Do you have a Prosperous Soul or a deficient, weak, broken and impoverished Soul?
A prosperous Soul is full of joy and peace. If you are depressed, you need to wake up and realize that somewhere along the road of life your Soul has been wounded or maybe even fragmented because of past relationships, trauma or from the affects of past sins.
If you can't seem to grow spiritually or prosper in character, relationships or with God, then you should realize that your Soul is not right.
If your sick in mind, your Soul is sick. If your sad it's because your Soul is sad. If your having problems in your life, most likely it started in your Soul and it is being manifested in other ways. Your Soul (remember is made up of your mind, will and emotions) is the key to success in your christian life. If your Soul prospers, your whole life will prosper.
If your mind, emotions and will prosper, you will do the will of the Father, but if they are poor, you will not do the will of God as Romans 12:2 tells us:
Verse 2: "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.
I have listed some basic reasons why we have a deficient, weak, broken and impoverished Soul, and they are:
1. Because of a lack of knowledge of the word of God. Hosea 4:6
2. Having the mind set on the things of the flesh that wage war against the Soul. I Peter 2:11
3. Being double minded and unstable. James 1:8
4. Being anxious and controlled by your emotions. Philippians 4:6-8
5. Harboring unforgiveness, bitterness and anger in your heart. Ephesians 4:31 & 32
6. Being rebellious, stubborn and prideful. I Samuel 15:23 & James 4:6, 7
7. Letting fear rule your life. 2 Timothy 1:7
In contrast, I have listed attitudes that describe a prosperous Soul and they are:
1. A mind always ready to repent or change any negative thought at any time. Romans 12:2
2. A mind that meditates on God's word. Psalms 1:2 & 3
3. A will that is settled to do God's will only. Joshua 24:15
4. A mind set on the spirit that brings life and peace. Romans 8:6
5. Walking by faith and not by sight. II Corinthians 5:7
6. Submitting, drawing and being humble before God and resisting the devil.
Jame 4:7-10
7. Walking in the Father's love. John 13:34 & 35
Many of us know the truth, we hear it, but we don't walk in it. We think it in our mind, but we don't follow through and live it. In other words, we are not doers of the Word. In James 1:22-25 it tells us:
Verse 22: But be ye doers of the word, and not hearer's only deceiving your own selves.
What does the word "doers" in this scripture mean? A performer.
The word is telling us to perform the word and that means taking action. On the other side, hears only, don't take action. You sit and hear, but there is no effect or movement. To perform takes effort on your part and putting for energy you caring out the action.
Let's also look are the word "deceiving" in this scripture and see what it means: To deceive by false reasoning, to be deceptive, lying, misleading, insincere and untrustworthy.
So what happens is we end up misleading ourselves through our reasoning that has been deceived, is insincere and untrustworthy in it's thinking. We are thinking out of a Soul that is deceived and doesn't want to see the truth.
Verse 23: For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.
The word "glass" here means: Mirror, and is a polished surface that reflects a virtual image and anything that gives a true picture of something else.
You see, he sees his blemishes and imperfections and is moved by what he sees. As long as he sees his deformities, spots and ugliness, he tries to do something about them. But on turning away from the mirror (the truth) he forgets and his imperfections no longer bother him.
And so it is with the bible. As long as one studies it, he sees himself as he really is; he sees the truth that will set his Soul free. The Holy Spirit is then able to show him those things that are in the Soul that need to be healed and dealt with and the hearer now becomes the doer and he conforms to the word of God.
A word from the Lord
For I say to My people, the truth shall set you free and who ever is free, is free indeed. I gave you this freedom in the truth of My word....in the knowing of My word.....in the acting upon My word....I call you now to act it out. Don't just be the one who look at a distance, but be one that takes an active part in working and acting on My truth, because there is freedom, liberty and a peace that will fare reach anything you could try and find on you own and joy that will fill your heart with a steadfast longing to know the truth even in a greater dimension than ever before. For the dimension of My truth can not be measured. It is forever accomplishing what it has been intended to do and goes on forever until it is fulfilled. I say time will stand still as you know it to be so I can accomplish My truth and you will see and you will know that it has been done and is over for my glory and praise. Look beyond what you see today and live in your tomorrow for I have ordained it to be and thus it shall come. My truth reaches beyond the boundaries of this world as you know it and soon I will reveal mysteries of my word that have been hidden and an understanding will come in the area's you have struggled in and have not been able to comprehend. Look into the perfect law of liberty....seek Me and you will find Me, for I am their in your midst says the Spirit of God.
Next week part III.
Blessings,
Elma Garlock
As I was praying about this weeks message I felt led to stay on the subject concerning the Soul.
I think this is a subject that many of us really don't understand . My prayer is that by the time this message is completed we will have received greater incite and revelation of the Soul and it's function.
What is the Soul? It is your mind, your will and your emotions. Through your Soul is where your thinking and reasoning take place. Many of us have misunderstood the Soul and how it effects our spiritual life and our flesh, and why? Because of a lock of knowledge, wrong thinking and wrong teaching.
Let me ask you a question. How important is the Soul to a Christian? In III John 2 it tells us:
III John 2: Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy Soul prosperith.
Beloved, is your Soul prospering? The words "even as" in this verse causes you to realize that the success in your life will be governed or determined by your Soul. The prosperity, health and abundance of your life will be "as your Soul prospers or doesn't prospers" - your life in general will prosper or not prosper.
We know that salvation is a spiritual awakening and transformation, because of what II Corinthians 5:17 says.
Verse 17: If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. (But, your body isn't new, nor your thinking, but your Spirit is.) Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.
Spiritually you became a new creature because before you were born again, you were dead spiritually, but alive bodily and you functioned out of the Soulish realm.
Salvation is instantaneous for the Spirit, but not for the Soul. The Soul is the realm in which salvation progresses, so the Soul does not change when we are born again, our Soul is still the same except it now belongs to God.
For many years I thought that the Spirit and the Soul were the same, but they are not because in I Thessalonians 5:23 it says:
Verse 23: And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's look at the word whole in verse 23 and what it means: Complete in every part, perfectly sound and entire.
What it's telling us is the whole man consists of a sound and complete Spirit, Soul and Body. We know we need to be sanctified spiritually, but we also need to be sanctified soulishly (which is the mind, will and emotions) and this comes by reading, studying and acting upon the word of God everyday. It has to be a vital part of your life just like eating and sleeping are in order for you to survive and grow.
What are some of the characteristics of the Soul?
1. The Soul contain our personality, and our senses operate in our Soul. Our senses feed information to our Soul, and our Soul then makes decisions according to our senses. The Soul also contains our emotions, which we call our feelings, and our feelings can change due to what's going on around us. The Soul reacts to the elements and stimulants of the world. It contacts the natural realm.
The will of man also functions through our Soul, and our will is our power to make decisions and our power to change. It is the Soulish realm that needs to be sanctified and it's an area that we have to work on continuously, because our mind, emotions, wills, our senses, personalities and our desires do not instantly change. They need to be constantly changing, being renewed and worked on and that is a progressive process.
In Genesis 2, the bible tells us that God breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living Soul. The Soul was that natural life which took place when the spirit and the flesh came together and so now the Soul became the mediator between the body and the spirit and why? Because everything is filtered through the Soul.
Let me explain this further. Your spirit receives input from God, your body (flesh) receives input for the world and the Soul stands between them. The Soul is the go between and can respond and react to either your spirit or your body (flesh).
Each of us makes decisions and establishes your whole life from your Soulish realm. That's why John said "You will prosper and live in health, even as you Soul prospers". If your Soul is making wrong decisions and is following the flesh, you are not going to prosper. Your going to get out of balance spiritually, mentally and physically. But what do I mean?
Example: The Spirit prompts you to pray or read the word of God but your flesh wants to be lazy and do something else. The Soul responds and reacts to the one that is the strongest and more disciplined. It all goes back to which area are you prospering in? The body (flesh) wants to have it's way, but the spirit longs after the things of God.
Next week we will talk about a "Prosperous Soul or a Poor Soul.
Blessings,
Elma Garlock
Last week we talked about demonic kings and the kingdoms they build in your life. Beloved, as long as you harbor unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, rebellion, and hatred in your heart the enemy has permission to take you captive and keep you in bondage. You have left the door wide open for him to come in and set up house. This is how he builds a strong hold in your life that keeps the soul captive.
We know that the soul consists of the mind, the will and the emotions and our soul is what carries the wounds. These wounds came through our past experiences and also from the effects of the sin in our life.
In Mark 5 is the story of the Gerasene demoniac man and Jesus. Let's begin with verse 2.
Verse 2: And when He (Jesus) had come out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him.
Verse 5: And constantly night and day among the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out and gashing himself with stones.
Verse 8: For He (Jesus) had been saying to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!".
Verse 9: And He (Jesus) was asking him, "What is your name?" And he said to Him, "My name is Legion; for we are many."
It says that this man lived "among the tombs." This is interesting because if we look up the word tombs this is what it says:
Tombs: The Greek word for tombs is Mnemeion and means: To remember as a memory, to recall and is a place of the past.
And a Legion is: A Roman army division that consists of 3,000 to 6,000 soldiers.
A tomb can be a monument set up in your mind that will cause a perpetual remembrance of hurts and the wounds inside your soul and can cause every part of your soul to be controlled by the horrible thing that happened years ago. It can be the source of wrong thinking and the reason you make bad decision. It can be the root for unhealthy emotions and reactions due to the wounds left from that hurt.
Spiritually speaking the man in the tombs represents a man who lives out of his wounds, the past. And the wound in his soul allowed the legion spirits to take him captive and build a strong hold to torment him and keep him in bondage.
We all have tombs in our soul and legion (spirits) are attached to those tombs (hurts). Once we get our souls healed we're going to see and have the power over demonic spirits and their legal right to be their is going to be gone. Sin forms the wound in the soul. So in order for you to have a new level of dominion over the area that caused the wound in your soul that wound must be healed.
In II Corinthians 10: 3,4 tells us what we are to do concerning strong holds.
Verse 3: For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons.
Verse 4: For the weapons of our warfare are not physical (weapons of flesh and blood), but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strong holds.
But how do we overthrow and cause the destruction of strong holds that the enemy has built in our soul? By doing what Matthew 12: 28 & 29 tells us to do.
Verse 28: But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Verse 29: Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
The strong man (the demonic spirits, demons) are the ones that have built the strong holds in your soul. So in order for us to remove him, we must first bind him and then we can cast him out by the power of the blood of Jesus and the authority of the Spirit of God that is within us. You see, we carry the Kingdom of God in us and therefore heaven back us up.
So when you bind the enemy what you are doing spiritually is tieing him up firmly as you would wind a cord tightly around something to hold it back or down so you could remove it from it's fixed position. And when you cast out a demon or spirit (strong man), what you are doing is ejecting it, evicting it, banishing it and expelling it from it's house (soul) where it has built it's strong hold.
Pray and ask the Lord to show you the tombs (wounds) in your soul. Let the Holy Spirit guide you to the right scriptures that will show you the area's that need to be healed in your soul. Repent of any sin that is in your life and make a willful choice to forgive those who have hurt you and release them to God. Bind the enemy by decreeing and declaring scriptures over your soul, your heart, your mind, your will and emotions. Cast him out and ask the Holy Spirit to heal every wound and fill up every area of your soul with His presence.
The heart of the Father is for His children to walk in liberty and freedom. But in order for us to do that we must learn to "Stand in the Authority and Power" He has given to us. Today more than ever we need more of Jesus in our lives. We need to be a carrier of His presence and begin to open up a realm of worship so His glory can show up in our lives. Because, when the glory shows up, salvation, healing, deliverance and restoration takes place in the soul.
If you need further prayer or council in this area, please email me @lvreachingoutmin@sbcglobal.net
Blessings,
Elma Garlock
