For a number of years I taught that we need to get “above the line” and live from the realm of the spirit (our place of union with God). This is no doubt true. This is where God wants us to live. However, the problem is that I was inferring that by going above the line and living from that spirit realm, we can remove ourselves from our soul. That is where the analogy of the “line” breaks down. I found that out one day when the Lord asked me, “When was the last time you got out of your soul?” From that point on the Lord has been changing how I teach “living above the line.”
The truth is that I want to get away from my pain in times of conflict that cause negative or painful thoughts and feelings in my soul. However, we know experientially that there is no such thing as exiting our soul. Throughout our lives we are inseparably linked to our soul. The good news is that the soul is being sanctified. We know that God is in the process of renewing our mind to His truth, healing our woundedness and associated damaged emotions, giving us experiential victory over our sin strongholds, and moving our will from independence to dependence. His promises in these areas give us great hope for change. In this process, however, we will experience trials, difficulties, suffering, etc. During those times, our humanity is screaming, “I want out of the suffering. Lord, do whatever it takes to relieve the pain!” We see this same thing with Jesus in the garden the night before His crucifixion when He said, “My soul is grieved to the point of death”. He followed that with, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me”. Jesus was experiencing soulical pain.
Therefore, what does it mean to live “above the line” even though I can’t remove myself from my soul? God says in Psalms 11:1 that He is our “refuge” and in Psalm 32:7 that He is our “hiding place.” Both of these verses infer another place from which to live in the midst of the soulical storm, not apart from it. In other words, we have always lived from our soul because it is such a huge part of our human experience. The provision in the midst of the storm, “above the line,” is our union in Christ which supplies every need that is created by the soulical struggle. What separates us from the unbeliever, as they experience the same suffering that we may encounter, is that we have a Refuge and a Hiding Place, and they do not.
The point is that we have a divine provision, God Himself, who is the “I AM” in the midst of our struggles. He will not necessarily deliver us from the conflict or pain, especially if it is needed to bring us to further brokenness and to greater death to self. However, He is your “needmeeter” Who will be your supply in the midst of your soulical storm. He will be the “eye” of your soulical hurricane by providing you His rest, patience, hope, etc.
I will be honest with you that I have not arrived at a point where I am experientially “wellcontent” with my struggles and difficulties. My humanity sometimes still screams, “Let me out of this pain!” However, I have experienced enough of God’s supernatural peace, patience, and rest in the midst of my storms that I can say confidently that He is my refuge and my hiding place. My friends, the Christian life is truly a supernatural life. When God can give you and me a peace that passes all understanding in the midst of our greatest soulical struggles, it is a supernatural peace. And that peace continually draws us and encourages us to live from our union in Him while still living in our soul.
