know you don't "think" that's what you're saying. But if you felt God was sufficient, then why would you be afraid? Do you see what I'm getting at. Let us learn to put all of our trust in God. Let us learn to truly take Him at His word. Then we will no longer insult Him by operating in the spirit of fear.

Preparation for the Crossover

Saints, we are in a time of Transition. For many, the nature of your situation and current circumstances, are a far cry from what they were say 2 to 5 years ago. And for many of us, it may not be what could be described as "for the better". But Be Encouraged, God is Still in Control. He is moving behind the scenes and He's setting some things up for His chosen that we would not be able to fathom in our most active imagination. But in order to receive what God has in store for us, we must make Preparation for the Crossover. Crossing over into God's Ordained Destiny for our lives is not something that just "miraculously happens". It does to a certain extent of course, but in order to successfully make the Transition for which God has ordained for our lives, it is imperative that we be Prepared.

One of the areas of Preparation for the Crossover is the development of a Soldier's Mentality. I still get the strong impression that a lot of Christians that attend church services, don't truly understand that when they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, that they were actually enlisting in the Army, GOD'S ARMY. Yes saints, we are in the Military, and in order to operate successfully and effectively in the armed services, there's a certain mentality that is required. Soldiers don't function like Civilians. Civilians structure their lives to live a leisurely, casual lifestyle as much as they possibly can. Not that there are not certain demands placed on them, but they are not necessarily of a Military nature. When you're in the Army, particularly when you are at War, you're "always" on Guard. There's an Assertiveness that is required to function as a Soldier. I'd like to think of myself as a fairly disciplined individual. But I don't know if I would consider myself a "regimented" individual. When you're in the Service, everything is regimented, from the time you wake up till the time you go to bed. There is a Spiritual Regiment that God has devised for all of us that is part of our Preparation for the Crossover.

In conjunction with the Soldier's Mentality, we have to be prepared to fight for the Kingdom of God. This passiveness on behalf of many Christians, including those in leadership, must cease. It's Time to Go to War! If you're not ready to fight, then you're not ready to Crossover. God told the children of Israel that once they entered the Promised Land that they were to "possess the Land" by fighting the Canaanite nations that resided there (Numbers 33). Are you ready to fight? Are you ready to take back our neighborhoods, take back our communities, take back our families, take back our schools, take back our government, take back our institutions, take back our churches, take back this nation, for the Kingdom of God in the Name of Jesus Christ? God's not going to shower us with Miracle Blessings just to enjoy for our personal consumption. He's going to bless us so we can change the world in Jesus' Name. I pray that as we get closer and closer to this Season that you will allow the Holy Spirit to give you the Grace for the Preparation for the Crossover.