Is There A Difference Between The Spirit and The Soul?

One of the most misunderstood subjects in the entire bible is the difference between the spirit and the soul. Most Christians have no idea of this difference and use the two terms interchangeably. I would like to share with you some cutting edge information concerning this topic that few have ever known. If you are to learn the deep things of God you must allow yourself to be elevated to the spiritual realm where everything that exist came from. In this elevated spiritual state you will see and learn things that make absolute no sense in the natural state that we live in most of the time.

First of all you must understand that God is spirit. He doesn't have a spirit, He is spirit and as such when He speaks it is always in spiritual words and must be heard with spiritual ears. Paul said in 1 Cor. 2:9-14, (NIV)

"No eye has see, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him —but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."

Most Christians have attempted to understand the deeper things of God by using their intellect to figure out what God was trying to say to them. As a result we have only division among the saints of God. What I am going to share with you will be so much garbage if you try to use your intellect to understand what I am saying to you, however, if you have an ear to hear spiritual words, your life as you now know it will never be the same.

God said in Gen. 1:26-27, (NIV)

"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

We often speak of God being a triune being, that is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Since man has been created in His image and likeness then man is also a triune being. We are spirit, we have a soul, (mind will and emotion), and we live in a body. Paul said in 1 Th. 5:23, (NIV),

"May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Gen. 2:7, says, (KJV)

"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

The soul consists of your mind, will and emotions. Your mind is made up of two areas, the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. The conscious mind is very small in comparison with the subconscious mind. The mind can be likened to an iceberg. We know that an iceberg's main bulk lies beneath the waters and only the tip of it can be seen above the water. Even so, the conscious mind is only the tip of the mind and the vastness of it is contained in what we call the subconscious mind.

It is the subconscious mind that we have very little knowledge about. God created it to be the computer that controls our creative powers that he gave us in the beginning in order for us to be able to rule and reign in His vast universe.

Within the subconscious mind lies the power that makes all things possible to them that believe. If you will take a moment to meditate on the things that we know the subconscious mind does, it will cause you to become aware of it's many possibilities. Just think about what is controlling your body activities right now. Are you breathing? I hope so! What controls the rate at which your body needs oxygen? What about the rate of which your heart needs to pump the vital food supply to each of your organs, and what about those organs. What cause your kidney's to function and remove the impurities in the water contained in your body? What is it that controls your hands and eye movement? What controls the various different chemical factories contained in your body? This is all controlled by our subconscious mind, and this is only the beginning of what it is able to do.

Jesus said in Mark 9:23, (NIV)

"Everything is possible for him who believes."

And again in Matt. 17:20, (NIV)

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

In the vast resources of our unconscious minds lays the very creativity of our God. However, we have never learned to tap into this vast resource, which has been given to us by our creator. God said in Gen. 1:26-27, (NIV)

"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,? and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Being in the image and likeness of God carries with it enormous wisdom and creative ability which Adam expressed when he named the animals, however, it was subdued and hidden when he sinned against God and begin to see himself as something other than who he really was. He became mistaken in his identity and began to see himself as inferior to his creator. It is this mindset that has rob us from being who we really are; Sons of God.

The wise man Solomon said sometime ago in Proverbs 23:7,

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he "

With this in mind, may I ask you, 'What are you focusing on?" "Your job?" "Your family?" "Sports?" "Children?" "Hobbies?" “What might have been?” Guess what? If these things are your major focus you will never know Sonship! Jesus said in Matt. 6:33, (KJV)

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

Jesus did not say that the Kingdom of God is the only thing you should focus on but He did say that it must be the first thing that you focus on. What did Jesus mean by saying, "Seek first the Kingdom of God?" Where is the Kingdom of God? Jesus told us very plainly where the Kingdom of God is. Luke 17:21,

"The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."

Well! If the Kingdom of God is within me, why should I seek it? Consider what Paul said in Romans 1:14, (NIV)

" For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men."

Again, Where is the Kingdom of God? In you! And where is the Holy Spirit? In you! If the Kingdom of God is within you then you must look into your innermost being and discover this Kingdom where all is love, joy and peace. Did not Jesus say on that last great day of the feast of Tabernacles in John 7:38-39,

“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive….)”

You have eternal life dwelling now within you and He told us how to discover this Kingdom of Life when He said, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness!!” The Churches problem over the years since Jesus was here is that we have been seeking the Kingdom of God in the wrong places. We have been, and many continue to be, taught that all of this will not occur until Jesus returns. So we have looked to the future and have been waiting for something to occur that has already happened. Well, I have good news for you. Jesus has returned and is returning every day and will continue to come. He returned on the day of Pentecost in the form of the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and to be our teacher to bring us to a mature man in Christ.

Yes, love, joy and peace dwells within each of us if we will just learn to release it to flow from the throne of God, which dwells within us. The first step in this process is to allow yourself to be cleansed from all the pent up emotions of unforgiveness, bitterness and strife that have been allowed to control your life. If you will meditate on love, joy and peace you will be surprised at the effect it will have on your life. The Prince of Peace lives within you and desires to be released through you so that others can see Him.

If you seek the Kingdom of God, your life will be a manifestation of righteousness, peace and joy in the Spirit. As a result of this, not only will you be pleasing to God, men will also approve you. You will also be filled with power because Paul said in 1 Cor. 4:20, (NIV)

"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power."

If you are truly seeking the Kingdom of God and living by its principles your heart will be filled with righteousness, His righteousness, His peace, and His joy. So! Are these being manifested in your life or is something else? Only you and the Lord know for sure if this is true but remember Jesus said that out of the heart the mouth speaks. If you see me constantly expressing fear, hatred, judgment, envy, jealousy, then you will know where my focus really is.

Here is the secret of the subconscious mind. It will attempt to create whatever the conscious mind believes to be the truth. If we really believe that we are going to get the flu this year, the subconscious mind will alert our immune system to expect to be overcome by the flu virus. Every organ in your body will react to what the subconscious mind tells it to.

We have been told by preachers that we are just human and try as we might we can never be like Jesus. We are to try to be like Him but we cannot until He comes and takes us to heaven and then we will be like Him. They have tried to regulate all the manifestation of the Kingdom of God to the future when Jesus returns. As a result of this, the church is weakened and has not allowed the world to see who we really are because we don't know who we really are. We claim to be the sons of God and yet we cannot manifest His power and glory because we believe we are inferior to Jesus and can never be like Him until we go to heaven and are changed into His likeness then.

As long as we continue to program our subconscious mind like this instead of believing the truth revealed in the word of God we will never be able to manifest His presence in this world. Jesus said in Matt. 5:48,

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

Did Jesus tell us to do something that is impossible for us to do? Absolutely not! John said in John 1:12,

"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:"

How do you become a Son of God? There is a vast difference between being a child of God and a Son of God. A child of God is immature not knowing the will of God. A Son of God has grown from a child to an adult by the renewing of his mind in the things of the Lord. Paul said in Romans 12:2, (NIV)

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

A mature Son of God has learned the ways of the Lord and is able to discern the will of God in any given situation. As soon as your conscious mind is renewed, the Holy Spirit will release the full measure of the treasures of the Kingdom of God to you.

Jesus said in Matt. 6:22-23, (NKJV)

"The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"

What we focus our thoughts on will determine the extent to which we will experience the flow of God's eternal life through us. If we focus our attention on Him we will have the light of life flowing through us because He is light and life. Joshua was instructed of the Lord in Joshua 1:7-9, (NKJV)

"Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

The Word of God is the Christ, Jn. 1:1, and when we meditate on Him there is a union which takes place between our spirit which is one with His Spirit and our soul. (Our mind, will and emotions) This union opens the eye of our understanding and we are allowed to see things from His prospective.