MAKE YOUR SOUL RUN YOUR LIFE -- Chap 1
MAKING YOUR SOUL RUN YOUR LIFE -- Ch 1
Integrating body, mind, spirit, superego, ego , id, heart and emotions
In the book
REACHING ONE'S OPTIMUM POTENTIAL WITH SOUL POWER
ISSUES IN THE CHAPTER
Soul as OT nephesh involved in one’s whole being
Brain tomography sees nephesh as a wholistic unit
Soul as in the Greek word psyche (psychology)
Soul divided into body, mind, spirit
Soul as seen by psychology: superego, ego, id
Historical review of the Biblical idea of the soul
Guarding, guiding and nurturing your soul
Making your soul the commander of your body
Making your soul the commander of your mind
Making your soul the commander of your spirit
Selective attention mobilized by your soul
Emotions of the heart as part of the system
If you were startled awake in the middle of the night with an enormous amount of concern for your brother, would you see that as a message from God, nudging you to pray for him? Or would you ignore it, go to the bathroom, drink a half-glass of water, and go back to sleep?
If you left a movie theater after seeing a great movie about Mozart, how would you evaluate an overwhelming inner vision to start writing about positive psychology (preventive) instead of practicing clinical (fix-the-problem) psychology? Would you let that inner AAHHhhaa! take over and run your life for the next 20-30 years. Some persons have that happen. They have been inspired, meaning in-spirited. They have some inner sense of a calling to meet a particular challenge. They have had some internal
stimulation to action.
Desie was in Florida having dinner with a friend. In the middle of the dinner she had an overwhelming compulsion to simply go back home to Michigan. She followed those inner feelings. A phone call came to her within two minutes of reaching her home. It was about how badly she was needed during a family crisis. What would you have done? Do you believe in receiving personal spiritual directions, or do you ignore them as happenstance? Have you experienced such inner directions, either by intuition, or by a strong message permeating your entire being? Some believe they actually heard a voice. Some experience this message coming through a dream. Some awaken with a clear vision and strong passion that empowers them for a lifetime.
Find out how to read messages that seem to come out of nowhere, yet play major roles in one’s destiny. Learn about understanding divine providence and coincidences. Learn from synchronized coincidences that are accompanied by overwhelming AAHHhhaa! experiences. Learn to listen to the inner messages that are part intuition, part soul, part God.
FINDING OUT WHAT ONE’S SOUL IS MISSING
Your soul has enormous potential to help you move toward human goals and find human and divine fulfillment. From the Christian perspective, God stands ready to occupy the deepest regions of a person’s soul. He stands ready within the souls of Christians to influence nearly every positive facet of Christian endeavor.
With one’s soul being occupied by God himself, the soul influences nearly every belief, every memory, every emotion, every thought, all wisdom, all learning, all knowledge, all understanding, all passion, and just about everything, including coping with adversity. That is the job description of the divine being whom you invite into your soul. To Christians, the Apostle Paul said, “Do you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God” (I Corinthians 3:16, 6:19 RSV).
As we shall come to see, the soul has linkages to all the functions of a human being. The soul holds and influences the values, some good, others self-destructive, that determine a person’s destiny. Likewise, the soul influences the daily functioning of the conscience, for good or for bad. The soul harbors the emotions, some positive, some negative, that color our lives brightly or darkly. When God is given a place of honor and influence within the soul, a person is blessed with some of the same transcendence which we see in Jesus. That is why Christians with larger amounts of spirituality generally have larger leadership roles, greater powers of influence, much more autonomy, and about half the illnesses of the average person in the world. Research has documented that.
You will understand more about your soul’s activity in achieving your potential as you progress through this book.
LETTING YOUR SOUL GIVE YOU AN EDGE
People generally want a better life. Increased spirituality can help make that happen. The positively trained and nurtured soul can increase the probabilities for you. Everyone wants the best in life. We all start out with a certain amount of spirituality. But we generally don’t think that increasing our spirituality will give us the edge that we need to reach our optimum potential. As a result we go off and get the best education we can afford and handle. Then we feel confident that we have an edge, an advantage, a margin of excellence. In some cases that works. But research is showing that, on the average, persons with higher moral values, higher work ethics, higher sense of beauty, higher levels values have the edge, the advantage. “I pray that out of His glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:16).
Research is showing that persons with higher spiritual values have some margin of advantage, some edge, over those with lower spirituality. This research evaluated the Fruit(s) of the Spirit, found in Galatians 5:22-23. Those “fruit(s)” are, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” There was an extremely strong correlation between higher and higher levels of “fruit(s)” and higher and higher levels of “leadership.” Advantages, the edge, etc., accompany “fruits” of the “spirit” (spirituality, Holy Spirit). Values, kindness, love and peace are what God is all about. Therefore, on the average, the degree to which you let God’s Holy Spirit into the core of your being is the degree to which you can rise to reach your optimum potential. Persons whose soul’s function at higher spirituality have a soul that contributes to the “edge” that the more successful persons have. Install God, or let him install himself in that spiritual slot in one’s being. That’s one of the more significant keys to one’s optimum potential and to God’s glory.
ILLUSTRATION OF MAXIMIZING ONE’S POTENTIAL
I could fill the next hundred pages of persons of persons in my own community who have maximized their potential within the framework of the Christian faith. Max De Pree of Herman Miller (Office Furniture), Jerry Haworth of Haworth Inc (Office Furniture), John Donnelly (Mirrors), Marvin and Bill De Witt (Food Processing), Howard Miller, (Clocks), Edgar Prince (Auto Parts Industry),
These are multi-million and multi-billion dollar industries. I know these persons. I once worked for one of these businesses. I live near most of them. I see them in meetings. I know their church affiliation. They maximized their optimum potential with spiritual values that function deeply within their souls.
You may not have heard of these, but how about Huntley, Brinkley, Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw or Brian Williams. These persons pursued higher values. They grew up learning Biblical truths. They came to believe in truth, like Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12 NIV). The indwelling Spirit of God functions as coach and mentor, as strongly as comforter. It is unlikely that a person could become a reporter without a soul that is programmed for finding and reporting truth.
Brian Williams grew up in Elmira, New York. He and his family attended mass “every Sunday.” Somewhere in the matrix of family, school and church he learned to know the importance of the highest form of truth. As a child he watched the greats of his generation in news broadcasting, Huntley, Brinkley, Cronkite. They inspired Brian. He said, “That’s what I want to be someday.” Later, reflecting on that he said, “It’s an audacious thought for a boy, especially one who’s never been much of anywhere in his life and whom no teacher has ever singled out for public speaking. He keeps his desire inside and nurtures it.
He took a few jobs to get through school, but he had this “burning vision” that he kept silent about. One job was as a clerk typist with the National Association of Broadcasters. Yet, he said, “I yearned to be reporting the news.”
Brian confesses that he was “not the best student in the world.” One of his first reporting jobs was in Kansas. From there he headed back to Washington, D.C. Then to Philadelphia and finally to NYC. Finally he was selected by Tom Brokaw to succeed Brokaw who anchored NBC news for many years.
There are many Brians in this world who have that “burning” passion. They are somewhat like Moses, seeing the “burning bush” and hearing the call of an angel to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. What is the difference between Moses’ “burning bush” experience and Brian’s “burning” desire? Who gets those “burning bush” calls? What does a person need to “be” or “do” to have a “burning bush” experience that eventually leads them to reach their optimum potential?
There are thousands, maybe millions who have these “burning bush” calls and we pursue them. These “burning bush” experiences pull us out of the pit like Joseph was pulled out of the pit and placed in higher positions in Egypt. These “burning bush” experiences empower us beyond our imagination. We can’t believe we have traversed a never-ending ascent. The ascent is filled with pain, sweat, enjoyment, adventure, hard work and feeling full-filled all along the pathway.
We are going to take the issues step by step, chapter by chapter. We need to become open to those “burning” passions that exist around moral, ethical, political and economic issues. We need to learn to recognize those “burning bush” experiences. What about Jacob’s vision of angels descending and ascending? What was the purpose of that experience and how can we Christians listen to and understand the activity of angels, dreams, voices, emotions, elation, AAHHhhaa! and other spiritual activity, for the purpose not only of glorifying God, but for the purpose of helping us maximize our optimum potential?
ESTABLISHING SOME BASICS FOR UNDERSTANDING
Your author has had one foot in the theology and the other foot in the social sciences for half a century. He believes there is more congruence between the work of the social scientists and Christianity, than there is conflict between them. The social scientists tend to pick things apart and put labels on the parts that were not identified in Bible times. The flood gates of these research processes opened long ago, and some of the truth discovered by the social scientists is quite helpful.
In the following few pages you are being introduced to some new terminology developed by the social sciences. The purpose of this is to help identify the functions of the soul and the place of God’s Pentecostal power in the heart of a Christians. This is designed to be helpful in identifying how the soul can function to enable us to break through the barriers of spiritual lethargy and spiritual status-quo.
A LOOK AT SOCIAL SCIENCE AND THE SOUL
The social sciences deal with human behavior, just like the major players described in the Bible. The social sciences have focused on the activities of the soul (psyche in Greek) for over a century. They have added some words to our understanding of the functions of the core ingredients for the soul, from a secular perspective.
We are going to start out by dissecting your soul/psyche, like you dissect a frog in the biology laboratory. The social sciences have done a little more of that than the writers in the Bible. Some of the following descriptions are a combination of information from the Bible and from the social sciences. Then we will show the connection with the Bible.
DISSECTING YOUR SOUL OR PSYCHE
Psychology is a study of the psyche. The word “psyche” comes from the Greek word, which means “soul” or essence of a person. Think of the psyche as the computer which runs your life. Your brain is connected to it. Your biological appetites are connected to it. Your emotional passions are connected to it. Your belief systems are connected to it. Your immune system is connected to it. Feelings are connected to it. Your conscience is connected to it. Your hereditary genetic structure plays a significant role. Environmental factors also play a role. When you have a decision to make, all these forces or factors go into the psyche, the computer of your life. It’s a complex process.
To simplify it, somewhat, we are going to use a model in which body, mind, spirit and psyche are integrated with emotions. It will be used to help you understand the interaction of the various systems at work in the decision making and behavior-creating process. Here is our scriptural support. “I pray to God your whole spirit (pneuma) and soul (psyche) and body (soma) may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thessalonians 5:23)
Historically, people understood that most behavior came as a result of our mental processes. We are beginning to understand that our behaviors result from a far more complex set of interacting forces working within the psyche. Over the years people saw much behavior coming out of hereditary factors. People also attributed much behavior to cultural pressures. Then for decades people believed that one’s past experiences, some good, some painful, heavily determined our behavior. All these factors are relevant to behavior. More recently people have come to understand that beliefs and values need to be added to the list of contributing factors.
Make no mistake. Truth is truth, whether from the Bible or science. Hear this about the tri-partite nature of a human being. “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart (kardia) and with all your soul (psyche) and with all your mind (dianoia = mind, understanding).” (Matthew 22:37)
HISTORICAL SURVEY
Soul as the processor chip of the computer that runs our lives.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), Austrian Physician, started most of our contemporary thinking about psychological behavior. He was born in Moravia, Czechoslovakia. He moved to Leipzig when he was age 3. A year later he moved to Vienna, Austria where he remained most of his life. He entered the University of Vienna in 1873 and was awarded his M.D. degree in 1881. He began a private practice, but became a professor in 1902. He fled Vienna in 1938 after the Nazi book burnings, and went to London where he died in 1939. His concepts and their descriptions evolved over a number of years. He wrote “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” (1920), “ The Ego and the Id” (1923), “New Introductory Lectures in Psychoanalysis” (1933), and “An Outline of Psychoanalysis” (Published in 1940). The core idea in Freud’s understanding of the psyche (soul) is that many painfully traumatic experiences get bottled inside the psyche of people. If those unhappy memories get bottled up too often, or they are major traumatic abuses, this negativity within the psyche (soul) can lead to mental illnesses. In counseling, when those once painful past experiences are brought out of a person’s unconscious system into consciousness, They can be dealt with by confession, confrontation, negotiation, forgiveness, etc. Then the person’s problematic symptoms are diminished. That idea has been strongly attacked and strongly supported over the past few decades.
HEAVENLY GOD LIVING IN THE HUMAN SOUL
We want to show you the unique focus of the human soul as it operates within Christians. Back when Jesus was born, God was making himself more apparent to people by taking on a visible human body. God did this through a special act of letting himself become born from a virgin named Mary. As Jesus, he grew up like any other person. Yet, when he became an adult he knew he had a mission. Jesus’ mission was to show that God was to be loved, not feared like the pagan gods. Therefore Jesus did miracles and taught the value of positive moral behaviors. That made some people happy and others angry.
Jesus had a second mission. The pagan gods and pagan priests always made people feel fearful, guilty and hopeless. These pagan priests made a lot of money out of making people feel guilty and fearful all the time. In some cases they convinced people to kill one of their children to please the gods. God, in Jesus wanted to change that. He wanted people to feel forgiven, loved, precious and courageous. To accomplish a change in history, Jesus let himself be crucified. He gave himself up to be killed. He became the last sacrifice for the sins of people. He, the infinite son of God paid the infinite price for the infinite amount of sin. No longer would people need to always be feeling guilty. God wanted people to feel loved and become loving. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (II Corinthians 5:21). He died on the cross. He arose from the dead. He ascended into heaven. He sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, 50 days after his death. With faith in God we no longer need to fear the gods of stone, or the mythical gods of the winds and caves. Today, Zeus and the pagan gods are defunct, dead, just a bit of history. Proof of the power of God residing within a person’s spiritual functions.
THIS WHOLENESS MODEL
For centuries great scholars have debated the relationship of the soul and the body. Most of us have grown up with a belief in the dual nature of body and spirit. Theologians and philosophers have entered the debate. Some of them argued that there are sufficient Biblical references to justify a third entity, the mind, which has linkages to both body and spirit. There is a fourth dimension that has only been acknowledged in the past two or three centuries, namely, the emotions as experiences which take place in the heart. There are many books which can be consulted to support the many elements that make up the Gestalt of one’s humanness. This material is willing to unite the oldest and most unifying version of the O.T. nephesh (soul) with present day discussions of wholeness coming out of brain research. These issues center around the brain and how the brain organizes and mobilizes the information contained in all the functions that make up the Gestalt of a human being. We will not take you into more of the historical labyrinth of the past ideas and their authors. Our objective is to mobilize your soul for your own benefits in this life and for the God’s glory in both this life and in the hereafter. To accomplish that we will combine some Biblical knowledge with some social science research. Both the Bible and the social sciences seek truth and promote truth.
PSYCHE’S THREE IDENTIFIABLE PARTS
The Bible and the social sciences have a lot in common. The following paragraphs describe some of that psyche/soul information. Early social scientists described the psyche as having three parts; ego, superego, and id. The superego became known as the voice of a person's conscience (doing what you ought to do). In early infancy the superego is very weak and insignificant. As the child grows, his or her sense of “ought-ness” grows, unless the child reacts. The child introjects (takes into himself or into herself) the requests and demands of parents, teachers, friends and society. Eventually the superego becomes more strongly influential, and competes with other functions in the psyche/soul.
“Id” is the Latin word for “that” (First written in German). The id component of the secular understanding of the psyche covers mostly what “I want...” A person’s id system is closely tied with the biological functions of the body. It is a strong source of energy for the psyche, besides the mind and the spirit. The id handles the instinctual needs for food, sex, aggression, power, passion, etc. Here is how it was described in its earliest form. “It (the “id”) contains everything that is inherited, that is present at birth, that is fixed in the constitution -- above all, therefore, the instincts which originate in the somatic organization and which find their first mental expression in the id in forms unknown to us” (Freud).
The ego is the central core of the psyche. The ego is somewhat equivalent to the processor chip of a modern computer. The computer’s “chip” processor receives input from the superego and from id. The computer interacts with each piece of information in the decision-making process. This analogy, while picturesque and somewhat appropriate, has some defects. People can program and upgrade personal values and processes, in relation to their experiences and beliefs. Computers can't. The ego is the linking and integrating dynamism of Freud's system.
Did you hear the strains of Paul’s preaching along these lines. “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do but what I hate to do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. And it is not longer myself who does it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do, – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it but it is sin living in me that does it . . . Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 7:14-8:1 NIV). There you have the scientific and the Christian congruence about some of the inner functioning of the human psyche.
CHRISTIAN EQUIVALENCY
You can picture in your mind the functions of God’s Holy Spirit in the core of this system. Hear the Apostle Paul saying, “I bow my knees to the Father . . . to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:14, 16). Paul knew about the indwelling spirit of God as an integrating and an empowering source of wisdom and strength. “We have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God” (I Corinthians 2:12). This is the God of the heavens, but also the God of the Holy Spirit that came into the souls of Christians at the time of Pentecost.
AGELESS WISDOM ABOUT THE SOUL
The soul has been the subject of peoples’ interest forever. The social scientists of today are opening up insights that are strongly reminiscent of some thinking two or three millennia ago. Plato was a Greek teacher-philosopher. He lived centuries before Christ. His book, The Republic has been published more frequently than any other secular book that old. Plato’s ideas of optimum lifeskills and optimum society have been extremely respected. His three highest virtues were justice, honesty and helping friends. These three elements come out of the human psyche-soul, which is driven most optimally by reason, appetite and passion.
“There is no difference between a just man and a just society. . . My friend, if we are to be justified in attributing these virtues [previously described as ‘justice’, ‘honesty’, ‘helping friends’ ] to the individual, we shall expect to find the individual soul [psyche] contains the same three elements and that they are affected in the same way as the corresponding types in society. . . reason [mind]. . . appetite [body] . . . (and) . . . passion [spirit].”
The above quotation from Plato’s Republic supports some current Biblical understanding of the psyche (soul). The words in brackets [ ] have been inserted to show a connection between Freud’s concepts, Plato’s concepts and the ultimate truth in the Bible. Plato described a person in terms of that person’s body, mind and spirit. The YMCA has used this same triad in their triangular symbol for the past century and half. But it is also interesting to see Plato basically substantiating some of the thinking of Sigmund Freud regarding the soul as something inside the body, mind and spirit. The psyche for Freud represents a unique set of three internal factors rather similar to what Plato described.
The psyche for Freud was quite similar to what Plato is describing. The psyche for Plato is an integrating force. One’s id is going after pleasure. One’s superego, highly conditioned by truth, expectations (even cultural myths), presents evidence against excessive pleasure. For Freud the integrating mechanism was the ego. For Christians who understand what happened at Pentecost, God is in the soul of Christians, working to reduce sin and evil in the person, so that these persons may have a greater opportunity to maximize their optimum potential. Plato was not able to offer an equivalent for Freud’s concept of the ego. However, Plato spent a lot of effort in describing the moral person as one who is just, truthful and caring.
YOUR BEST CHANCE – INSPIRE AND GUARD YOUR SOUL
Your best chance of becoming the person you want to become, is by putting your soul in charge of maintaining a balance between these factors described so far. They are; body, mind, spirit, superego, ego, id with the addition of emotion. Excesses and deficiencies in them are generally a problem. Too much attention to the appetites of the body present possible problems like weight, alcoholism, drug usage, etc. Too much listening to and living by the expectations of others in our superego contributes to certain difficulties, phobias, obsessions, dependencies, etc. Too much living by the passions of the spirit (see Plato above) can generate problematic radical thinking in one’ political, social, economic and religious belief systems. In other words one can eat too much (body), study to much (mind), be too passionate (spirit), do too much of what your superego (ought) says, or do too much of what your id (want) says.
Your wisdom-filled ego must be the dominant integrator for you to become the most mature and most rational being. There may be surges of activity in any one of these six factors, but ultimately they should balance each other.
It’s great to keep your body under “superego control,” but not to become emaciated with excessive “superego-control.” It’s magnificent to have a “mind” that is thirsty for truth throughout one’s life, but not if the thirst for knowledge makes one dependent on welfare. The same is true with every function of a person.
The “spiritual” dimension helps to control the level of optimum functionality of the entire body, mind, spirit, superego, ego, id and emotional system. Add a Pentecostal (Acts 10) infusion of divine grace into this system and Christians can expect greater wisdom of the soul. That greater wisdom of the soul raises the level of spirituality and character (Fruit(s) of Spirit, Galatians 5:22. Out of that comes further blessings from God. Values help determine destiny. Low values help determine lower destiny. Higher values/behaviors help determine higher destiny.
GOD IN YOUR SOUL — NUDGING YOU WITH TRUTH
Christians believe God can be welcomed to take up residence within the nephesh (OT), the soul, and all its connections with body, mind, spirit, superego, ego, id and emotions. That is what happened in Jerusalem at the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God demonstrated that He occupies human souls when faith opens the door. Some believe God lives in every soul in the world but that he is locked up or barred from having any personal influence. Many persons believe God is fenced in by a person’s own sinful passions.
The Biblical description of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is marvelous. Pentecost was time of celebration for Jews. It occurred on the 50th day after the Jewish Passover, the time when Jesus was killed. Mighty changes took place. Both outward and inward changes took place. The Holy Spirit took up residence inside those persons. It is quite likely that the Holy Spirit took up residency in the spiritual nature of persons. Christians can have a Christian Holy Spirit-ual presence helping to empower them toward character.
With the world shrinking, as we perceive it we need to acknowledge that there is a spirituality that is common to all people. For example, put 1000 soldiers in a fierce gun battle with an enemy, and there 1000 streams of prayer going heavenward. Some may be spiritually motivated and directed toward god. Others praying soldiers may be targeting their prayers more toward God, Jesus and His Holy Spirit. Don’t ask which prayers are more effective. We don’t have a Biblical answer, and I don’t know of any research that can give us one either.
The indwelling spirit of God has a job to do. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). The Apostle Paul says that we ought to let God influence us. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2 NIV). The Bible indicates that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3 NIV) are opened or enhanced by the indwelling presence of God in Jesus Christ. Wisdom and knowledge are prized attributes that are made increasingly more available as God resides in the soul. Many individuals deteriorate instead of grow. Some indulge the passions of the flesh. They do that until they suffer more or even bring upon themselves troubles they never knew would come. The antidote or prevention to eventual deterioration is found in Paul’s words, “Teach and urge . . sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ . . If he does not teach that . . (he is catering to) men who are depraved (corrupted in mind (nous)” (I Timothy 6:5).
GOD – EMPOWERING YOUR SPIRITUALITY
The model we used in preceding paragraphs had the word “spirit” in it, along with “body” and “mind.” We could spend many pages identifying variations of interpretations of levels of spirituality. Levels and variations of spirituality exist throughout the world.
Christian spirituality appears to exist at different levels. First, there is a somewhat indigenous spirituality common to mankind, Secondly, there is a higher level of spirituality attributed to Christians who “walk in the spirit.” In Christian spirituality the Holy Spirit occupies that higher level or function. Listen to Jesus talk about it. “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26 NIV). Certainly, the gods of the pagans could not do that. They were in stones with carved faces and in whirlpools in the ocean. The pagan gods were often too busy frolicking in the cow pastures and in the clouds to have any influence within the soul. The only thing the pagan gods could do quite well was influence your imagination about some unspecified guilt. In this kind of environment pagan religious leaders could make and profitable living. Jesus ruined that business. Jesus took the world’s guilt to the cross and paid for the guilt with his life. He ended centuries of mythical thinking.
OPENING THE CHANNELS OF THE SOUL
Sin blocks the indwelling powers of the divine inside our souls. God reigns in the heavens and in the earth without impediments or blockages. However, God’s reign in our lives is often frustrated by our beastly passions and unprofitable temptations. As a result many Christians never experience the transcending and empowering energy of the gospel in their lives.
Some of our ideas, our false myths, our preconceived notions and our bad behaviors need to be trashed. “Do not live any longer like the Gentiles, in the futility of their minds (nous)” (Ephesians 4:17). “(False prophets) have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin...” (II Peter 2:14). “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit (pneuma)...” (II Corinthians 7:1). “Be renewed in the spirit (pneuma) of your mind (nous)” (Ephesians 4:23). The spirit (pneuma) needs to become dominant in one’s life in order for the channels of God’s personal revelation are sufficiently opened.
When the Christian accepts the influence of God in his/her soul, a new process begins. The new process releases the divine activity, eliminates his fenced-in status, and allows God to neutralize the sins of the flesh found in Galatians 5:19ff. “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like’ (NIV). On the average, the lower one sinks into these behaviors the lower the probabilities of reaching one’s optimum potential.
Some Christians have failed to allow the soul to take the leadership away from the body. They let bodily passions (id) dominate. This is the Biblical consequence, “When they knew God and glorified him not as God, He gave them over to a reprobate (addicted, no conscience) mind (nous)” (Romans 1:28). The social sciences can deliver thousands of case studies to support this Bible truth, that sin causes personal deterioration. One cannot reach one’s optimum potential unless the powers of the deteriorating processes are halted. The indwelling God has been called the counselor, the coach. On earth, in my soul, God is in a different role than when he is in heaven. As an internal resident of the soul God’s major role is to enable the Christian to become the best person s/he can become. He is the coach inside the soul. He is the mentor. We need to figure out how he talks to us. We start dealing with that in the next chapter.
PENTECOST AS ENERGIZING FOR PERFORMANCE
After Pentecost 120 persons scattered and refashioned what religion was all about. Paganism died and the personal God came back to become our counselor, our coach, our comforter. Christianity became a helpful, guilt-reducing system. Pentecost changed the performance characteristics of the souls that experienced the AAHHhhaa! of being in-spirited by the Holy Spirit.
Your automobile, like your soul, has some power. You could bring your automobile to certain specialists who could increase the performance of that engine. You could have the performance increased (on certain engines) so that you could improve its acceleration from 0-40 in six seconds to 0-60 in six seconds. I am writing this to help you discover and improve your soul’s ability to to have more ZIP, more power, hopefully for God’s glory, but also for your day to day benefits.
We presume that you want to function at optimum levels of performance for a better life. We know that higher spirituality, as identified by the Fruit(s) of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) is associated with higher self-confidence. Here is what research indicates. The left column is a record of the average graduated levels of Fruit(s) of the Spirit from a data base derived from information from 1900 persons. The column to the right of that is the equivalent level of self-confidence associated with equivalent levels of Christian spirituality.
FRUIT(S) OF SPIRIT LEVELS OF SELF-CONFIDENCE
AVERAGES FOR 10 AVERAGES FOR 10 AVERAGE LEVELS
AVERAGE LEVELS
16 9
28 22
37 35
43 37
51 45
57 50
62 63
67 67
73 80
83 90
This comparison indicates that, on the average, if you want higher performance in terms of “self-confidence” your spiritual “fruits” levels need to improve. The power of your performance in “self-confidence” is associated with higher and higher levels of “Fruit(s) of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23).
As Christians live and behave in relation to higher and higher levels of the Fruit(s) of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith-fulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). on the average they have increased levels of self-confidence. This piece of research data supports the proposition that the more one can be led by the spirit of God, the more it pays off in higher levels of universally desired personality traits. These persons have higher probabilities of economic and social rewards.
SOUL DELIVERING VITALITY
We often hear that we need to lean on God, praying for more spirituality and vitality. Christian research has identified the following factor. More than half of all “church going” persons have both “fruits” scores and “self-confidence” scores averaging lower than persons “who never go to church.” Something is wrong. The church is not delivering the vitality that the Bible indicates Christians can have. Persons may be simply refusing to let the Pentecostal divine force (God, Holy Spirit) move them to excellence, spiritually, mentally, morally, financially. They like their comfort zone.
Seriously, and more truly, people do not know how to listen to the many promptings of the Holy Spirit. They live by cultural expectations rather than by inner spiritual dreams, visions, passions, leadings, coincidences, etc. Christians don’t know how to take meaning out of dreams. Christians have angel experiences and think they are weird. Christians go to scores of prayer meetings but don’t respond to human volunteering in the community.
Here is the Biblical record. “If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead, will give life (quicken in KJ, give vitality) to your mortal bodies also through his spirit that dwells in you..” (Rom 8:11). “It is the spirit (pneuma) that quickeneth (enlivens). The flesh does not help much. The words that I speak to you are spirit (pneuma) and life” (John 6:63). The Apostle Paul knew something about “vitality” in the early church.
In the church there are many who have “vitality” of faith. But that percent is in the minority. We all know that. But did we know that it was that serious?
EVIDENCE FOR SOUL MAXIMIZING POTENTIAL
Your soul is key to the maximization of your potential. Research has now demonstrated that when the Christian soul increases the level of the Fruit(s) of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness-trust, gentleness, self-control) persons have a lot of benefits to help them maximize their potential.
Observe the following. Here is some research evidence. Christians who live and function within the highest one-third level of the Fruit(s) of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) as compared with those in the bottom one-third level of Fruit(s) of the Spirit, average,
66% more INFLUENCE, on the average, throughout life
62.6 more FUN-LOVING, on the average, throughout life
63.5% more LEADERSHIP, on the average, throughout life
72% more CONFIDENCE, on the average, throughout life
38% less STRESS in 60+ stress factors, on the average, throughout life
So you want to maximize your potential? Part of the answer is being in tune with the High Priest of one’s soul. You may have difficulty finding a church that can lead you to those higher levels, so you may need to supplement church with mentoring help.
In all of the research behind these statements, persons who put in the time and effort to live by more Christlike virtues have the greater probability of reaching their individual optimum potential.
This data comes from a research project that used information from 1900 persons in a series of pilot studies and final data base acquisition. The information came through 9 professors and counselors in 6 states, and four countries, USA, Canada, Australia, and Singapore.
“Belief is Destiny.” “Destiny is highly determined by the soul.”
ACCOUNTABILITY:
1. If a preacher made the comment, “The Lord told me that our church ought to build a new building.” — What would be your response?
2. If a preacher made the comment, “I had one of those Samuel awakenings last week in which I was startled. All I could think of was that we are a growing church and needed to talk about that among ourselves.” — What would be your response?
3. Let’s talk about what prompting we might have had by the Holy Spirit and wasn’t sure enough to do something about it.
4. In working through this chapter, what moved our consciences or excited each of us to let God’s presence in our souls affect some positive decision to carry out this week?