His soul will dwell in prosperity

 versaday.com

“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” (3 John 2)

We know the soul and spirit both are connected to and reside in the heart. From our heart comes our thoughts, emotions and intentions which can have influence on our will. Our spirit brings our conscious to bear as we make decisions and have thoughts about and towards others and situations.

Our soul is the receptor of our decisions of our will and thoughts of our heart. These decisions and thoughts have impact our soul. Our soul acts a little like the collector and filter of our furnace system. It collects and accumulates what we are full of. Our spirit, keeping the air flowing as it responds to the heart, then the soul reaping from it.

To be spiritually healthy, our spirit needs to be fully aligned with God. Then in aligning it, our heart and will respond to our spirit blowing in the right direction and our soul will reap overflowing satisfaction, passion for Christ, joy and contentment. Our soul is meant to be the follower and not the leader of the heart and will. If we are led by the soul, we get derailed and off path because our passions, desires, and emotions, will not line up.

It can be hard to tell the components of heart, spirit, soul, mind, and will apart as they are integrated and typically operate as one collective whole. Some define the soul to include the heart, spirit and will, others call these separate. We do know that our souls hold our emotions (Psalm 61:2) and are eternal.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 prays, “And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This implies that either our souls or spirits include our heart, mind and will.

Since our souls are eternal, they have significance.

We do know that our soul holds our personalities and emotions (Psalm 42:11) and are eternal (Matthew 10:28). Our souls also carry our personalities. Our personalities (our tendencies and responses) are developed as the soul develops. We are transformed by the renewing our mind according to Romans 12:2. Our mind is our thoughts in the heart which lead to action of the will which helps strengthen or adjust our personalities in tendencies and reactions to past experiences over time. The breath of God formed our soul and our overall personalities.

Genesis 2:7 says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Soul here is also translated as a living being, so who we really are eternally. Here it is the Hebrew word nephesh and includes desires, passions, appetites, emotions, longings, heart, emotions, ability to endure, contentment and formed person.

Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word of God, sharper than any two-edged sword will penetrate and divide the soul and spirit, judging the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Here the word soul is the Greek word psuché and it means the seat of affections, will, vital breath and personality. Where the heart, the Greek wordkardia, means the mind, character and intention, and spirit here, the Greek word pneuma, means the wind from the Spirit.

Yet we know that even though the mind resides in the heart and is integrated, it is also has separate function. Jesus says that we should love God with all our heart (kardia), all our soul (psuché), all our mind (dianoia- understanding, intellect, thought, reasoning and conclusions) and all our strength (ischus – might, strength, force and ability).

The Word of God helps us to get our thoughts and intentions in alignment with faith and seeing from this new realm of the spirit so we can be transformed like Jesus. We are destined to have “the mind of Christ” which is that of seeing reality from the unseen perspective by faith. As we act (will) upon the Word, what we reap in our soul becomes this beauty and joy rather than gunk from our worldly belief system.

When people have affairs or sexual relations that are against God’s Word, it impacts their soul. Also, believing or hearing degrading things about one’s identity can cause tearing of the soul. Soul tearing or harm to the soul impacts our identity. In praying for situations of affairs or relationships that are outside of marriage, one might need to break “soul ties” with another person because the soul attaches itself to the other person. And also pray for healing of the damage to the soul and identity as a result.

Because our soul collects all this stuff of what we see, do, hear and engage with in the world, it is easy for our soul to become hard, tattered or just full of gunk that needs to be cleaned out. This is why what we watch, engage with, and put into our minds and hearts matters. It is being collected by our soul.

Being integrated, the soul influences what comes out of your heart. Jesus says in Matthew 15:11, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”

So how does it defile you? It impacts our soul. Both words we speak and words we receive impact the soul. Proverbs 16:24 says, “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”

As I mentioned, the soul also carries our emotions. Fear, selfishness, anger and anxiety all fill our souls with gunk that hardens our hearts or tries to derail us. People who have a hard countenance you can often tell are holding bitterness or unforgiveness in their hearts. What is held or accumulated in the soul is reflected upon one’s countenance. The same with the opposite, if we are holding joy in our soul and passion for Christ, it will radiate through us.

God has made a way for all the gunk to get washed away from our souls. It says in Psalm 19:7 that the Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The Lord brings us back to a place of peace, rest and joy where our soul is restored as He cares for us so greatly (Psalm 23:1-3).

Our souls carry our deepest desires, hunger and longing (Psalm 42:2). Deuteronomy 4:29, “But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” Our souls are the place that we contemplate God, hold Him before us and also the place of intercession. Isaiah 53:11 says, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”

Our soul is being sanctified as we look to Jesus. “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23, NASB). And our soul, in a sanctified and healthy state, is created to praise the Lord (Psalm 103:1).

Since our souls are eternal and the heart, mind, will, memories, and emotions are integrated and connected with the soul if not part of the soul, all of this we will carry to our eternal home. It is part of our eternal being. The only part that we will leave behind is our bodies.

When my mom was receiving visitors from heaven before she passed on, it is because they carry their memories and relationship heart connections with them to the other side. Let’s just stop, pause and think deeply about this for a moment. All those things do not leave you when you leave the earth. Your great cloud of witnesses include those who know you and are cheering you on from the other side.

When we work at renewing our mind, thinking according to Kingdom ways of believing over striving, this will have eternal impact. And we know that if our soul’s carry what is eternal, that this is where faith, hope and love reside. Paul lists faith, hope, and love as three endowments all Christians will always have. While the more specific spiritual gifts that are given by the Spirit, like prophecy and tongues, fade as Paul says that only these three remain (1 Corinthians 13:8-10).

Wow, let’s stop and pause again around this to wonder. For me, it is easy to see the eternal Kingdom of one of overflowing love and unity. However, because we see Jesus, it is hard for me to picture what faith and hope will look like. Our faith and hope are not discarded as we move to our eternal home. It is a Kingdom built by faith in Jesus and our faith that we have grown on the earth, and hoping beyond all hope, will be applicable to our eternal lives. We will still operate by faith and with hope!

If faith, hope and love reside in the soul, it is the place of the soul that we grow fruit of the Spirit as we follow Jesus. Just like the gunk can slow us down or derail us, living a godly life and the fruit of the Spirit helps us to become all God has for us. It abounds and overtakes our soul. I know there have been occasions that I have had so much joy I thought I would burst if I didn’t do something about it. This was an overflow of what was accumulating in my soul from my labors. Depression or being downcast is also a condition of the soul.

That means that laughing also impacts the soul. Laughing can cause freedom from being downcast and negative thinking or strongholds as well as even physical health in our body. Therefore, the condition of our souls impacts our physical health. Coming back to the scripture that gracious words are sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

In Mark 5:5, it speaks of a man who had a legion of demons in him that were tormenting his soul. As a result, he cut himself and cried out day and night pleading for relief. Then when Jesus came, the tormented man ran up to Jesus and bowed before him and worshipped him, knowing Jesus came to free him. We know these demons carried a spirit of suicide as the moment the went into the pigs, they all killed themselves. All that to say that if someone has demonic spirits, it will afflict their soul and cause torment and emotions that are opposite from what God has for them. Just this week, I had an opportunity to pray for some people who had been demonically tormented in their souls and see them set free. They were so relieved, like getting out of prison. It changes so much for them and about them at the soul level. One young lady about 16, would have black outs and not remember them. She had some violence at times and would do things that were unsafe for her like run out in traffic or even jump out of a moving car. She had been deeply traumatized when she was little and struggled with demonic episodes ever sense this. Her soul was attached to this demonic entity who called her its "baby" and said that it was protecting her. I could see her clinging to it as it created a buffer for her between her and the world. It took a couple days of prayer and then healing to her soul where she felt safe enough to let go for this to come out of her. Her soul had to stop cleaving to it and let Jesus hold her instead. But when it did, she was a totally different person. Her whole countenance changed from anger and fear to radiating joy. She was dancing and singing during worship where before she had been so offended by it all. And all this was a reflection of the change at the soul level. I had never seen anything like this before. She came and hugged me time and time again after she had been delivered as I was on the team praying for her deliverance and God had given me a front row seat in speaking to her soul and seeing her get set free. It changed me deeply at the soul level. We also became connected at the soul level as my soul spoke life into hers. As she was set free, tears were streaming down my eyes watching her dance and jump with joy.

Lord, Thank you that you care so greatly for us. Help us to care for our souls well and understand how they operate. Wherever it is needed, restore our souls and fill us with overflowing joy!