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Total Healing Includes Body, Soul, and Spirit

*liberty (2/4)

Physical health (your body), spiritual health (your spirit) and soul health (your mind, thoughts, emotions) are three different things— because each of those areas are different parts of our person. They’re connected, yes— but they’re different.

Understanding the differences is key…

  • How many times have you wondered if it was “you” or if you were really hearing God?

Or…

  • How many times have you listened to someone spout out a Bible verse, using it like a grenade instead of a blanket of grace…?

Or…

  • How many times have you watched someone do something adamantly against what Scripture says, because— in their heart they just “knew” that the “Holy Spirit” or even “Jesus” told them…?

Or…

  • How many times have you seen someone volunteer, lead a church, or serve in some capacity… not as an overflow of the spirit in them but to shore up a perceived emotional deficiency in their soul— to get their own needs met…?

Let’s just admit it. We’ve probably been on both the receiving end of these tangos AND on the giving end at some point in time.

Here’s why…

 

Two parts of the "inner man"

Though they’re both part of the “inner person,” the soul and the spirit are two different entities. That is, the “inner person” can be subdivided even more.

We intuitively understand that in order to be healthy we must take care of our bodies. That’s a given. But we’ve also got to take care of both aspects of the “inner person.” In other words, health involves not only spiritual wholeness but also soul wholeness, because the body is different than the spirit and the spirit is different than the soul.

We often confuse “soul” and “spirit” as the same. They are different. Hebrews 4:12 says (emphasis added),

For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

According to this passage, the Word of God “divides us,” so we can effectively discern what is spirit and what is soul.

It’s easy to separate the “body” from the “spirit” or the “body” from the “soul.” But delineating the “soul” from the “spirit” sometimes proves a bit more difficult.

The word piercing in the Hebrews verse in the original Greek language is more akin to a precise surgical scalpel than a wieldy William Wallace-like battle sword bludgeoning someone. That is, sometimes it requires close and careful attention to discern which part of us is soul and which part is spirit. Reality is far more nuanced than “black and white.”


Heal the whole

In this video we briefly discuss the differences between the spirit and the soul— because this concept is foundational for walking in soul health…

The Spirit is the part of us which immediately renews when we awaken to God’s grace. As well, it is the part of us that is “one” with Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:17 tells us, “Whoever is united with the Lord is one with Him in spirit” (NIV).

This spirit is the true “inner man” we want to live from. It is the key to pulling the unseen world into the visible world around us. The problem is that the spirit is often hidden beneath or behind the soul.

And, whereas the spirit is quiet, steady, and humble, the soul can become aggressive, outraged, and opinionated. Quickly. In other words, the soul is the internal part of us that’s still “in process.”

The soul is comprised of the following:

  • The mind, which includes our thoughts
  • The will, which includes our desires
  • The emotions, which includes our feelings

Are those not the parts of us that cause the most problems and create the most chaos?

In this short video we break it down and begin stepping towards total health…

 


This video comes from Lesson 4 of “Liberty,” course 2 in the Transformation School of Ministry “Core Four.”

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