Dividing soul and spirit
By Ivan Ho First written 26 June 2015
Some of us confuse the soul with the spirit. What touches our soul is not necessarily what resonates in our spirit. Listening to music, watching a movie, talking to someone etc can touch our soul, but only the Spirit of God can prosper your spirit man, and mine. Jesus says: “My words are spirit and life”. Some messages we hear only appeal to our soul but do not benefit our spirit. However, the word of God, when spoken, penetrates deep into our soul as well as our spirit.
The word of God is sharper than a double edged sword. It divides the soul and the spirit.
Hebrews 4:12
What touches our soul is not necessarily wrong. In fact, our soul needs to prosper and to be ministered to. What is wrong is when the things that influence our soul contradict with the Spirit of God, or the word of God. When the devil approached Eve, he appealed to her soul but his message contradicted the word of God! When someone brings you a message that is contrary to what God has spoken to you, either through the Bible or other means, you need to straightaway reject it. The problem with Eve is that she was very naïve and takes into her soul everything that the devil served to her.
Some people have little discernment and they just receive everything that they hear, but not everything that we hear, even in church settings, are necessarily from God. Our soul can be exposed to all kinds of things that we come into contact on a daily basis, whether is from people, TV or the internet. There are a lot of mixture of information and messages that our soul touches everyday.
Just like in a buffet dinner where all kinds of food are available on the menu for us to pick and choose, we are not supposed to eat everything that is served on the table.
We need to be careful what we eat.