As I have been teaching this fall, the Lord continues to reveal to me in a deeper way that you and I were created as “spirit” beings. The Christian life is designed in such a way that we are to live from the union of our human spirit with God’s Spirit. It is from this “new” address where we learn the truth about God, our new identity “in” Him, His unchanging plan for intimacy with us, and how God, as our Source, wants to work in our lives to renew, heal, restore, and transform.
Since this is true, then why don’t we simply live from our union in Christ and quit living from our soul? Why don’t we quit struggling in the lies and distortions in our souls and live “above the line” in our spirit? Where is the rub? The rub comes because we have lived from the lies and distortions long enough that we can’t imagine leaving those abiding places. Our soul has been our home for so long that we can’t imagine leaving it for our new home in the spirit!
There is a lady that shared at our “What Can I Expect?” conference about her obsessive fear of being sued while in the workplace. She is in the health care field, and in her line of work there is an ongoing fear of lawsuits. The worst part is that she believes that her company will not protect her if she is sued. This “soulical” fear is creating ongoing stress in her life. It might be easy at this point to simply say, “Find another job!” However, if this is God’s job for he, then what is He doing in the midst of this situation? Is it possible that He is using her fear to drive her to Him and to show her that she is a “spirit” being (and as such) that she can, in the next moment, live in all the peace that God has to offer?
Here are some excerpts from another lady who shared at the conference: “I have heard the Christ-life message, and I understand it. I think that my soulish realm doesn’t want to give up control. Isn’t there anything that I can do to help God? This is about self wanting some recognition. I really want what He wants, but I guess I am afraid that I will become lazy or apathetic if I “can’t” do anything for God.”
What did you hear from her spirit? She knows that God must be the Source. She says that she understands it. However, what is the reality in her soul? She does not want to give up control, her self-life wants recognition, she wants to help God, and her fear is that she will become lazy if she can’t do anything for God. What a perfect picture of the soul-spirit struggle this is! Are we really any different than this lady? We know the truth, but the lies and distortions in our souls are more real to us than God’s truth.
What are we to “do?” Paul spends several verses describing the same dilemma for him in Romans Chapter 7. His conclusion was that he must be “delivered” from his body of death! And the deliverer is Christ. What Paul is saying is that I have a Person within me who is going to deliver me “from” my old address in the soul “to” my new address in my spirit.
Even though we don’t know how God works this out, we know by faith that He will work it out. And what is God’s work? It is to persuade you and me that living from our spirit is life and that living from the lies and distortions of the flesh and power of sin in our soul is death. I call sanctification God’s “loving” persuasion that I need to relocate to my spirit and stay there permanently! Your union in Christ is your new address. At that new address is “new” life.
For the lady in the health care company, living from her spirit would mean the continuous peace of God instead of the ongoing fear that she is experiencing. For the second lady, living from the spirit would mean giving up control, the need for recognition, and the realization that God is in control and that He really does not need our help. You see, God knows only too well of our attachment to our “old address.” However, He loves us enough that He will, in love, persuade us that we have a new home. As we experience our new home in Christ, we will see clearly the death of our old address.
