#S2-048: Why It’s Important to Understand the Serious Power of the Soul [Podcast]

Soul Power for Your Present Hour

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A Swedish doctor in a new book says he discovered the human soul weighs 21 grams. He placed beds of terminal patients on sensitive scales and saw the needle drop when the patients died, he says. 1 Twenty-one grams is roughly three-quarters of an ounce. Is this all the soul is, less than an ounce of your human make-up? In this week’s Light on Life Podcast, we are going to jump into this are of the human soul as we strive to understand it’s serious power.

This is part one of the Series entitled, ‘Soul Power for Your Present Hour’. You can find Part Two ‘Why It’s Important to Understand the Serious Power of the Soul‘ here.

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The Composite Nature of Man

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (KJV)
23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

  • This passage in 1 Thessalonians lays out for us the entirety of man’s being.
  • Man is a three-part entity not two parts as some suppose.
    • Man is spirit.
    • Man is soul.
    • Man is body.
  • The spirit is not the soul and the soul is not the spirit.
  • And neither spirit or soul are the body.
  • If it helps you, you can think of it like this: man is a spirit, he has a soul and he lives in a body.

Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

  • Notice in this verse in Hebrews that the spirit and the soul are divided.
  • If the Word is able to divide spirit and soul, then they cannot be the same.
  • Many times people use phrases which actually hinder their faith because they slide things to together or interchange areas which are not meant to be interchangeable.
  • The spirit is not the soul.
  • It’s incorrect to say, “Thank God He saved my soul if you are referring to the born again experience.”
  • Your soul wasn’t saved in the sense your spirit was when you came to Jesus.
  • It’s your spirit which received the new birth.
  • It’s your spirit which became a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
  • Your spirit is your heart.
  • Your spirit is your inner core.

[Tweet “It’s incorrect to say, “Thank God He saved my soul if you are referring to the born again experience.””]

What Is the Soul?

  • Your soul consists primarily of three components.

Your Soul Consists of Your Emotions

Psalm 86:4 (NASB95)
4 Make glad the soul of Your servant, For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

Mark 14:34 (KJV)
34 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.

Song of Solomon 1:7 (NASB95)
 7 “Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, Where do you pasture your flock, Where do you make it lie down at noon? For why should I be like one who veils herself Beside the flocks of your companions?”

  • In these three verses, you can see the soul is glad.
  • You can see the soul is sorrowful.
  • And, you see that ‘love feeling’ which also comes from the soul.
  • Some people get married based on this ‘love feeling.’
  • They make a mistake because they didn’t get guidance from their spirit.
  • They felt the emotion of love in their soul and they acted on that soul feeling.
  • They did not divide spirit and soul.
  • Make sure your ‘love commitments’ are coming from your spirit not your soul.

Your Will Is Part of Your Soul

Psalm 25:1 (NASB95)
1 To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

  • You see, the psalmist determined to do it.
  • He exercised his will and pulled himself up.

Genesis 49:6 (NASB95)
6 “Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they slew men, And in their self-will they lamed oxen.

  • This is Jacob prophesying and speaking of his children Simeon and Levi who slew a whole bunch of men over the actions of Shechem, the son of Hamor, toward Dinah their sister. The story of which is found in Genesis 34.
  • Jacob said, “I will not my soul enter into their council”.
  • He refused to let his soul get out of control over his daughter being forced.
  • You see anger is of the soul but you can exercise your will and stay out of trouble.

James 1:20 (KJV)
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Your Mind Is Part of Your Soul

  • Mind or reason is that part of the human being in which thought takes place and perception and decisions to do good, evil, and the like come to expression.2

Deuteronomy 6:5 (NKJV)
5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

  • How do you love God with your soul?
  • You use your mind and you think on Him.
  • You use your mind to meditate on His Word.
  • Your thoughts are on Him, that’s loving God with your mind, with your soul.
  • It affects your spirit when you do this.

Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.

  • You see, you put your mind on God and that affects your spirit.
  • You get peace in your spirit.
  • But one of the main areas where the mind comes into play is the agreement you should have with what’s going on in your spirit.
  • The unrenewed mind can talk you out of the leadings and the life you have in your spirit.

The Soul Is Important in the Spirit Life

  • The soul is extremely important in the spirit life.
  • Just because the soul is not the spirit doesn’t mean the soul should be ignored.
  • Emotions’ like anger surely need to be kept in check (Ephesians 4:26).
  • The mind, at times, needs to be reeled in.
  • Thoughts need to be captured (2 Corinthians 10:5).
  • The will, at times, needs to be adjusted.
  • Do you remember the man at the Pool of Bethesda who was sick thirty-eight years?
  • Thirty-eight years is a long time to be sick.
  • Hopelessness and discouragement are often the companions of long-term illness.
  • Notice the question Jesus asked him as this man lay there waiting for the angel to come trouble the water.

John 5:6 (KJV)
6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

  • Jesus put His finger on the pulse of the man’s problem with the question “Will you be made whole?”
  • The years had beaten down the man’s will.
  • Every individual who stepped into the pool ahead of him when the waters were troubled added to his despair.
  • The will of man is important in receiving healing from God.
  • The will to live must be kept strong and intact.
  • Jesus needed the man’s soul engaged in the fight.
  • If people don’t want to be healed, if they don’t exercise their will in that area, they won’t be.
  • You can’t force it on them.
  • That’s one reason, a person you are praying for may die.
  • You’re in your prayer closet praying for healing alright but in their closet their will is not in the fight.

Soul Renewal: The Hinge Pin for Effectiveness

  • The spirit of man is the part of you which is affected by the new birth.
  • Your soul, that is your mind, your will and your emotions were not affected.
  • After you gave your heart to God, after you claimed Jesus as your Lord, you still thought the same. You still held the same opinions.
  • On the inside you were new. On the outside, you were the same.
  • If you were bald headed before you got saved, you were bald-headed after you got saved.
  • If you were good looking before you got saved, you were still good-looking after.
  • The new birth didn’t change your body, neither did it change your soul.
  • But God didn’t leave us without recourse in the area of our souls.
  • God gave us His Word to develop our souls.
  • You want your soul to develop.
  • Soul development is mind renewal.
  • If your mind is properly developed, it will partner with your spirit.
  • How does that phrase, ‘partner with your spirit’, work?

God Deals with Man’s Spirit

  • God uses your spirit to communicate with you.
  • He talks to your spirit.

Proverbs 20:27 (KJV)
27 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, Searching all the inward parts of the belly.

  • Your spirit is the candle or electric light of the Lord.
  • What does that mean?
  • It means your spirit receives input from the Holy Spirit who abides in your spirit.
  • The information you receive within, at times, has to be acted on.
  • If your mind has not been educated, renewed, or restored, to recognize the leadings of your heart, the information you do have in your mind, the old stuff, the old thinking, your way of looking at things before you came to Jesus, will talk you out of that leading.

Call to Action:

The Bible speaks of renewing the mind or restoring the soul. That’s on our end of this Christian walk. It’s our responsibility. God gave us the tools to get it done; His Word and His Spirit. Now, it’s up to us to do the work.

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If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at energized1@outlook.com.

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Question: What are area of your life was most impacted by the renewal of your mind? Please leave your comments in the comments section below.

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References:

  1. Pastor’s Manual [Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 306. ↩
  2. Walter A. Elwell and Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996). ↩

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Categories: Podcast, Spiritual Development