Insolomonsporch's Blog

“For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses]. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men? 1Cor 3:3 AMP

“What is born of [from] the flesh is flesh [of the physical is physical]; and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  Jn 3:6 AMP

“That each of you should know how to possess (control, manage) his own body in consecration (purity, separated from things profane) and honor, not [to be used] in the passion of lust like the heathen, who are ignorant of the true God and have no knowledge of His will … for God has not called us to impurity but to consecration [to dedicate ourselves to the most thorough purity. Therefore, whoever disregards (sets aside and rejects this) disregards not man but God, Whose [very] Spirit [Whom] He gives to you is holy (chaste, pure).” 1Thes 4:4-5,7-8 AMP

“[Strive to save] others, snatching [them] out of [the] fire; on others take pity [but] with fear, loathing even the garment spotted by the flesh and polluted by their sensuality.” Jude 1:23 AMP

Do I fear my soul?

The question of whether I fear my soul is straightforward, however the answer is not – exactly.

I don’t fear my soul. I fear its independent and un-submitted activity, without obedience and reference to the Holy Spirit. My soul on its own is like the mind of the flesh defined in Romans 8:6 – sense and reason without the Holy Spirit which is death.

This is in contrast to the mind of the Spirit which is life and soul peace…

But let us explore the previous state a moment – the mind of the flesh which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:7 explains that the mind of the flesh is hostile to God.  Its thoughts are carnal, and its purposes are opposed to God for it does not submit itself to God’s Law for it cannot.  It is rebellious therefore to God.

When each of us was saved a process began of bringing light to our darkness. Ephesians describes our condition as, “For once you were darkness….” Eph 5:8.  All that we once were was darkness – that was our condition. But as our soul (will, intellect, and emotions) are freed to light by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit – then light expands within us.  It is a process where we submit our will, our thoughts, and emotions to come into agreement with God and no longer resist Him.

But where I retain independence and different ideas than what is presented by the word, I retain self thinking based on self truth – there, in that place, is an absense of light, and an absense of obedience and submission.  In that place, death still reigns and there is an absense of the Holy Spirit. There resides the mind of the flesh… independent of God.

This is why we must renew our minds daily with the word of God – to rout out darkness of fleshly thinking and any thought that exalts itself against the true knowledge of God (2Cor 10:5).

Sidebar:  There is a really intriguing book called “The Latent Power of the Soul” by Watchmen Nee.  In it he explains some very almost bizarre things, like where Extra Sensory Perception,  and some other psychological abilities come from – the soul. He further explains that these abilities were given to Adam to help him perform God’s call upon him to care for the garden.  But with Adam’s fall, and the way into the Garden shut these abilities of the soul were all as fallen as Adam himself, and thus forbidden. The reason being, their entire operation would be thus totally independent from God and in operation as fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

With the coming of Christ and rebirth came a parallel of giftings now under the leading of the Holy Spirit. Now came words of knowledge, gifts of healings, wonder working power all sourced by the Holy Spirit.

The major warning of this book however, is how in the last days (now) men will be deceived and believe they are working under the Spirit’s power, but really Satan will have confused them into stirring up the latent power of their souls. The end result of this is, Satan wins in bringing many under condemnation and death because of their independent and rebellious action (think Balaam and Balak and bringing the Israelites under God’s wrath). Believers will believe they are operating under the power of the Holy Spirit, but they will actually be operating under there own soulish power.

This sums up why our independent, soulish thinking is so dangerous. It results in death. Galatians 6:7-8 is very clear.  Whatever a man sows, that and only that is what he will reap.

For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”  Gal 6:8

Now in the last days, apostasy ( a falling away) happens so that people who once looked like they were followers of Christ instead fall away and are taken captive in deception…

This is what we are seeing even today as people are embracing doctrines that are expressly against the truth of the word of God. Bizarre practices are arising in many quarters where people who once appeared as strong believers are pursuing power and energy and ability regardless of its source and throwing all caution to the wind.

This is a sensuality of the spirit. Where once sensuality was a matter of the flesh and gratifying its demands, now it has taken and polluted even the spirits of these who pursue such gratification disguised as spiritual hunger. It is in fact spiritual, but it is not Godly, nor is it holy.

Have you heard about practices of “grave soaking?” Have you heard of people “activating angels? Have you heard teaching that no longer focuses on a life lived for Christ, but rather calls you to “take the city” or take kingdom dominion now in government, entertainment, or arts, or any other of seven mountains? Have you heard people disdain end times teachings on the rapture, or totally dismissed the need for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, which Scripture itself presents as the Promise of the Father? Beware!

Here is a pivotal truth. Corruption begins in the heart – this is where it radiates from, but a constantly renewed mind can bring transformation to the body, soul, and spirit.  And so it is in the hidden heart of even the believer that independent, rebellious thinking can percolate and bring ruin. (Rom 12:1-3)

We are not called to be conformed to the current tides of cutting-edge religious movements, nor called to excessive behavior that we see in what once appeared to be saints hungry to serve the Living God…

But we are called to be consecrated to God Himself, that we should abstain and shrink from all sexual vice, that we should know how to possess (control, manage) our bodies in consecration, not to be used in the passion of lust like heathen who are ignorant of the true God and have no knowledge of His will —

The kicker point:  Where do I embrace and yield to and receive this will of God?  It is in my own soul – my mind that has been renewed and transformed and is now the mind of the spirit (with God), and not the mind of the flesh (sense and reason without the Holy Spirit).

Acts 2:38 Peter speaking …

Repent (change your views and purpose to accept the will of God in your inner selves instead of rejecting it) and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of and release from your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Am I afraid of my soul?  Actually, forget my soul – I forget and lose sight of myself… I choose to set my love on Christ (Ps 91:14), and set my heart and mind on Him (Col 3:1-3), and lay ahold of that for which He has laid ahold of me (Phil 3:12) …

And I pray you will do the same.