Who are You Listening to?

When we pray, we usually pray to God or Jesus. We use these names freely when talking about God or praying to God. We know that God is the Almighty 3 in 1 – our God, the Father, Son and Spirit. However, we seem to find it easier to pray to and for what we can see more than that which is unseen.

If we try to define what is meant when we talk about a spirit, we can quickly get lost in defining a “spirit”. Definitions range from an unseen animating force to nothing that can be detected by physical means. While the Bible can give us the insight we need, it also further confuses us by identifying the 3 parts of each of us as body, soul and spirit (1Th 5:23). We can easily understand “body,“ as we live in it and then discard it when we die. It is our connection through our senses to the world we live in. The soul and the spirit are not the same (He 4:12) and function differently in us.

The “soul” is our humanity as expressed by our emotions and will as is rooted in our mind. It is strengthened by whether we feel sympathy or pleasure when someone you dislike is diminished. It is whether you feel gladness or pity for a thief that gets caught. Soul is all about how the things in our daily life affect us, as demonstrated by our emotions and the actions that we take. It is our actual internal feelings, not our outward façade. The things in our daily living can and do distract us and can endanger our soul (Mt 10:28, Mt 16:26, Ez 18:4).

The “spirit” in us is our connection to God through Jesus Christ, due to his death and resurrection for us. Our spirit can be strengthened or weakened by our choices as we live. It is strengthened by the changes we intentionally make to our humanity (soul) to more closely align ourselves with God’s wishes for us, as demonstrated by the example of Christ’s life and ministry. Trying to live in the manner of Christ strengthens both our spirit and soul. Not living as demonstrated to us by Christ causes us to weaken both our soul and spirit and puts us in danger of losing our redemption.     

That brings us to how can we understand God’s Holy Spirit. Most simply it is God being with us and communicating His wishes for us directly to our spirit. This is only done by us living our belief in God and our belief that His Son Jesus Christ died for us that our soul might be saved (Ro 8:4-13, 1 Pe 1:8-9). In the Gospel of John, Jesus is called the Advocate, and He speaks about us to the Father. Also, in the Gospel of John the Holy Spirit is called both a teacher and the Advocate (Jn 14:26).

The teacher part is easier to understand. As we read the Bible, we have the Holy Spirit that can help our spirit see what the words should be saying to us. This will teach us what is “right” and what is “wrong”. This then affects the emotions we feel and the actions that we take, which in turn affects our soul.

The Advocate is a little more difficult to understand. In the court of law an advocate speaks for the one accused of breaking the law. Jesus with His Death and Resurrection has abolished the “Law,” and He speaks for our redemption directly to God. The Holy Spirit as our Advocate does more than just speaking for us at our death. God loves us all the time. So, the Holy Spirit must be speaking to our spirit daily, all the time. Whether our spirit listens to the Holy Spirit or not affects our spirit and our soul. If we are moved by our spirit to change our actions, then we change our very soul. This is a continuous process of creating true Christians and our whole life becomes a record of good or evil, as recorded by our spirit into our very soul.

The Disciple Group suggests that you set aside some quiet time this week and pick out a Bible passage to study. Read it over slowly, then let the Holy Spirit talk to your spirit and listen in on their conversation. Contemplate what it says to you about whether or not you are applying, in your life, what they are saying to you.

If you would like to exercise your spirit and soul, come join us in the Disciple Group. Ask the pastor and he will get you in touch with us.