A Grain Of Wheat Ministries
DIVIDING THE SOUL AND SPIRIT
In the book of Hebrews we encounter an interesting concept. This is that there are two distinct “parts” within us, one is called the “soul” and the other is labeled the “spirit.” Furthermore, we are informed that an essential work of the word of God (which in this case is LOGOS in Greek) is to effect a division between these two parts. In verse 12 of chapter 4 of Hebrews we read: “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, for penetrating even as far as the separation of soul and spirit, of both ‘joints and marrow,’ and is able to discern the thoughts and meditations of our hearts” (FLNT).
So we understand that this separation of these two parts is very important both to us and to God. But why is this so? What is it about these two parts of our being that makes this separation so essential?
Firstly, we must understand that these two “parts” are the location of two different and distinct “lives”. According the scriptures, the soul is the habitation of the “soul life” or PSUCHÊ in the Greek language. This life is the one we inherited from our forefather Adam. It is this life which is common to all men on the face of the earth. When we are born, it is this life which animates us, or in other words, it is the life by which men live.
But we also learn from the scriptures that there is another life available to mankind. It is the life of God Himself. This word is ZOÊ in Greek. Those who believe into Jesus receive a supernatural, immortal life from the eternal Father. They are, according to John 3:3,7, “…born from above”. We read that we can be: “…regenerated [have God’s life born inside of us] not by perishable parentage by immortal parentage; by God’s living word that exists eternally” (1 Pet 1:23).
Now when this supernatural life is born inside of us, its home or “location” is in our human spirit. We read: “That which is born of the Spirit is our human spirit” (Jn 3:6). Also, “He who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with the Lord” (1 Cor 6:17).
So we see that the soul life is located in our soul and the new spiritual life is located in our human spirit. This is an essential truth of which every believer should be aware. Each life has a specific “location” inside of us.
Now there are some aspects of these two “lives” which we must also understand. Firstly, we should realize that the Adamic life in our soul is fallen. It is sinful. It has an inherent, inalterable tendency to sin. This tendency to sin is its very nature. Furthermore, this sin nature is incurable. That’s right! There is no way to change it. It was born that way and it stays that way until we die. No matter how hard we try, or what methods we employ to make it different, its nature remains the same.
Secondly, we should understand that the divine life which we receive from the Father does not sin. Its very nature is holy. This too never changes or can change. This makes perfect sense since it is the very life of God, who is perfectly holy. We read: “That which is fathered by God [i.e. the new spiritual man] does not sin because it is his [God’s supernatural] seed that has come to live in him. In fact, he [the new spiritual man] cannot sin because it is something which is fathered by God who is perfectly righteous” (1 John 3:9).
Therefore, these two lives are in opposition to each other. They are in conflict. When the soul life guides our living, we express sin. But when the divine life guides our living, we express its holy nature. We are taught: “Those who are earthly, follow the pattern of the earthly man. Those who are heavenly exhibit the pattern of the heavenly One” (I Cor 15:48).
This then shows us why the supernatural division between our soul and our spirit is so important. When our soul life is in the lead, we express its fallen nature. When God’s life in our spirit is in command, we express His holy nature. We also are taught: “…when anyone is in the Anointed One, there is a new creation inside of him. The original man has been superseded {passed by, Gk}, look, a completely new being has been generated [the new spiritual man]” (2 Cor 5:17).
But many believers are unaware of this distinction. God’s LOGOS Word has not worked in their lives sufficiently to make a clear division between these two lives. In fact, many do not know that such a division could exist, why it is important, or how it can impact their lives.
These people are in darkness. The “light of this world” has not shined into them sufficiently for them to understand this all-important truth. There has been no divine separation between the soul and the spirit.
THE DEATH OF THE SOUL LIFE
However, we need not be in darkness. Through the scriptures, God gives us a lot of light on this subject. He clearly shows us the way for us to be delivered from sin. That’s right, God’s plan is to free us from sin completely. How is this accomplished? It is accomplished by the death of our soul-life.
You see, only the dead do not sin. Although many people fear graveyards, in fact they are full of people who don’t sin anymore. While our soul life lives and expresses itself through us, we will sin. It is inevitable. But the dead no longer sin.
This leads us to God’s wonderful plan for us. It is to put our soul-life to death and replace it with His own holy, supernatural life. Our freedom from sin involves an exchange of lives. We can trade our life for His life. This is the supreme miracle of real Christianity! In Jesus, we can die and yet not be completely eliminated from the universe. Our soul life can be put to death yet we can continue to exist because another life has been born inside of us. In the Anointed One (Christ) we can die and yet live! (2 Cor 6:9). In Him, after death is the resurrection from the grave!
Let us now take some time and look at what Jesus taught us about His plan for our soul life. In Matthew 10:39 we read: “He who seeks out and lives by his soul life will have it utterly destroyed, but he who declares that his soul life must put to death for my sake will be finding himself [discover in God who he was really created to be].”
Thayer defines this phrase “seeks out” which in the Greek is HEURISKO in the following way:
1) to come upon, hit upon, to meet with
1a) after searching, to find a thing sought
1b) without previous search, to find (by chance), to fall in with
2) to find by enquiry, thought, examination, scrutiny, observation, to find out by practice and experience
2a) to see, learn, discover, understand
2b) to be found i.e. to be seen, be present
2c) to be discovered, recognized, detected, to show one's self out, of one's character or state as found out by others
2d) to get knowledge of, come to know
3) to find out for one's self, to acquire, get, obtain, procure
It is interesting that many of the people of this world are seeking this very thing! They want to know how to improve themselves, how to better their lives, and how to be more successful. They use certain techniques of the soul to dominate others, to sell more products, to change their moods or situation, etc. They study psychology, learn sales strategies, do meditation, and go to “coaching” sessions and motivational seminars. They do everything they can to discover more about their soul lives and how they can better use it and improve it.
Yet Jesus’ words come through loudly and clearly. “They will have it utterly destroyed.”
Why is this? It is because it is sinful. It is self-centered. It results in the expression of the fallen nature which is sin. No matter what someone does to improve it, it is still sinful.
Again in Matthew 16:24,25 we are taught: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him totally reject himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to preserve his soul life will have it utterly destroyed and whoever will declare that his soul life must be put to death for my sake will find himself [discover in God who he was created to be].”
Here Jesus focuses upon wanting to “preserve” our soul life. Many times we would like to keep it. We like who and what we are. We don’t want to die so we hang on desperately to our old life. Perhaps we want to continue to be the one in control of our own lives and so we don’t want to lose it and depend upon the life of Another. Possibly, we are afraid to let go of trying to control our own lives by our own power and don’t want to let Someone superior take care of us.
Jesus addresses this condition in John 12:25 where we read: “He who loves his soul life [loves who and what he is] will have it destroyed. But he who has a deep aversion to his soul life [hates who and what he is] in this world, will guard themselves and flee from it into the eternal life of God.”
A Christian must not love his soul life. He must learn to see it from God’s point of view. It is inherently sinful. If we love ourselves we will never experience all that God has for us. We will never be free from sin. We will never live in His victory. Our love of our self life will cause us to hang onto it and never deliver it up to death. Therefore our experience of the process of salvation will be stifled.
In the book of Mark chapter 8, verse 34, 35 we have still more instructions from Jesus. We read: “If anyone wishes to follow after me, let him reject his own ‘self,’ pick up his cross and follow me. For whoever seeks to preserve his own soul life will have it utterly destroyed and whoever declares that his soul life must be put to death for my sake and the sake of the good news message will be being rescued himself [through transformation].”
Here again we have another warning about wanting to preserve our soul life. Here too we are shown that the death of our soul life through our co-crucifixion with Jesus requires our cooperation. We must be willing and ready for our soul life to be put to death. If not, then God cannot free us from who and what we are. His work in us will be retarded or even blocked entirely.
In Luke 9: 23,24 we also are taught about our soul life. Jesus says: “If anyone wants to follow me, let him totally reject himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to preserve his soul life will have it utterly destroyed. But whoever will agree that his soul life must be put to death for my sake, that one will be being saved [through transformation].”
In this passage, as well as the others, we see that the untransformed soul life will be destroyed. Why would such a thing be necessary? Why would God condemn the soul life to destruction? It is because it is inherently sinful. As mentioned before, this is something which cannot be changed. It is the very nature of the soul life to sin. It is impossible to change the nature of a life since it is something which is an integral part of the life itself.
Since the natural, fallen soul life sins, it cannot enter into the new creation which God is planning for us. If God would let someone with such a life in, sooner or later he or she would sin. It is inevitable. Someday that person would do, say, or think something unholy.
Let us think about this a little. How many sins were necessary to destroy this present creation? Only one! And that one sin seems to have been a “small” one, at least from a human point of view. Eve did not kill anyone. She did not steal something, beat anyone up, or commit adultery. She “merely” disobeyed God. Yet this one sin destroyed forever this world which God had newly created. Through this one disobedience, sin spread throughout the world. Murder, theft, rape, war, disease, plagues, and every kind of evil was introduced.
So it’s not hard to understand that no sinner – anyone with a sinful life and nature – will be allowed to enter into the new creation which is coming. If they did, sooner or later they would sin and destroy everything again. This why God will destroy the soul life of every individual. It is irreversibly contaminated with sin. There is no cure. Only the destruction of it will solve the problem.
But how can we contuse to exist if our soul-life is destroyed? God’s solution to this dilema is to provide humanity the possibility of receiving a substitute life: the life of God himself. This life, as we mentioned before, does not sin. In fact, it cannot sin because it is, by nature, holy. God’s life expresses God’s nature. This too cannot change. Again we read: “That which is fathered by God [i.e. the new spiritual man] does not sin because it is his [God’s supernatural] seed that has come to live in him. In fact, he [the new spiritual man] cannot sin because it is something which is fathered by God who is perfectly righteous” (1 John 3:9).
The good news called “the gospel” is that the Father is offering this life to men. He, in His infinite mercy, has decided to share His own life with those who believe into His son, Jesus the Anointed One (see Jn 3:16). By receiving this life, we too can become holy. By allowing this life to become the source of all our living, we too can express its holy nature. In fact, this is God intention. He sent His son into the world so that men could become holy as He is. This is not accomplished by our trying very hard not to sin, but by receiving His life and allowing this life to become the source of all our thinking, feeling, and decision making.
WHY THEN AREN’T CHRISTIANS HOLY?
Perhaps you have noticed that many, if not most of those who claim to be Christians are not holy. Why is this? Have they not truly receive the divine life? Are they not really “born from above”? These are valid questions.
The truth is that no life is born mature. Every life, whether plant or animal, is born immature and then grows up. This is something which should instruct us. The Bible uses the words “born from above” or “born anew” to describe our first experience when we meet and receive the Lord Jesus. This means that when God’s life is born within us, it is born a baby. It is immature. No doubt, you have heard the term “baby Christian”. This is exactly the case with someone who is recently converted. God’s life within them is still undeveloped.
However, in such a person, their old life, their soul life, is developed. It is mature. It has been their life source for the whole of their existence until that day. Therefore, it often dominates them. Instead of being led by the new life in their spirit, in times of stress, difficulty, or temptation it is often the “old” life of the soul which is expressed. This results in sin.
God’s solution for this is for His life within us to grow up, to mature. This occurs only by spending time in His presence. His life grows through communion with Himself. This He calls “eating” and “drinking”. This truth is detailed in John 6:54-57 where we read: “He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has the Father’s eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is the true meat and my blood is the true drink. He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live by the life of the Father, in the same way he who feeds on me, he will also live by this same life through me.” So we understand that spending time in God’s presence communing with Him is the act of “eating and drinking.” It is this eating His flesh and drinking His blood which causes His life to grow up inside of us.
Having close fellowship or “communion” with God every day is the only way for His new life to grow. Learning, even studying more and more about the Bible will not accomplish this. Knowledge does not cause growth. Only eating and drinking all that God is through intimate fellowship with Him will do it. He is the only spiritual food which will cause the new man in our spirit to mature.
We must learn to live in intimacy with God! It is essential that we live in communion with Him every single day! If not, His new life will not grow up in us and we will remain soulish, natural people. We will not express His holiness. We will never be useful instruments for His kingdom. Even worse, our sinful, selfish life will become a disgrace to our Lord and the work which He wants to do in us, through us, and in the world around us.
THE END OF THE SOUL LIFE
Besides the growth and maturing of the new divine life within us, there is another side to this process. This other side is the elimination of our soul life. On the one hand God’s new life in us must grow up. On the other hand our old life must die. How then is this accomplished? It is accomplished by our dying with Jesus. This means that we actually experience His death within ourselves. This wonderful truth can be ours because of the miracle which Jesus did for us on the cross.
When Jesus died, humanity died with Him. He is called “the last Adam” (1 Cor 15:45). He represented before God the end of the fallen human race and the beginning of a new kind of race of beings called “the sons of God”.
Now we must talk about a mystery which is impossible to explain or understand but very possible to experience. In some way, God made it possible through the death of Jesus for us to die also. Our old soul life can be put to death. In this way our sinful nature can be eliminated. His death for us and our death with Him resolves the problem.
This is something which is accomplished in us by the Holy Spirit, yet it requires our cooperation. It demands our willingness to die. Such a death must be our greatest desire and we must also be ready and willing to experience the pain and suffering which go along with it. God will never do anything inside of us which violates our own will. He carefully respects our freedom of choice which He gave us. Therefore, this death will never become our experience until we desire it ardently.
When Jesus taught, He explained that those who wanted to be His disciples must be “taking up the cross.” Here He was not speaking about hauling a piece of wood around. Neither was He referring to wearing a piece of “Christian” jewelry. He was talking about our dying, the death of our self or “soul life”.
In Jesus’ day, when you saw someone carrying a cross, he was never alone. He was always accompanied by a group of people. These were Roman soldiers. Furthermore, he was not just aimlessly wandering around but was moving toward one destination: death. For someone who wishes to be a disciple of Jesus, this willingness and readiness to die is essential. We are not speaking about physical death here but of the death of the old soul life and all that this involves.
Anyone can believe in Jesus. This often has little or no cost to the person who believes. But to follow Him, to be His disciple, is something else. This does have a price. Although there is no financial cost, it will cost us our own soul lives, our “self”. Only those who are willing to pay this price will know this experience along with the benefits of it. When we are willing, the Holy Spirit will apply the death of Jesus to us in a way that changes us eternally.
Please notice that it is the Holy Spirit which does this crucifixion work. It is not something which we can do to ourselves by trying very hard to make ourselves different. It is an experience which is ours through repentance and willingness to allow God’s Spirit to apply the death of Jesus to us.
This death with Jesus is not a one-time event. It is a lifelong process. Paul said that, for him, this was a daily experience (1 Cor 15:31). Just as the process of spiritual growth in the Lord takes time and attention, so too the death of our soul life takes time. In fact, these two things, spiritual life and the death of the soul life, take place together within us.
DIVIDING THE SOUL AND SPIRIT
With this foundation, we can now return to discussing the division of soul and spirit. It shouldn’t be difficult for the reader to now see why such a division is so important. Any of our living which originates with the soul life is of no use to God, to us, or to other believers. Even worse, since it has its source in the old life, it produces sin. On the other hand, all our living – our words, actions, and even our thoughts – which originate with the Holy Spirit in our spirit come from God. These then express His holy nature.
But if we have no discernment about the source of the many impulses which arise within us, how can we know which to follow? If we are in spiritual darkness, then we have no way to judge the thoughts and feelings which we have inside of us. Therefore, we don’t know which of them we should allow to guide us. We don’t know which to follow and which to refuse.
The solution to this dilemma, according to Hebrews 4:12 is the LOGOS or the Word of God. Many might consider this to be the words of the Bible. Although of course it includes this, the next verse makes it clear that the writer is talking about Jesus. We read: “And there is no created being that is not transparent in his sight but all things are stripped bare and exposed before the eyes of him from whom this word came.” It is the Lord who sees and understands our innermost being. It is He who knows us thoroughly without anything being veiled or obscured.
Therefore, it is through our intimacy with Him that this inner division is made. It is in His light that we are shown which of our thoughts and feelings are from our soul and which come from the Spirit in our spirit.
I am not in any way trying to diminish the importance of the scriptures in the life of a believer. They are essential. We should be meditating on them every day! God reveals Himself to us through the scriptures and so we should take every advantage of them, familiarizing ourselves with all that is written in them. Again I would like to emphasize that this should be our daily exercise.
However, the Bible cannot be a substitute for God Himself. Jesus is the light of the world. He declares that if we are believing into Him, we will not walk in darkness but have the light which comes from His life within us (Jn 8:12). It is His light which needs to shine into our hearts. It is He who exposes the old life, the “flesh” with all of its fallen, selfish thoughts and sentiments. It is also He who reveals to us His own thoughts, opinions and feelings.
In fact, His plan is to “renew” our mind (Rm 12:2) which refers to changing how we think about and understand our world, other people, and everything around us. He would like to rearrange our moral viewpoint concerning what is right and what is morally wrong.
Hebrews 9:14 tells us: “…how much more will the blood of the Anointed One – who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God – purify your moral consciousness concerning right and wrong so that you don’t perform acts which produce death, enabling you to serve the living God?” And further along we read: “…let us draw near to him with a sincere heart, being fully assured through faith, having our hearts purified from a degenerate sense of what is right and wrong…” (Heb 10:22).
Now as we walk with the Lord, this light should be increasing. It should be becoming ever brighter (Pr 4:8). As His life grows up in us, His light increases. It exposes more and more of our sinful nature and the sin which it produces. This is normal. This is how things should work in the lives of serious believers. As a young Christian, I supposed that after 20 years or so of walking with the Lord that I would feel really holy. Instead the opposite is true. Now, after more than 46 years with Jesus, I see my sin with ever more clarity. When you stop to think about it, this should be true. The closer we get to the light, the more it exposes.
When we see our sin, this brings us the wonderful opportunity to repent. We can agree with God about the ugliness of what He is showing us and also agree with His sentence upon our sin. His sentence is death. When we agree with God that such a life which sins and such ugly fruit of this life which is sin, should not exist in His universe, then He begins His work to apply the crucifixion of Jesus to our soul life. He then works to purify us from all unrighteousness.
We read: “When we agree with God’s judgment concerning our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all immorality of character” (1 Jn 1:9).
This exposing of sin, which involves separating the soul and spirit, is essential for spiritual growth. It is an important of our ongoing salvation. Without such light, we have no true idea of what is right and what is sin. Simply trying to follow biblical principles and laws is not sufficient. It is true that the scriptures can guide us. They play an important part in our knowing God. But they, without the presence and anointing of the Holy Spirit, cannot penetrate to the depths of our being. They cannot expose us as deeply and thoroughly as the Lord can and does.
This deep exposing, or “cutting” of the two edged sword of God, which even penetrates as far as to divide our deepest parts – the “joints and marrow” of our being – is something all of us desperately need. Without it we have no idea of which of our impulses has its origin in ourselves or in God. Without it we cannot truly walk in the Spirit, since we have little or no light concerning the source of our thoughts and feelings, which are the impulses which guide us day by day.
Consequently, many believers experience confusion. They try to follow the Bible, but without much success. They find themselves doing, saying and thinking things which they know are wrong, but with no help to change. Without light which leads us to true repentance, they have little if any spiritual growth and liberation from who and what they are. Without the division of soul and spirit there remains only darkness and confusion.
THE FACULTIES OF THE SOUL
According to many biblical scholars, the “soul” of man has three different parts or “faculties”. They are: the ability to think and reason (the mind), the ability to feel (the emotions) and the ability to decide (the will). Now these faculties are not sinful in and of themselves. For example, thinking is not a sin. Having feelings is not sinful, nor is making decisions. However, in fallen mankind, these faculties are animated by the soul life. They are the instruments through which this fallen life expresses itself. Therefore, these abilities or faculties function in ways which are full of self and sin.
God’s plan is not to destroy these faculties. He has no interest in a child of His who cannot think, who does feel anything or who cannot make decisions. His intention is not for us to become robots. Instead, He provided for us another source, another fountain of life which is His own. His intention is that these faculties which He created become instruments through which His own life and nature can be exhibited.
Instead of being filled with our own thoughts, ideas, and opinions, our mind can be filled with His. We can have the mind of Jesus the Anointed One (1 Cor 2:16). In the place of our own sentiments we can know how God Himself feels about other people and about many different situations. As we become intimate with God, instead of trying to guess about what Jesus would do or feel in each situation, we can know His will through His presence in us. Instead of relying completely on the Bible as our guide, we can have the Guide in person leading us. He can share with us His thoughts, opinions, feelings, desires, and even His will.
In this way, the faculties of our soul become the servants of the Life in our spirit. Instead of taking the lead, being animated by the fallen soul life, they can become an exact expression of His personality. By submitting all of our faculties to Him, He can use us to reveal who He is and what He wishes to the surrounding world. We can become useful instruments in His hand. We can become a genuine expression of Him.
As already stated, God does not want us to become robots. Ours must be a willing, sensitive cooperation with Him. This might be compared to a couple dancing where the male is in the lead and the woman senses and responds to the slightest touch or even look, from her partner.
It is not God’s intention to change our personality completely. He created each person as an individual for the purpose of revealing Himself in a unique way through that personality. We might think of it in this way. He does not intend to take a “green” person and make them red. Instead He intends to purify the soul of that person from being an opaque “green” where only their self is seen, to a transparent green through which His light can shine through their personality in a uniquely beautiful way.
Unfortunately, many believers have little experience of the division of soul and spirit. They walk in darkness. They depend upon their natural senses and experiences to guide them.
For example, many believers depend upon their mind. Perhaps they are especially intelligent. So their Bible knowledge, their ability to reason, their personal understanding of the world around them and even things in the body of Christ, is their basis for their words and actions. Theirs is a mental Christianity.
They like to study, reason, and discuss many Christian topics. They can talk at length about biblical subjects. However, often this does not transmit God’s life. Everything they say can be true, but somehow it is not living. It does not edify those who are listening. This is because the source is the soul life. Their mind is not being used by the Spirit but instead is animated by something natural and human.
It is true that God can and does use our human mind. He often gives understanding or “light” about many things. These can be revelations from the scriptures, wisdom or insight concerning others around us, or even light about what is happening inside of us. God can and does use our mind in many different ways. The key here is not whether we think or reason but what is the source of our thinking and reasoning.
Is it the soul life or the Holy Spirit? Is the source from on high or from below? Or, is it possibly evil spirits who are inserting thoughts and opinions in our mind? How much we need the living LOGOS to divide between our soul and our spirit. We desperately need discernment about the source of our thoughts and reasonings!
Other believers rely upon their emotions for their Christian experience. Since God sometimes gives us pleasurable emotions as we worship or follow Him, some come to rely upon these sensations. They depend on feelings for their guidance. They begin to urgently seek such emotions in their Christian life. If they feel good, then they are right with God. When they don’t have these feelings, they think something must be wrong.
But such emotions are very undependable. They can have many different sources. Our flesh can give us pleasurable sensations. Our soul life can generate feelings. Even the evil spirits, using certain thoughts, can cause us to feel many different things whether they are good or bad.
Let us imagine that during a meeting of the believers, God permits that the group experiences strong pleasurable emotions. This is not a bad thing. However, it is far too common for the group to continue to seek such feelings. Their music gets louder and louder. The “pastor” shouts and perhaps even jumps around trying to stimulate the emotions of the audience. The group invests a lot of time and energy trying to re-create something that God once did in the past. This is just soulish, emotional Christianity.
Perhaps even worse is the fact that sin can give us pleasurable feelings. It is not uncommon for a believer who has learned to follow his feelings instead of Jesus so be deceived by sin. Since a certain sins generate pleasure, he or she might mistake this for something allowed by God or even good, since they have been trained to follow their feelings instead of the Holy Spirit. How much we need the LOGOS word Himself to divide between our soul and our spirit!
Other believers have a very strong will power and therefore can control, to some degree, their actions. They depend upon their strong will to guide their Christianity. They are able, to a remarkable extent, conform themselves to some kind of biblical pattern of righteousness. It is not uncommon for such strong-willed individuals to look down upon the weaker ones who can’t force themselves to conform to the extent that they can.
Yet this too is an error. It is only self-righteousness. It is not the holiness of God being expressed. In fact, to the spiritual world, it is ugly. It is just the self, the soul life, clothing itself in an imitation righteousness. To God it is like filthy rags (Is 64:6). Since the source of such a life is the soul life, it really expresses the self and not God. Therefore, it is totally rejected by Him.
How much every believer needs to experience daily this division between the soul and spirit! How much we need the word, the LOGOS of God who is Jesus Himself, to cut deeply into our being! How much we need the light of God to penetrate the darkness of our soul and expose our self and sin!
Only in this way will our Christianity be genuine. Only by experiencing the separation of soul and spirit will we be becoming an expression of our Lord and not of ourselves. Let us bow our heads and hearts before God, praying earnestly that His transforming work would be done in our lives.
David W. Dyer
The acronym “FLNT” found in this book refers to the translation: The Father’s Life New Testament and many of the quotations in this writing use this translation.
