Not Paying Attention to Our Souls, But Our Spirits

 "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)

This verse has more meaning and more bearing for me every day.

For th elognest time, I was constantly paying attention to what was going on in my head. If I had a bad thought, a bad feeling, or a bad memory would poke at my head, I felt compelled to do something about it.

For the longest time, I really believed that my thoughts were my identity, and that what I was thinking would end determining what I would be doing.

Where does this wrong idea come from, in part?

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee." (Proverbs 23:7)

The king who sets food before someone, he thinks in his heart a certain way.

But that is not for all of us.

In fact, for those who believe in Jesus, we have received a new heart!

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)

We receive a new heart, we become a new person:

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

We are not in our heads, we do not live in our minds, we must not identify with our thinking.

In fact, our minds need to be ... renewed!

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:2)

Our minds are not our identity. For too long, I treated my head as who I am. Very dangerous, disturbing, out of place. I believed that God would speak to me, guide me via my mind, and therefore I needed to do everything I could to keep my mind cleared up.

But wait a minute ...

"The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly." (Proverbs 20:27)

And how does God shows us the way?

Through the eyes of our heart, not the eyes of our head or in our minds:

"The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints," (Ephesians 1:18)

It's about our spirit! It's about our heart! It's not about mind, and we are not supposed to let our minds run wild into all kinds of backward, bitter thoughts and meditations:

"(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)" (2 Corinthians 10:4)

and

"18This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; 19Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:" (1 Timothy 1:18-19)

For the longest time, I took responsibility for every bad thought or premonition I had. I cannot believe how passive I was about my brain, about my thinking. I don't live in my head, and that is not where anyone of us should live, either.

God is not going to speak to us in our heads. He speaks to us through our hearts.

He speaks to us through our spirit.

And for too long, I could not distinguish between my soul (feelings, thoughts, emotions) and my spirit.

Yet the more that I have been listening to God's Word, the more saturated I have become in God's grace, the more that I recognize that my spirit and soul are distinct, different.

"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." (Hebrews 4:12)

Today, there is a greater rest than I have ever felt before. I am not worried about what I may think of feel. I am not concerned about whatever thoughts, whatever fiery darts may come my way. Whatever happens in my head, that is not what matters. He lives in my heart (Ephesians 3:16-19), and He is guiding me from the inside out:

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)

Whatever is hitting my head is not revelant, not important. I am not supposed to pay attention to how I feel or what thoughts spring up. That is not me, and none of that really matters. It's not about our souls, but our spirits!

We Do Not Goad Ourselves, He Causes Us to Grow and Go in His Love

 I am learning so much  about the truth of all that Christ Jesus is ... and is doing.

So many Christians think that we need to "goad ourselves" to achieve our goals, or to live this life.

I was one of them, and I was taugh to live this way.

Jesus was not mincing words or simply saying something nice when He declared:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life." (John 14:6)

Jesus is our life.

He is living in us and through us.

He propels us, and He guides us, by the power of His Holy Spirit:

"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." (John 16:13)

For the longest time, though, many of us still feel goaded by the law, by commandments, by condemnation!

Yet we are not called to be motivated by force, law, pressure, shame, condemnation.

We are called to walk in love:

"1Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." (Ephesians 5:1-2)

God wants us motivated by His LOVE, not by His Love. God our Loving Father does not want to goad us with the law, but He wants us to grow and go in His Love:

"We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

What has changed for me, and has helped me to grow and go in His Love is the ever-increasing revelation that His love is a rich and present, never-ending, always-flowing constant!

His presence, His pre-eminence in my life does not go away just because I am feeling bad, or have bad thoughts, or even when I do bad things.

For the last two weeks, I have felt a great and growing freedom in my life. I am not supposed to answer, contend, fight with every bad thought that goes through my mind. Those thoughts are not even my thoughts, but rather the fiery darts of the Enemy. They come from the outside, so I should not internalize them inside. Why should I take offense or responsibility for thoughts that are not mine.

But then I still have some lingering premonitions of past wrongs, and I knew that those thoughts were not mine, but the fiery dart sting would still linger sometimes. 

I then learned that bad thoughts have no place in my mind, at all. I do not have to entertain them. Paul exhorts us to think on things lovely (Philippians 4:8)

But now something more has been revealed to me this morning. For practical reasons, I would allow myself to fall into condemnation, to allow bad thoughts and senses of guilt and shame to goad me. Why? Because I felt that that sense of shame, guilt, and condemnation were the only ones that I would be motivated to get anything done!

Kind of like in this allegory which Paul shared to the Galatians:

"23But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." (Galatians 3:23-25)

The term "schoolmaster" refers to an older tutor who would walk with the students to get to class. However, he was not just some companion, but was in fact quite rough and would deal harshly with children to ensure that they stayed on track to get to class. 

Sadly, so many people in the body of Christ that that kind of rough treatment is precisely what is needed. Why did I believe this? Why did my parents believe this? Because they did not see the vibrant, flowing, never-ending, ever-enriching love of God flowing in and around them. 

Today, I recognize that I was goading myself with shame because I felt that I needed those "reminders" to stay alert and watch out for myself. Today, I understand the fullness of walking by faith, which means that I see Him taking care of me every step of the way, every day! 

THANK YOU, JESUS!