Spirit, Soul & Body.
by Andrew Wommack.
Introduction.
On March 23, 1968,1 had a supernatural encounter with the Lord that revolutionized my entire life. For the next four and a half months, G.o.d"s love completely overwhelmed me both day and night! Tasting G.o.d"s presence in such a profound way ruined me for ordinary life. My expectations of my relationship with the Lord and my hopes of what He"d do through me literally shot through the roof. As far as 1 was concerned, Jesus could do anything!
However, once the emotion of it finally subsided, 1 felt worse than ever before. My inner expectations and my everyday experience remained worlds apart! The spiritual realities I knew in my heart just weren"t manifesting themselves in the physical realm any longer. I longed to experience G.o.d again in that same way.
During this period of time, I was drafted and sent to Vietnam. Over there, temptations abounded! Many times I was the only Christian I knew. Everyone else gave themselves to the drugs, alcohol, and prost.i.tutes that were so readily available. Even the bunker where I lived was papered with p.o.r.nographic images- walls, ceiling, everywhere! Although this constant pressure to sin seemed unbearable at times, I refused to give in.
Out of sheer desperation, I started seeking the Lord by praying and studying the Bible as much as sixteen hours a day! This gnawing inner frustration motivated my quest to discover "how I could get from here to where I knew in my heart I could be." 1 knew Vietnam would change me, so 1 figured it might as well be for the good!
G.o.d began renewing my mind through His Word. Then I started experiencing that same divine reality as before-only this time it wasn"t just in a physical, emotional way. The Lord revealed truths that changed my thinking and released His power in me. Joy and excitement came back again, but now they were based on understanding from the Word. 1 could recall Scripture and rejoice in it any time I wanted. In this way, G.o.d"s Word began to produce an abiding stability in my life!
This understanding of spirit, soul, and body was one of the first revelations 1 received through studying the Bible. It not only alleviated the frustration and confusion I had but has served as a foundation for almost everything the Lord has shown me since. These important truths freed me from the bondage of much wrong thinking and enabled me to consistently experience G.o.d"s supernatural power. Personally, I cannot comprehend how anyone can truly prosper in their relationship with G.o.d apart from understanding this basic revelation!
Today, I"m just as excited about this understanding of spirit, soul, and body as when G.o.d first showed it to me over thirty-five years ago. In fact, I"ve seen the Lord set more people free through this one teaching than almost anything else I"ve ever ministered! What you now hold in your hands has the potential to revolutionize your entire Christian life!
Chapter 1.
G.o.d"s Mirror "And the very G.o.d of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray G.o.d your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 5:23, emphasis mine). Even though G.o.d"s Word clearly teaches that we are three-part beings, very few Christians practice a functional understanding of spirit, soul, and body in their everyday lives!
Most people actually believe that they"re only made up of body and soul. They confuse soul and spirit as being basically the same thing. Therefore, on a day-to-day level, they only acknowledge a physical part and an emotional, mental, inner part (commonly called "personality").
Even Strong"s Concordance fails to distinguish all three! The Greek word for "spirit" is "pneuma" and is defined as being "the immortal soul." I don"t mean to criticize anyone"s work, but my study of G.o.d"s Word has revealed a very distinct difference between spirit and soul. Therefore, I disagree with this particular definition of the word "pneuma." Your spirit is your innermost part, not your "immortal soul."
Your body is obvious. It"s the physical part of you that can be seen in a minor. If you were talking to me face tO face, "you"d be seeing my body.
However, you"d be speaking to my soul, which is my mental, emotional part. Some people define "soul" as being your "mind, will, and emotions." While that"s certainly true, it"s incomplete because your conscience should also be included. Your soul is what most people call their "personality."
No Natural Access You can feel both your body and your soul. If I put my hand on your shoulder, you"d know that I touched you. However, I can also touch you whether I"m physically near or not. By speaking to your soul, I can make you glad, sad, or mad. Through my words, I could even "hurt" you without physically touching your body. It"s easy to know how you feel in your body and soul because you"re constantly in touch with them!
By taking a mental inventory, your body can instantly tell you how it feels. You know if your adrenaline"s pumping or if you"re tired, if you"re healthy or fighting a cold, if your head aches, or if the shower"s just right. In fact, you don"t even really have to think about it because your body constantly feeds you such information.
You can also check your soul and know right away how you"re doing. It"s easy to tell if you"re happy or hurt, mentally worn out or sharp and ready to go, or just plain angry. You"d even be aware of fear or depression if it came because you"re always in touch with your soul.
However, your spirit cannot be accessed in any natural way. Jesus declared, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). He meant that there"s no direct connection between the two. They are interrelated, as you"ll later see, but spirit is spirit and flesh is flesh. You simply cannot contact your spirit through your emotions or your physical body. Herein lies one of the great problems of the Christian life!
If you don"t understand that spiritual reality can"t be felt, then you"ll be confused when G.o.d"s Word declares that you have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead (Eph. 1:18-20). If you think truth can be discerned through your natural senses, then you"ll be baffled when the Bible says that you"re a brand-new creature who can do the same miraculous works that Jesus did (2 Cor. 5:17, John 14:12). Without understanding spirit, soul, and body, you"ll search your body and soul in bewilderment wondering, Where is it? I don"t really have that kind of power in me. The Bible is so hard to understand! If you can"t see, taste, hear, smell, or touch what the Word reveals about you, you"ll immediately be thrown into conflict. This apparent disparity between your experience and G.o.d"s Word will cause you to throw up your hands in frustration and conclude, "It must not be true!"
Unlocking the Spirit Realm Understanding spirit, soul, and body unlocks the spirit realm so you can experience who you are and what you have in Christ!
Since the spirit realm can"t be naturally seen or felt, the only way to accurately perceive spiritual truth is through the Bible. Simply take G.o.d"s Word and believe it!
Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). G.o.d"s Word reveals spiritual reality. If you want to know what your spirit is like, you must find out from the Word. You can"t just go by emotion or some other type of perception. G.o.d"s Word is spirit and life!
When you look into the Bible, you behold yourself in the spirit. "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a gla.s.s: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty [G.o.d"s Word, specifically the New Testament], and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed" (James 1:23-25, brackets mine). G.o.d"s Word is a spiritual mirror!
A Perfect Reflection When you look at your face in a mirror, you aren"t really seeing yourself. Rather, you"re viewing a reflection. In fact, your eyes have never looked directly into your own face. Think about it-you"ve always seen a reflection! Even though it"s only a representation, you"ve learned to trust it.
If you want to know if your hair is combed or if your makeup is on, you don"t just go by how you feel. Since those things can"t be felt, you must look in a mirror and then trust what you see. It"s the same with your born-again spirit!
G.o.d"s Word perfectly reflects who you are in the spirit. It"s the only way you can know. You can"t just a.s.sume, "If I had G.o.d"s power inside of me, I"d be aware of it" because that which is Spirit is spirit and that which is flesh is flesh! It would be like trying to feel if your makeup was on or your hair was combed. Those things just can"t be felt! You must look in G.o.d"s mirror and trust the spiritual reality you see!
Confused Every born-again believer has undergone a complete inner transformation. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are pa.s.sed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of G.o.d, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 5:17-18). Notice how it doesn"t say that "all things are becoming new" or "have the potential of being new." This verse declares "old things have pa.s.sed (past tense) away," "all things have become (present tense-reality right now) new," and "all things are of G.o.d."
If you don"t understand spirit, soul, and body, you"re instantly set up for confusion, frustration, and ultimately unbelief when you see a verse like this. After reading about a total change and all things being of G.o.d, you look at your body and immediately start wondering because it hasn"t pa.s.sed away or become brand new. If you were overweight before receiving the Lord, that didn"t change the moment you got saved!
A time will come when you"ll receive a glorified body, but that hasn"t happened yet. "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Cor. 15:53). Although Christ"s atonement provided for you physically, your body has not yet been saved. It"s been purchased, but not yet redeemed.
S&H Green Stamps As a kid, I collected S&H green stamps. Whenever my mother bought groceries, we would earn stamps according to the amount of the purchase. She gave them to me so I could keep them organized and paste them into a book. Then she"d take me to an S&H Green Stamp Redemption Center to turn in my completed books and choose anything I wanted of equal value from their store. Although the stamps were purchased, they weren"t redeemed until I turned them in. It wasn"t the stamps themselves I wanted but what I could redeem them for!
Jesus purchased your glorified body through His death, burial, and resurrection. Although full payment has been made, you still have a corrupted body while you wait to receive your immortal, incorruptible one. At this moment, you don"t yet have the redemption of the purchased possession (Eph. 1:14).
Your soul wasn"t saved either! This sounds strange to many people because they use terminology like "I"m a soulwinner!" and "I came to see a soul saved" to describe an evangelist and evangelism. In reality, the New Testament only mentions "soul salvation" a few times-and none of them, in context, are talking about the born-again experience (Heb. 10:39; James 1:21, 5:20; 1 Pet. 1:9). Soul salvation happens when an emotionally discouraged and mentally defeated Christian starts believing G.o.d"s Word and then experiences victory, peace, and joy again. However, when it comes to being born again, your soul wasn"t the part of you that completely changed!
If you were stupid before you were saved, you"re still stupid after being saved. If you didn"t know math before being born again, you won"t instantly know math afterwards either. In fact, if you were depressed before you got saved, you"ll stay depressed until you change the way your soul thinks by believing G.o.d"s Word.
Your soul can be transformed now to the degree you renew your mind, change your att.i.tudes, and conform your values to the Word of G.o.d. This should happen, and it"s in the process of happening, but it didn"t automatically happen. In your soul, old things didn"t pa.s.s away, and all things haven"t yet become new. The transformation of your soul won"t be completed until you go to be with Jesus!
Where the Change Is Complete!
When you receive your glorified body, you"ll also receive your glorified soul. First Corinthians 13:9-12 reveals how, when that which is perfect is come (your glorified body), your current partial knowledge will give way to full revelation. You won"t know in part anymore, but you"ll know all things even as also you are known. That"s the coming future fulfillment of transformation and completed change in your body and soul!
But 2 Corinthians 5:17 clearly states that any person who is in Christ is right now a brand-new creature! Old things have pa.s.sed away. All things have become new. This total transformation isn"t just in process; it"s describing a change that"s already been done-an accomplished fact.
Where did this complete change occur? According to G.o.d"s mirror-not in your body and not in your soul, but in your born-again spirit!
Chapter 2.
Release What You"ve Already Got!
Your spirit totally changed at salvation! Upon making Jesus Christ your Lord, your spirit underwent an instant and complete transformation. Typically, your body and soul are both impacted by what happened, but it"s not total, nor complete.
People who don"t understand that the change took place in their spirits and has to work its way out into their souls and bodies are usually quite disappointed. "I thought I"d become a brand-new person. Jesus was going to change everything!" Then unbelief takes hold. "But things didn"t change, and I"m still the same!" Some may seriously doubt whether or not they were saved. Those who do maintain their salvation often lose faith that they"ll ever really experience and enjoy it here in this life.
But the truth is-your spirit has totally changed! You aren"t in the process of trying to get anything from G.o.d. Everything you"ll ever need in the Christian life is already present in its entirety in your spirit! At this very moment, your born-again spirit is as perfect and complete as it"ll ever be throughout all eternity. You won"t get a new one when you arrive in heaven, and neither will it need to be matured, completed, or cleaned up from any defilement down here on earth. Your spirit is-right now-as perfect, mature, and complete as Jesus Himself!
The Pivot Point After being born again, the rest of your Christian life consists simply of renewing and releasing! As you renew your mind and believe G.o.d"s Word, your soul will agree with what"s already transpired in your spirit. When your soul comes into alignment with what it sees in G.o.d"s spiritual mirror, what"s already in your spirit releases into your soul and body. That"s how you experience the benefits of your salvation!
If your spirit and soul agree, you experience the life of G.o.d. Your born-again spirit is always for G.o.d because it"s already been completely changed into His likeness and image. When your soul agrees with your spirit, that"s two parts of your being against one. Since the majority always rules, your soul and body will experience the life, victory, and power that is in your spirit.
On the other hand, the supernatural flow of life from your spirit to the physical realm stops when your soul agrees with your body (majority rules again) and is dominated by the natural realm. You cut yourself off from experiencing G.o.d"s life in you when you align your soul with what you can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel instead of what you perceive in the Word. What"s in your spirit must flow through your soul in order to get out to your body and the physical world around it!
The Real You Take a look at the functional diagrams I"ve included here. I call them "functional" because there"s no inspiration or reality to the fact that I"ve depicted spirit, soul, and body as circles. None of us are circles, even though some people are rounder than others! These diagrams are just an effort to communicate with you the relationship between spirit, soul, and body by means of ill.u.s.tration.
Consider this first diagram of three circles inside each other (appears like a target). The outer circle is your body. It"s the part you can see and feel. Then you have an inner part that can"t be seen but can be felt. That"s your soul. Notice how your soul touches both your body and spirit. Your spirit is a second inner part. Although it"s the center of who you are, it can"t be seen or felt.
Most people don"t recognize the fact that their spirits are the core of their beings. They function primarily out of their soulish realm, believing what they think and feel is reality. They may perceive their souls to be the core of who they are, but G.o.d"s Word says differently.
Your spirit is the real you! "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26). After G.o.d formed Adam, He breathed into him the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). This Hebrew word "breath" is also rendered "spirit" in other places (e.g., Job 26:4 and Prov. 20:27). Adam"s body and soul (physical, mental, and emotional parts) had no life in them until "spirit" was imparted. Your spirit is your life-giving part!
Since your life comes from your spirit, it"s the innermost circle of the three. Notice also how your spirit is completely surrounded by your soul. It has no direct access to your physical body. The diagram of three rings also ill.u.s.trates this lack of a direct link. That"s why everything that comes out from your spirit to your body must go through your mental, emotional part!
Is Your Valve Open?
With the pipe diagram, one side represents your spirit and the other your body. Your soul acts as a valve in between the two. When you open the valve, what"s in your spirit can flow through to your body. Depending upon how open it is, the flow of life could be just a trickle, a small stream, or rivers (John 7:38). When the valve is closed, the flow from spirit to body shuts off. That"s a great ill.u.s.tration of how a born-again believer functions!
In your spirit, you"ve got the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Eph. 1:18-20). However, it"s possible to have this power and never manifest it. If your soul, like a valve, stays closed to this truth, you won"t experience it. Without opening the valve by renewing your mind to G.o.d"s Word, the eternal reality in your spirit won"t be able to impact the temporal "reality" of your physical realm. All that resurrection life and power just stays locked up inside until you look into the spiritual mirror long enough to see the real you and release it!
You could actually die with all of the power that raised Jesus from the dead sitting untapped within you. It would be like dying of thirst while leaning against a well full of life-giving water! If you"re dominated by what you feel, your soul is agreeing with the natural realm. "I feel sick and my body hurts. The doctor said I"m dying. Here"s my medical record to prove it!" Even though you have the resurrection life of G.o.d in your spirit, your soul can keep it shut off so that not one drop of life-giving power ever touches your physical body.
You can experience depression, anger, and bitterness all the while possessing G.o.d"s love, joy, and peace in your spirit (Gal. 5:22). Since this applies to every area of your life, can you see how pivotal your soul is?
Your body doesn"t really control anything. It just goes with the flow of what it sees, tastes, hears, smells, and feels unless otherwise influenced by the soul. It"s amoral-neither good nor bad. Left to itself, your body just reacts to and goes along with what"s happening in the physical realm.
When your soul agrees with your spirit, the life of G.o.d in you will manifest itself in your physical body. You"ll experience healing, deliverance, anointing, victory, power, joy, prosperity- on and on it goes!
Victory Begins Since most Christians don"t have a working knowledge of spirit, soul, and body, they"re dominated by what they can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel instead of G.o.d"s Word. The flow of life within stays turned off because they don"t believe anything they can"t see. Neither do they understand the change that happened in their born-again spirits, nor are they fully aware of who they are in Christ. To them, something"s just not real if it can"t be perceived though their five natural senses. Attempting to be "honest," they search their physical, emotional, and mental realms for G.o.d"s power. If they can"t perceive it, then they must not have it.
However, the truth is that old things pa.s.sed away, and all things became new in your spirit the moment you were born again. Now, everything you"ll ever need in your Christian life is already there. Just renew your mind and release it!
This truth revolutionized my life! I had experienced G.o.d"s power and reality, but when the emotion of it wore off, I thought they were gone. I knew G.o.d and everything He promised was real, but 1 thought I had to try to get Him to give me things. Due to my wrong thinking, 1 went through a period of discouragement, frustration, and desperation-not from sin but from a sincere desire to live for Him and experience His best. I felt like no matter how hard I tried, I could never get there. Then I started to see that G.o.d had already given me everything in my born-again spirit. As this revelation dawned on me, I realized that I just needed to release it. This simple understanding changed everything!
Since then, I"ve recognized that the Christian life isn"t a process of "getting from G.o.d." Instead, it"s a process of renewing my mind and learning to release what I"ve already received. It"s much easier to release something I"ve already got than to go get something I don"t yet have!
This erroneous concept of trying to get something you don"t yet have carries within it an element of doubt. You see a promise in the Word concerning healing, joy, victory, power, provision, or whatever, and since you know G.o.d loves His children and keeps His promises, you start heading toward that, "believing G.o.d." You know it"s possible-even promised-but since you can"t perceive it yet in your mental, emotional, or physical realms, you don"t believe it"s already been done. In your mind, G.o.d"s promise isn"t a "reality" until you physically have it.
"I"ve Already Got It!"
My wife and I went through a period of extreme poverty when we were just starting out in full-time ministry. After coming home from Vietnam and getting married, I pastored a small church in Segoville, Texas. Every penny we had went toward paying the bills. We were so poor that sometimes we even went without food for a week or two!
During this time, my Bible kept falling apart. The pages had mildewed from Vietnam"s humidity, and Ed written on them quite a bit. Despite my efforts to tape it together, entire chapters- even books-were gone. There I was pastoring a church with a beat-up, incomplete Bible!
Since we didn"t have the money available to just go buy a new one, I decided to make an issue out of it. "How can I believe G.o.d to minister salvation, heal the sick, cast out devils, and change people"s lives if I can"t believe Him to supply me with enough extra money to purchase a Bible?" 1 drew my line in the sand and declared, "I"m going to win this fight or die trying!"
The devil took me up on it and the battle raged. Thoughts of fear and unbelief bombarded my mind. Some man of G.o.d you are! You don"t even have a whole Bible. You can"t even believe G.o.d for a book! Some pastor you are-failure! I fought those thoughts constantly for six whole months!
Finally, 1 got the money and bought my new Bible. After having my name engraved on it, I victoriously paraded out of that bookstore carrying my trophy under my arm. All those negative thoughts left instantly. Once I had it, 1 never doubted that I"d get my Bible again!
"Of course not, Andrew, you already had it. Why would you doubt something you"ve already got?" My point exactly! G.o.d placed everything you"ll ever need inside your born-again spirit. Once you believe you"ve already got it, doubt is eliminated!
You aren"t trying to get saved, you were saved! You aren"t in the process of being born again, you were born again! When you confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, your spirit instantly changed. In your spirit, you are brand new and complete. G.o.d has already given you everything you need. The rest of your Christian life isn"t learning how to get from Him but rather discovering how to release what He"s already placed within!
Chapter 3.
Renew, Acknowledge & Experience Paul prayed for his friend "that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus" (Philem. 1:6). "Communicate" means to "release" or "transfer." For instance, I"m communicating, releasing, transferring to you what G.o.d has spoken and made a reality in my life. "Effectual" means it begins to "work" or "produce." How does your faith work and produce? "By the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus."
Old Testament principles don"t necessarily apply to New Testament faith. That"s why concepts like "getting more faith," "receiving a new anointing," "getting more of G.o.d," and "receiving a double portion" don"t work. Out of ignorance, people say, "Elisha had a double portion of Elijah"s anointing. Tonight is double-portion night! Come up here and we"ll pray for you to receive twice as much anointing." Elijah didn"t have the fullness of G.o.d. He only had a small part. Therefore, Elisha could have twice as much as Elijah. However, John 1:16 reveals, "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." Under the New Covenant, we have all received (past tense) His fullness!