It is in the function of the self that we see how critical this part of us is in the struggle between the Father and the devil for the governance of our lives. The self is really the soul. The soul is in the middle between the father in our spirit and Satan in the flesh. If Satan were simply imprisoned in our body we would have far fewer problems. The evil one might be able to harass us with the aches and pains that come with having a mortal physical body but we would not be led into the trouble that we so often get into. This is the problem of the heart.
Remember that the heart, as the bible uses the term, is made up of the mind, will and emotions from the soul and the conscience of the human spirit. Keeping this in mind, we can see how critical the soul is in our living. The heart (soul-conscience) is the source of all actions: “And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.” (Mark 7:20-22)
From the teachings of Christ as Jesus it is plain to see that whoever controls the heart controls the thoughts, words and deeds of the person. This is the dynamic that occurs continually in the child of God.
The place of the self (soul, heart) is the place between the influence of the Father and the influence of the evil one. It is in the realm of the soul-heart that we are presented with the choice of which spiritual leading we will follow. This is a dynamic condition. Most of us would prefer this to be static, without choice and safe. For whatever reason however, the Father requires us to live in a dynamic condition of choosing. In one sense it must be dynamic because life is a dynamic process that occurs from moment to moment. What we see in our lives is the shifting of the soul between being led by God through our conscience and being led by Satan through our flesh. The heart, as Jesus describes it in Mark 7:20-22, is the location in us where the choice has been made to ignore the leading of the conscience and follow the flesh. The Father gave everyone the ability to either heed or ignore the leading of the conscience as well as to heed or ignore the leading of the flesh.
Rich
Awesome perspective, and yes, in our mortal state we sure do love the easy approach and to assign blame for the decisions, inluences and occurances in our lives. I am glad you wrote and shared this today because it actually does dove tail with yesterdays and it shines perspective into another area that I stummbled into yesterdday as I share your blog and what I had responded with some frieds. Oh my. Did I hit a minefield (unintentionally for sure but it opened some awesome doors of communication with my husband at he same time.
Let me explain. Yesterday you wrote about “Do you ever really see yourself?” and my comment I talked about God sweeping in and showing us who HE sees. It was such a Rhema word to me! As I shared it with some friends I (or God) must have hit a nerve. I was suddenly faced with blinding anger in a friend. A year ago I would have back peddaled and just slinked away but because their words were destructive and ungodly I prayed fast and then stepped in and corrected them (not my normal way of dealing with things – I hate confrontation.) in the end the persona was unappologetic BUT I was able to get through to some others who were there and it began a healthy discusssion.
My point is, and this is where the two dovetail, the wounded soul. If we consider our soul to be like a catch basin when influenced by the Holy Spirit the catch basin is full of living resh water and it spills int and seeps into our lives and permeates our being nad though we struggle in our soul we are able to allow God to filter through it and cleanse and heal. However, when the cath basin of our soul is filled with the bitter, contaminated water of our lives it is contaminated and stagnated, like the dead sea it offers no life. In that environment we see the bitterness and the hurts and the wounded side of our lives seeping through and infecting all of our life – it eventaully seeps through to every area.
What we need is to surrender our soul and submit it to the cleansing, restorative power of Christ. For the Fruit and the work of the Holy Spirit to come in and do a disastor restoration job!! Not a quick fix or a medicating but to destroy the death and reconstruct His creation.
Having lived my life on both sides – the disaster (even as a believer) and the restored (the place I have come into over the past few years) I can tell you when you truely hit the place of allowing God to destroy and rebuild the work He does is amazing and sustainable. It is our choice. it is an ongoing choice to choose who will submit to …. When we surrender self and allow God to do the reconstructive work it is is awe inspiring not only to us but especially to those who are in our life because they ee the transformation and nothing is more delightful than seeing their reaction and being able to share that it is Christ in me who has done the transformative work!!
Sorry for chaing a rabbit with you (and for being so wordy) but I just love being able to discuss and learn from others in Christ.
Blessings
Barb
Hi Barbara,
Yes, today’s thoughts were a continuation of something I had been reading and wanted to pace myself in the volume of what I wanted to share here.
I’m glad that these thoughts have opened up further conversations with others for you, although I also know how because of the inner filters we have all been groomed with, things can be horribly misconstrued and misunderstood. In fact as I have written here, the enemy of our soul, Satan in our flesh, is not ever going to just roll over and die so to speak in as far as resisting the truth of the Father’s love for us as he knows only too well that the power it has begins to further extricate us from so many lies we have believed about God.
I don’t know if you ever listen to any pod casts, but one we listen too frequently, The God Journey, and this current one was so good and flows with our continuing to Know the truth of His love for us. http://thegodjourney.com/2012/02/03/your-sense-of-belonging/
There is so much damned up within us that will begin to supernaturally naturally flow out of us as we simply allow the Father of our spirit to love up on us, freeing up our soul to soak, bask in and revel in what we were designed for. Living Loved!
No need to ever apologize for going off on any rabbit trail, I love hearing what and how our Father uniquely makes himself known to another of my siblings.
I would be interested in hearing if you care to share, how you came across my blog.
His continued richest and best to you,
Rich
Hi, Rich, I was looking for an email lol so I could answer your question but I see this will have to do. I enjoy surfing the net and reading different articles and blogs and in the midst of doing so I got thinking about some friends from my past and looked them up online. (they were a christian family I lived with when I was 19. After reading about how they were doing I started thinking about how they impacted my life and that of course lead to thinking about other people and the impact they had on me. And that brought me to thinking about your wife. Margo is someone who influenced me to go into teaching and working with young children. I knew you and your family in Chatham when I was 15 or 16. I actually babysat your kids a couple of times. You would remember me as Barb Burrell. The other day I ran a quick internet search wondering about Margo and in doing so I ran accross your blog
As I read the blog it really stirred my heart and it I enjoed reading it. So I subscribed to it.)
Oh my so, it has been 26 years! Oh my I feel old! I am still in Chatham, been blessed with a wonderful christian husband who is my best friend and loudest cheerleader! (we have been married no for 20 years) I went through St Clair College to become and Early Childhood Educator. I love working with children (they tug at my heart). I have been blessed and amazed to have God in my life and see what he can do with a mixed up, wounded teenager, to transform a broken life into an amazing and blessed life. So, with that said now I have a chance to say thank you to you and your family for impacting me as a teenager and helping me see that there was future and a hope through Christ. Your family stirred in me a desire for the best and for a Godly home and faith filled family life. Thank you
Blessings and Thanks
Barb
Barb,
Its truly amazing how our lives can be so greatly impacted by others, and yet not really even detecting it sometimes until much later in life.
Its great hearing from you, and seeing how our Father continues to draw to himself those curious enough to follow as it were, the trail of bread crumbs, leading to the discovery that it was Him all along, seeking us!
It excites me to no end in hearing how our Father has impacted you through our lives, it brings intense joy to me personally knowing that as we make ourselves available to His love, he is able to do way beyond anything we could ever dream of, and some of us are really big dreamers.
I’m sure the children under your care are truly blessed in having you in their lives, caring for kids (children) in today’s world is challenging to the nth-degree, which drives us to realize with a renewed certainty, that nothing is impossible for His amazing grace.
Rich