Lord I Give You My Heart, I Give My Soul, I Live For You Alone
/1 Corinthians 6:17
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit— so if our spirit and the Holy Spirit are made one in Christ, then that means that salvation is perfected in our spirit with God, but is it okay to just stay in this spot, where we are one with Him only in the level of our spirit?
I can tell you that that the simple answer to that is NO!
1 Thessalonians 5:23
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
New life in our spirit is the starting point of new life, and it’s the place from where the Lord spreads His life throughout us, permeating who we are and changing who we were from the old creation in Adam into the new creation in Christ; however, our (free will) must be willing to work with Him.
Proverbs 20:27
The spirit of man is the candle (lamp ESV) of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly (innermost parts ESV).
A while back I made the comment about this scripture…Leviticus 25:23
The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
What I said was that the Lord was showing me how everything we know and see belongs to Him, but because Satan deceived Adam and through Adam’s own willingness to yield to Satan by giving him his will, Satan was able to usurp the dominion and power that was given to Adam by God and arrest it for himself. God has a right to do what He wants because He is creator, but He created all this for His creation mankind, going back to the thought that He desires an eternal family. In His justice and holy character, He chooses to operate in such a way that it includes the free will of His creation. But He started redemption by making a promise to Abraham that He would give him land for a people and a plan. Looking backwards, we see what He did. He gave them the land, created the nation, and gave the world Jesus.
But the point is that through this little sliver of land He created for Himself a base of operations to take it all back, it’s such a huge deal, because He’s saying, “I’m taking the whole thing back one piece at a time, but I'm doing it in partnership with a people that will yield their will to my will.
“Don’t sell the land, it is mine”. You are strangers and sojourners with me. Your father Adam pushed me out of the picture through the defiance of his freewill. But I’m taking it back one piece at a time, and I’m recruiting a people through the ages that are going to walk and believe with me.
As the sliver of land we call Israel is to the taking back of the physical world, so our spirit is to the soul and body as He takes the individual human back from the captivity of Satan. His will is that we partner with Him in allowing our whole person to become His property. Through the implantation of His Spirit into our spirit, and these being fused into one. He has formed a base of operations where He will begin the plan of His entire take over.
1 Corinthians 2:16
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Part of the truth that our spirit is one with His Spirit is the fact that we have also been given the mind of Christ in this transaction. Because the Holy Spirit dwells within us, the mind of Christ is in us and we know the truth… AMP 1 John 2:20 But you have been anointed by [you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from] the Holy One, and you all know [the Truth] or you know all things.
But we aren’t always yielding to the will of God or allowing the mind of Christ through the unction or anointing of the Holy Spirit to have His way— in believing God’s truth.
Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Flesh & mind
Ephesians 2:3
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
This is a good example of how the flesh and the mind are closely related. The flesh gives the mind a base of operations. In this case, the soulish man (mind & will) and the fleshly man (carnal nature- I want what I want) are working together to entertain or give action to the desires of the sinful nature.
Heart— kardia— of the soul so far as it is affected and stirred in a bad way or good, or of the soul as the place of the sensibilities, affections, emotions, desires, appetites, passions__ Strong’s
Heart," kardia, is the place of feeling, intelligence, moral choice__ Wuest
Ephesians 5:18
The Greek is, "the eyes of your heart," the heart referring not only to the emotional nature, but also to the reason and to the faculty of intelligence__ Wuest
The ancient Hebrews regarded the heart as the organ of the intellect, and the mind, that of the desires and affections__ Wuest
Many people serve the Lord from their soul with their mind; rather than what God seeks after according to Jesus’ comment to the Samaritan woman… John 4:23-24
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.-
The heart is related to desires and emotions of the mind/ intellect. This part of the man can be affected negatively by the world through the flesh, engage fleshly lusts of the world through our members, or positively through the Spirit of God’s grace as we engage God’s will through our spirit.
The way we process the world’s sensualities is through our soul: the mind, will and emotions. In order for the heart to be affected by God, the soul must be influenced by the Spirit. The Spirit of God is one with our spirit; however, the more we feed the soul fleshly appetites, the more we suppress our intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, which prevents our soul from being sanctified/ our mind from being renewed.
Like a computer virus
++When we bring the world into our soul, it entices our affections towards the things of the world. When we feed our spirit man the things of the Spirit, our affections for spiritual things are aroused. Unfortunately, we can also embrace spiritual things from a fleshly or soulish level in that we are just punching a God clock and not really interested in pleasing the Spirit of God by feeding our spiritual man. This will not result in spiritual life.
Religion vs relationship
Starting at verse psalm 51 verse 10 (create in me), but verse 16 differentiates between religion (sacrifice) vs relationship (a broken heart) now, the doing of spiritual practices has meaning—once the posture of the heart is proper—psalm 51 verse 19 Matt 5
Psalms 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Getting Jesus from my Spirit into my soul where He is the affection of my heart, and He is the influence over my thinking, my will and ultimately my emotions….
Psalms 42:5
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?
hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Matthew 6:21-22
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Ephesians 3:17
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
The word "rooted" has the idea of securely settled, and "grounded__ Wuest
Ezekiel 36:26-27
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
The condition of the heart is affected by what we feed the soul. When we bring the ways of the world or live for self, we allow the fallen nature and selfishness to rule in our hearts.
Matthew 12:34-35
34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Matthew 13:19
When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth (to consider it or act piously) it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
The seed of the Kingdom was sown into the heart. We are aware that the Kingdom is eternal treasure. It’s the treasure in the field, the pearl of great price, it’s Jesus the lover of our soul and when that seed is planted into the heart, and it’s protected and nourished, it grows. But if I treat the word of God like a common thing instead of a treasure, I’m not considering it properly or piously— meaning I’m just treating the things of God, the word of God, like a common thing.
Mark 6:52
For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened [calloused]
The word "heart" here refers to the entire inner man, his reason, affections, will__ Wuest
Mark 7:6-7
6 He answered and said unto them, -- Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mark 7:15
There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
Mark 7:17-23
17 And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. 18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; 19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? 20 And he said, -- That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
The heart is related to desires and emotions of the mind/ intellect. This part of the man can be affected negatively by the world and his flesh. In order for the heart to be affected by God, the soul must be influenced by the Spirit.
Romans 2:29
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Acts 7:51
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
1 Peter 2:11
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
War against— to carry out a military campaign against your soul.
++He dwells in our spirit, but are we allowing Him to dwell in our hearts
Ephesians 4:18
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
++blindness
Porosis- the covering with a callus, dulled perception— comes from poroo
poroo— to cover with a thick skin, to harden by covering with a callus, become dull, lose the power of understanding