Reflection on Chapter 3&4 by Ope Babajide
Spirit-Conscious (Chapter 3) and What Is the Difference Between Spirit and Soul? (Chapter 4)
I will be reflecting on Chapter 3&4 of our study book: How you can be led by the Spirit by Kenneth Hagin.
"I am a Spirit being, I have a soul, I live in a body".
Can you meditate on the above and probably say it to ourselves a few times?
"I am a Spirit being, I have a soul, I live in a body"
The understanding of these phrases determines how we approach the issue of being led by the Spirit of God, hearing from God, faith, believing and receiving from the Father of all Spirit.
Hebrews 12:9 (KJV)
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
So God is our Father, it's not in terms of our earthly or physical realm, but of the Spirit realm which is our reality. Therefore, to succeed in this realm, in our Faith walk as Christian, we must build ourselves, despite living in the flesh, physical body, to be able to understand all the requirements for successful communication and victorious living. I like to share an example of children, because they are human, we expect them to grow, be able to communicate, talk especially in the primary language of their parents and community, so that they can successfully integrate and relate.... Therefore, a Spirit being must pay attention to these details as a spirit.
There is a common saying that the source of a thing is the sustainer: this goes without saying that if I am a Spirit, then the only way I can nourish and grow myself, my real self is by feeding on Spirit food. Spirituals are supposed to be the paramount pursuit of every Christian. This is not a cliché, it's just being who we are. I will like to clarify that this doesn't mean we stop taking care of our bodies, which houses our spirit, or stop taking care of our souls, which helps us to implement the interpretation of things we catch in the spirit.
The next step now is how do I differentiate between flows from my spirit and those from my souls? Is this idea from my spirit or from my soul? Is this just a thought from my soul or a leading from the Holy Spirit? As earlier stated, feeding our spirit continuously will really help us to recognize and yield easily to the leadership of our real self, as opposed to following our souls or our mind. It is not something that has a formula, however, it's something we get better at with the reason of use, with time. In our reference, Papa Hagin was at it for fifteen (15) years. However, the two things that helps us in the journey is praying in the Spirit and devoting time to the word of God.
Like the initial example we used about children, children improve in language and speaking and hearing by interaction, communion.... They start with ba ba ba... Ma ma ma.... and later, graduate by repeating the words they hear etc.... The same way, we are able to decipher between our souls and spirit by the level we grow our spirit so that it has more influence and outgrows the influence or voice of our souls.
The Bible says in Heb 4: 12
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow, as it judges the thoughts and purposes of the heart
1Cor14:14 For if I pray in a foreign language, my spirit prays but my mind is not productive
Hallelujah!
There is nothing as exciting as when we see the answer or instructions spelt out in scriptures... So if I give myself to the word, it will help me differentiate my soul and spirit... If I pray in unknown tongues, the real me, My Spirit is praying and growing and will be more effective to hear from the Father of spirits.