Strategic Freedom

A Quick Helpful Prayer Strategy

Good news! I have finished my book (Yay!) and I will be meeting with book agents June 7 and 8. Prayer that the Lord’s will be done is very appreciated.

Prayer Strategy: Cutting Free from the Future

The need to not only heal, but to cut free from the past is recognized among prayer ministers pretty much across the board. But there is also a need to cut free from ties to the future.

These ties can be a prophetic word that you are waiting to come true. Prophetic words about the future can keep you from living today. AND they can cause you to feel distress when your present life doesn’t look anything like that word.

Fear of what the future holds or hope in the future (instead of in Christ) can pull you into anxiety. Anything that causes you to live future-focused and not present-focused is a potential weapon in the hands of the evil one.

Now, let me clarify. A wise person plans for the future. But it is not good to anxiously live there. Instead, live your best present because the Lord has your future well in hand.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Prayer for Cutting Free from the Future

In the name of Jesus, by His blood and by His Word, I cut myself free from all ties to the future. My future belongs exclusively to the Lord. He is fully capable of managing it.

Lord God, please bring all of me into the present where I am supposed to live. Please bring to death any habits I have of living in the future. Amen.

Blessings upon you and those you love,

Susan

Send me your emails. I love getting them.

205.556.4555 (leave a message)

Visit the website to donate.

thepoolministries.org

Advertisements

Pray for USA’s Intercessors!

My dear intercessors, in the event you haven’t noticed, you are being intentionally targeted and attacked. The purpose of this deliberate assault is to shut you down, so that you will stop praying for our president and our nation. This attack goes beyond the usual annoyances of the evil one. If it were just his usual stuff, you would recognize the working of the evil one and brush it off. This is more subtle. It is coming in on three fronts. 1. Exhaustion that is really oppression. 2. Discouragement through a flood of bad news. 3. Self-examination that is really a distraction. Are you feeling extremely heavy and no amount of rest resolves it? That’s not exhaustion, that’s oppression. Is the reported behavior of our president troubling you more than before? Does it feel like the evil one is gaining ground? Do not allow the shredding of the president’s prayer cover. Cover him back up. Are you experiencing a cascade of painful memories and regrets? Even those you have resolved? Does it feel like a painful introspection is being forced on you? I am not, in any way, suggesting that you avoid inner healing. For goodness sake, inner healing is my specialty. But this current deluge of painful memories and regrets, this introspection the enemy is directing at God’s intercessors, is not inner healing. It is a distraction. This is not the time to engage in senseless painful self-examination or allow the enemy to flood you with the shame of your past. As Isaiah 54:4 states: Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; But you will forget the shame of your youth, And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. Please intercessors, do not give up. Please do not stop praying for our country. Do not stop asking the Lord to shatter the strongholds that have taken the nation captive. Press in and preserve. We need you! Isaiah 59:19 says that “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” You, dear intercessors, are God’s standard, representing in the earth His Son the Ultimate Standard! Please do not allow the enemy to trick you into believing that you are too weary or unqualified for this work. Don’t believe the lie that the work you do in prayer isn’t feared by the enemy. If your prayers are not mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds, why would the enemy waste energy targeting you? This is a call to all believers to share this information and to pray. Pray for our intercessors. Pray without ceasing. Here is a sample prayer. Father God, Creator of all, strengthen those who have dedicated themselves to praying for our nation and for our president. To all those you have called to this great work give the protection of Your greatness. Refresh them in Your peace and joy. Reassure them that their prayers are vital because the battle is first of all spiritual. Pour out blessings upon them in this life and the life to come. We command the evil ones to stop this attack against our intercessors. There will be no more devouring. It is forbidden. Holy angels, we send you to destroy this evil scheme. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Please continue to cover the intercessors as they cover our nation. If you are not American, feel free to apply to your country as needed.

Blessings upon you and those you love, Susan 205.556.4555 (leave a message) Send me your emails. I love getting them. Visit the website to donate. thepoolministries.org

My Greatness Is Your Shield

Have you been feeling overwhelmed by the seemingly unending corruption in the world? Just when we swallow one more horrid story of another depravity, here comes along something even worse. And if you don’t accept one more twisted abomination, candy-coated in false compassion; if you stand up for God, then you find yourself condemned and attacked. It is Isaiah 5:20 come to life. Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Here is what is happening in the spirit realm. The devil has a kingdom called darkness and captivity. Ephesians 2:2 names him the prince of the power of the air. Communication (sound) travels via air waves. He is manipulating communication so that his message of rage and despair is always in our ears. I call this the Corruption Channel and, more than any others, the devil wants Christian ears tuned in. What grows in the believer when he tunes into the Corruption Channel? Fear and unbelief grow. We forget how mighty God is and, through our fear, enthrone the wicked ways of the evil one. We talk among ourselves, amplifying the horrors being normalized in the world. We post them on social media and read the posts of others. I am NOT saying that we should be unaware of the condition of the world. I am NOT saying don’t vote or run for office. I am saying STOP bowing down in fear and unbelief to the shenanigans of the devil. Last night I woke up with my spirit tuned to the Corruption Channel. It was calling me to be afraid. It was declaring that the devil is greater than My God. Has that been happening to you? Your joy and peace compromised by an unending flood of bad news. Even in the night when you should be, and need to be, resting in the arms of your Lord? I asked God what to do. How do I resist this particular scheme of the devil? He responded with this: My greatness is your shield. Have you noticed that much of the worship music coming out of where ever it comes from is focused on the individual’s relationship with the Lord? Not trying to be critical here, but singing about God’s love for me isn’t much of a weapon against the current attack being launched against the body of Christ. He is a good, good Father; He will guide us through the oceans of life. That’s all good, but He is also the Mighty One, our dread champion! We need to be singing Psalm 91 back at the Corruption Channel. You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked. Psalm 91:5-8 I remember as a young believer singing scripture songs that elevated the greatness of God. We need to be exhorting each other about the greatness, the awesomeness of our God and STOP amplifying the kingdom of darkness. Laugh instead! That is what God does. Oh! He is great and greatly to be praised! Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs … Psalm 2:1-4 Two prayers follow. One is for the body of Christ; the other for the nations. Prayer for yourself: Creator God, Father, in Jesus’ name we approach You, repenting of falling for the devil’s lies. Forgive us for entertaining unbelief and fear as we gazed upon the kingdom of darkness and its evil deeds. Establish us firmly in the Kingdom of Light. Fill our mouths with the sound of Your greatness. Cause Your glory to pour forth from us as we go about our days, telling others the good news: They are forgiven. They are loved. They can come home to You because Your Son Jesus has defeated the evil one. Prayer for the Nations: Mighty God, Everlasting Father, I ask you to shatter the strongholds that have taken our governments captive; our media captive; our entertainment captive. Release those who have been enslaved by these strongholds. Release those taken captive by the stronghold of abortion; homosexuality and pedophilia. Destroy the evil spirits that live within those strongholds. Restore to the captives their rational minds and free will. In the name of our Lord Jesus I ask. Amen.

Blessings upon you and those you love, Susan 205.556.4555 (leave a message) Send me your emails. I love getting them. Visit the website to donate. thepoolministries.org

The Scheme of the Evil One

No! Don’t Shoot Yourself in the Foot!

Ok, people. I have been noticing something going on in the churches that is targeting the minds of the leadership. Exactly what I have been seeing became clear this morning after an intense time of spontaneous worship. I’m going to put this out to you very straightforwardly. My hope is that you will share it and, together, we will beseech the Lord to shatter a stronghold that is emerging. God’s next move will be among the young people. That is not news. I mean what other large group is there that needs rescuing from the kingdom of darkness? The enemy is anticipating this. And he already has implemented a plan to short circuit this upcoming revival. Let me explain the problem, then I will expose the enemy’s plan. Today’s young people suffer the most from poor parenting within a culture that caters to their carnality. Their parents, teachers and other role models are themselves deeply wounded and immature. When God sweeps these young people into His kingdom they are going to turn to the older believers for parenting. The church is packed with mature believers who have worked hard to develop good character. They are equipped in many ways to help ground new believers in the great traditions, history and disciplines of the faith. Most of the young people caught in God’s net will have never been churched or exposed to scripture. They will be profoundly dependent upon mature believers until they become solid in Christ. My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you … Galatians 4:19 Maturing these new believers will be quite a challenge. It is the elders among us who will shepherd this flock. Not the leadership or specially gifted or the fancy ones. But the many men and women in the ranks who are steadfast and who are capable of being the parents, teachers and role models that our young desperately need. Here is the enemy’s plan. He cannot stop God from rescuing the young people, but he can stop them from becoming mature Christians. He is already setting his plan in motion. Here it is: 1.Leaders in the church are aware of God’s desire to win the young people. They long to partner with God. That’s good. 2.The enemy is twisting that good desire by creating tunnel vision among our leaders. In other words, ALL focus is being shifted to winning young adults. 3.But the enemy has deceived many in leadership about HOW to win young adults. So, methods of winning them borders on pandering to what they like. We will play their music. We will give attention to their gifts. We will give them a platform. We will dress like them and talk like them. There are two problems with this: First, this current crop of young people has been pandered to all their lives. They are looking for real, safe grownups who will call them to maturity, not more pandering. Second, God will bring them into His kingdom in His time and in His way. We don’t have to make it happen. 4.This pandering is being done at the expense of the many grounded believers in the ranks. Their gifts and wisdom are being ignored. They are being marginalized in the name of winning the young. 5.This means that when God sweeps a bunch of youngsters into the church there will be very few parents, teachers and role models there for them. Those with a good understanding of the faith; those with strong character, and those well-formed in Christ will be gone. They will have left seeking a place where they are treasured. 6.There will be too many new believers for the leadership to shepherd. So, once again, our young will be left to parent themselves. We all know how well that works out. As an aside, the leadership will be bereft of prayer support as well. That is the enemy’s plan. He is forming a way of thinking among our leaders that seems good, but is not God. This way of thinking, if left unchecked, will develop into a mental stronghold that will completely control the perspective of church leaders. This is how we pray against it: Father God, in the name of Jesus, I ask You to shatter the mental stronghold that is trying to, or has taken, our leadership captive. I ask You to destroy the evil spirits that live within that stronghold. I ask that You completely destroy this evil plan against the maturing of new believers. Deliver those leaders who have been attacked by the evil one. Restore their rationality and free will. Adjust their perspective according to Your will. Strengthen those of Your people who fill the ranks of Your church. Prepare them to parent, teach and guide the children shortly to be born into Your kingdom. Angels! Go to war on our behalf! Amen. Pray this prayer often! God is much, much, much greater than the schemes of the devil. We are not ignorant of his (Satan’s) schemes. 2 Corinthians 2:11

Blessings upon you and those you love, Susan 205.556.4555 (leave a message) Send me your emails. I love getting them. Visit the website to donate. thepoolministries.org

Are You OK?

It’s an Alabama winter day. The temperature has risen dangerously high, and everyone has battened down the hatches in anticipation of the severe weather that often results when cold fronts crash into warm fronts. I am tucked inside, thinking about you, those that read my writings, and wondering if you are ok. This season is a tough one for many of us. It’s the time of year when the enemy brings up what is missing in our lives. I know that he keeps that “one thing we most want and seem to never get” in our faces all the time, but he pushes extra hard during the holidays. It’s one of his most effective discouragement tools. How do I know this? Because I haven’t gotten what I want the most in the whole world. I want my son free from mental retardation. Such a thing is not too hard for God. The enemy knows what I want, and he knows that I have been waiting and believing for a long time. I don’t think that I am special in this. I think most of us long for an answer to that one prayer that is the most important of all. And I think we are all subject to despair when the enemy taunts us with reminders of how long we have waited for that answer. Now, I can’t get your prayers answered. But, I can help with putting the devil back in his place. And that helps with the despair. First, realize this. The enemy comes in on what we believe. If we believe that we have to have something in order to be ok, then guess what? All the enemy has to do to make us miserable is remind us, and keep reminding us, that we don’t have that one thing. Instant misery. When we believe that we MUST have something – whatever that something may be – in order to be ok, hasn’t that one thing become our god? Paul said this in Philippians 4:11. “For I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in.” Paul suffered. He was rejected by his people, beaten until he was crippled; he was imprisoned, betrayed and abandoned by his friends. And, in the midst of all of that suffering, he somehow learned to be content. He went on to say that the secret lay in being strengthened by Jesus. Well then. God is no respecter of persons. If He strengthened Paul, He will strengthen us, too. If, in that strengthening, Paul learned to be content, so can we. I pray for us all right now. Lord, strengthen us so that we can learn to be content! Here is how I responded to the enemy’s taunts this time around: Lord, You have given me everything I need pertaining to life and godliness, so into Your hands, Father, I commit my spirit. (2 Peter 1:3; Luke 23:46). No. The devil didn’t go away immediately. There was a struggle with my emotions. But, this time around, when the enemy’s cold front crashed into my warm front, I did not allow him to whip up his usual tornado of weeping and begging until I ended up, soggy and beaten, in the pit of despair. Because Jay’s healing is not my god. Not anymore. I don’t have to have that one thing to be ok. I have everything I need in my beautiful Lord. Are you ok? Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 2 Peter 1:2

Blessings upon your new year, Susan 205.556.4555 Send me your emails. I love getting them. Visit the website to donate. thepoolministries.org

How to Heal the Image of God (That’s You) Part 2

This continues my previous writing about what it is to be the image of God and how to heal that image. I am in the middle of writing a book and managing a Facebook page for The Pool, SO I am updating you guys by sharing the Facebook posts. I am pleased to announce that the ministry is gaining followers through Facebook. My goal is only this: To get helpful information and effective tools into the hands of people. If you would like to support me in that effort you can donate at the website.

The Conflict As the image of God, you possess a spirit, a soul, a heart and a mind (among other things). So far, I have written a little bit about your spirit and soul and hinted about the conflict between them. (See previous posts). In brief, your human spirit understands eternity while your soul fears death. Because of the fallen condition of our world and the fallen behavior of people, the soul quickly decides to distrust its human spirit. This is very unfortunate since the spirit and the soul are designed by God to work together. So how do we heal this conflict between the spirit and the soul? Healing starts with the third aspect of the image of God: the heart.

Your Identity, Your Reality, Your Heart Proverbs 4:23 warns us to Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Guard your heart. Not your spirit or your soul or your mind or your brain, but your heart. Guard it above all things. Why? Because, according to scripture, your heart determines the course of your life. That’s pretty significant. Science has found that the Bible is right (imagine that) about the importance of the heart. Researchers in the emerging field of neurocardiology have discovered that the heart – the thumper in your chest – has its own little brain. This “heart brain” controls many of your body’s internal rhythms. This means that how you think and feel within your heart is expressed (felt by you) throughout your entire body. God designed your heart to establish you in an identity and in a consistent perception of reality based upon your early childhood experiences. This would be just fine if humanity wasn’t fallen. Because of the fall, your heart establishes your identity and “how life works for you” in the midst of chaos and based upon the behavior of the fallen people around you. as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7 (NKJ) Did I mention that the heart is supposed to stabilize you in one CONSISTENT identity and reality? That means the heart does not easily change once it believes. for with the heart a person believes Romans 10:10 What you REALLY believe in your heart – not what you want to believe; not what you hope you believe; not what you have been taught to believe – must be unlocked in order to settle the conflict between your spirit and soul. The how of that is next.

The Fall Your heart’s primary function is to keep you sane. It does this by establishing you in two things: Your identity and your understanding of reality. Let’s look quickly (because this is Facebook after all) at your identity. Truth: You are a unique, priceless being who expresses the image of God. There is no evolving up from that. You are the highest point of creation. Why are you arguing with me? Why are you saying that you are a loser who just doesn’t measure up? Here is why. You were created within a chaotic, fallen environment, surrounded by fallen people, acting in confusing fallen ways. Your heart MUST make sense of what is incomprehensible in order to establish you in a consistent identity. So, your heart rejects your true identity and replaces it with a painful identity that makes sense. Here’s an example: The reason people don’t want me is because I’m bad. I’m the bad person. That makes sense! Bingo! New painful identity. Because the heart is designed to keep you sane, any questioning of what the heart believes is treated as an assault and automatically repelled.

Stabilized in Chaos In my last post I wrote about how the heart believes and why it believes the way it does. Here it is in short: Your heart is designed by God to stabilize you in one consistent identity and reality. But there is a problem. You were conceived within a chaotic fallen environment, surrounded by fallen people, acting in fallen ways. This means your heart has to impose order over unrelenting confusion and incomprehensible pain. Your heart MUST make the crazy make sense. And it does just that by accepting a bunch of lies about you. And about life in general. Every important thing is filtered through the heart’s worldview. This is why God warns us to guard our hearts above ALL else (Proverbs 4:23). So, what can you do with this information about your heart? The heart is designed to believe. In order to replace the painful worldview your heart believes in, you must first learn how the heart communicates that worldview to you. Listen to your inside talk. Do you hear the words “Always, Every time, No Matter What, No One, Never, Everyone?” That is heart language. Begin to take note of these kinds of statements. Write them down. The heart communicates in absolutes. Absolute statements reveal what is hidden in your heart. Let’s start there and continue in the next post.

The First Key Sorry this is so long, but the information is absolutely vital. Please read and apply. It would be helpful if you read all my previous posts about the Image of God: spirit, soul, heart and mind. In a perfect world, your human spirit and soul would love each other; the spirit offering gentle and wise guidance to your soul; your soul submitting to your spirit’s nurture so that it grows into a mature image of God. The problem is this: Sin entered through the Fall and what SHOULD happen exploded into unrelenting chaos. So how do you restore your spirit and soul to a healthy relationship? Your heart holds the keys to this restoration. Or rather what your heart believes holds those keys. God designed your heart to perform certain jobs for you. The foremost of its duties is to stabilize you in ONE CONSISTENT identity and understanding of reality. This means that once your heart believes something is true for you, it will believe that forever … unless you learn how to change your heart. Because your heart has stabilized you in a fallen world, your identity does not line up with truth: That you are a priceless, much-loved child of God. Instead, your heart looked at the chaos surrounding you and decided that there must be “something wrong with you” that is causing the Crazy. In my last post I asked you to listen for absolute statements of belief. Statements you hear inside of you or that come out of your mouth. Like this: “I’m stupid. I’m ugly. I’ll never be good enough. No one likes me. I will never be loved. Everyone hates me. I’ll always be a failure.” Notice the language is absolute: Always, Never, No One, Everyone. This is heart language. So, what are the keys to replacing those heart beliefs that feel cemented into place? It is actually very simple and surprisingly easy. It does take persistence on your part, but changing out those heart beliefs for truth is quite doable. Here is the first key! Write it down and PRACTICE it! When you hear those absolute statements inside or coming out of your mouth, stop and say this to your heart. “Heart! The reason the bad things happened isn’t because I am bad. The bad things happened because of the Fall. That is the only reason bad things happen. You will now believe that instead of what you have been believing.” I will give you the second key to replacing wrong heart beliefs with truth in the posts to come. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. John 14:27

The Truth Your Heart Loves In order to heal your soul and spirit; in order for your soul and spirit to work together according to God’s plan, you MUST convince your heart to cooperate with you. In my previous post I introduced the first of three keys that will gain you that cooperation. (Please read previous posts). Key One replaces what your heart currently believes about Who You Are and How Life Works For You with ONE absolute godly truth. That truth is this: ALL the bad things happened because of the Fall. Not because you are bad. Not because other people are bad. Bad things happen because of one thing: The Fall. Tell your heart this every day. Ten times a day! Tell it to stop believing that all the bad stuff is your fault, or your parents’ fault or whoever. Instead, command your heart to believe that the bad things happened because of the Fall. This is the first key. Replace all those painful and confusing lies with this absolute truth. Be very firm with your heart. Jesus revealed that you have authority over your heart in John 14:27. He said: “Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” Key Two coming soon. And yes, the keys work together.

Is It Really That Simple? Key One to convincing your heart to stop blocking and start cooperating may seem simplistic. (See previous posts). But let’s take a closer look. Much of traditional inner healing involves locating heart beliefs and replacing them with truth. This is effective but very slow. If there has been lots of damage it can be excruciatingly slow. And when the damage makes no sense – as in the case of child abuse – finding a truth your heart will accept is a huge challenge. Remember your heart has already accepted, and established you, in the belief that it is All Your Fault. Over the years I have prayed with a lot of people. And I have discovered that hearts need to know only one thing for everything to make sense. Here it is: Bad Things Happen Because of the Fall. This one truth explains it all. When your heart accepts this, it no longer needs to hold on to all the other reasons why the bad things happen. It no longer needs to stabilize you in painful beliefs about yourself, others and life. Tell your heart today, every day, ten times a day, that the bad things happened because of the fall. Not because “something about you” makes people hurt you. Key Two is next. for with the heart a person believes Romans 10:10

Hugs and blessings from me to you, Susan 205.556.4555 Send me your emails. I love getting them. Visit the website to donate (if so led by the Lord, of course). thepoolministries.org

The Image of God

I am exploring the different aspects of the image of God (that’s you) in short posts on Facebook. For those of you who are not on Facebook, or would like to read my observations together, here are the posts from October 28 – November 5, 2018.

 

October 28, 2018

Because you are made in the image of God, it is useful to look at the different aspects of God in order to better understand how you work. God is described in scripture as having a soul, a heart, a mind, a spirit and (in the case of the incarnated Christ) a body. (Leviticus 26:11 & Jeremiah 32:41; 1 Samuel 13: 14 & Acts 13:22; 1 Cor 2:16; Genesis 1:2).

So, because you are human, you also have these parts. Is that not the coolest thing ever? You are God’s mini me! Except for NOT being omniscient; omnipresent and omnipotent. lol Here are the scriptures: Matthew 22:37; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Romans 10:10.

October 29, 2018

If humans are patterned after the image of God and if God has a soul and a spirit; a heart and a mind, then we have those components as well.

Many people have been taught that the soul and the spirit are the same, but they are not. Scripture is very clear that the soul and the spirit are distinct aspects of the human being. There are many scriptures supporting this. Here is one:

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23

October 30, 2018

In my last post I showed that the soul and the spirit are not the same. So now that we know that, let’s look at what the human spirit is.

“And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Revelation 4:5

“And I saw between the throne … a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God …” Revelation 5:6

These scriptures (as well as Revelation 3:1) state that the Holy Spirit is a seven-fold spirit.

Is the human spirit a seven-fold spirit? It must be if it’s made in the image of God.

November 1, 2018

Your human spirit is amazing. It remembers everything that has happened to you (1 Corinthians 2:11) and it is capable of working with the Lord to search out all the parts of your innermost being (Proverbs 20:27).

This makes your spirit an excellent resource when seeking to resolve emotional issues buried in the past.

Unlike the soul, your spirit does not need to mature. It is created fully mature and complete at the time of conception. But your spirit does need to grow in wisdom.

November 2, 2018

The human spirit is drawn from the infinite Spirit of God. Because of this, your spirit comprehends existing eternally.

The human soul does not automatically grasp the concept of eternity. This is because your soul is truly a new thing.

The soul comes into existence at the moment when God joins matter (earth) with His essence (spirit). This happens in the womb at the time of conception. Or in the case of Adam, when the Lord blew breath into him and Adam became a living “nephesh” or soul (Genesis 2:7).

What didn’t exist before – what could NOT exist before – was produced when spirit and matter were joined by God. This is the human soul.

November 3, 2018

Let’s try again on the soul since my last post was met with bafflement lol. The soul is one aspect of the image of God. You are the image of God. Unlike the human spirit which comes directly from the Spirit of God, the soul is a new thing.

The soul comes into existence at the time of conception when God joins together spirit and matter. Because your soul did not exist in any way before this joining, your soul is a brand new, one-of-a-kind, creation!

Your soul faces many challenges. First of all, it comes into existence within the fallen world. This means the first emotion your soul feels is fear. Without intentional and direct intervention, your soul will rule your life from a position of fear.

The fear of being wrong, of being embarrassed, of making a mistake, of being rejected and abandoned imprisons most human souls. The soul’s many overwhelming fears affect its willingness to listen to your human spirit.

November 5, 2018

The human spirit is drawn directly from God’s Spirit (Genesis 2:7). This means that your spirit understands eternal concepts and principles, BUT it is placed within the womb with NO knowledge of sin. Thus, your spirit must grow in wisdom in order to successfully navigate you through the fallen world.

A soul is an entirely new thing that comes into existence within the womb. This means the soul has no automatic understanding of the eternal. It only knows the pain and confusion of sin because the womb is a fallen place. The soul responds to this dark and fallen environment with fear.

Wise parents can disrupt the fear. But this happens only rarely, because all parents are fallen and most are ruled by their own fearful souls.

It’s not too late for you to disrupt the fear ruling your own soul though. Think of your soul as a traumatized child who desperately tries to make itself safe by controlling everything and everyone, who either hides or strikes out because of fear.

Your human soul needs compassionate nurture, training and discipline in order to successfully mature. A well-loved and gently disciplined soul will rest on the spirit as a weaned child rests upon its mother.

Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me. Psalm 131:2