Reflection on Chapter 5&6 by Opeyemi Emoruwa
I will be reflecting on Chapter 5&6 of our study book: How you can be led by the Spirit by Kenneth Hagin.
SAVING THE SOUL (chapter 5)
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
James 1:21 NKJV
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 NKJV
Have you ever wondered why someone will keep making a particular kind of decision even if the outcomes of such decisions are not beneficial to them? There's a part of our being that controls the way we make decisions and how we respond to things that confront us daily. That part is our soul. Most of our actions are subconscious, even when we think we're making these decisions by thinking, they are influenced by a number of factors that have shaped our thinking over time.
With our body, we contact the physical realm, with our spirit we contact the spirit realm, that leaves one part out. With our soul, we contact the intellectual, emotional and mental realm. It is the seat of decision making. Our decisions can either be influenced by our bodies or our spirit.
The salvation of our soul is the process of bringing the seat of decision making in alignment with the thoughts of God for our lives. Without the soul being captured and our thinking renewed to line up with God's ways, we will not be able to perceive the direction God intends to take us.
The renewal of our minds helps us to be able to discern the will of God, this in turn helps us understand what the spirit is saying quickly. In the sense that if not developed, some things that God will be communicating will not be perceived or an unrenewed mind will oppose it.
We don't have so many questions about the will of God once we get our souls saved. The greatest need in the Church today is to have minds renewed with the Word of God.
The salvation of our souls, the renewal of our minds is done by constant exposure to the word of God. When we make a habit out of prayerfully exposing our minds to the word of God by reading the scriptures and thinking deeply on them, it gradually starts to reshape our thoughts about different things in our environment. There are ideas that we might have been brought up with culturally that our current understanding will confront and when we allow the word to be given authority in our lives, those things get washed away, little by little we will be aligning with God's thoughts. If you do this consistently, you'll look back at the way you're making decisions and you'll see that something that was acceptable to you at some point is now detestable because your mind has been renewed in that aspect. This is why the salvation of the soul is progressive but becoming a new creature is an immediate work. We become a new creature in our spirit but we have the same old soul, we will subject that mind to the word of God until different aspects of life are brought under the influence of the spirit of God.
So James was writing to people who are already God's people but he said they should receive the engrafted word of God which is able to save their souls. Finally, when we read the word and it's confronting a thought pattern, we may not feel good because it's challenging a belief system we have held for a long time but we must keep exposing our hearts to those truths until we start to agree with it.
BRINGING THE BODY UNDER SUBJECTION
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Romans 12:1 NKJV
One of the reasons it's important to bring the body into subjection is that the body has a voice. The body wants to move in certain directions. One easy way to perceive the voice of the body is during a fast, you can hear how strongly your body wants food, it can be so strong that it will influence the decision you made not to eat. The body has a voice, it's also called the flesh, and below are some manifestations of the flesh. These are seen in our lives when the flesh is in the one controlling the decision-making ccenterof our being - the soul.
Galatian 5 28-21 KJV.
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:18-21 KJV
Clarity in contemporary English, we can read it in the passion translation.
The cravings of the self-life are obvious: Sexual immorality, lustful thoughts, pornography, chasing after things instead of God, manipulating others, hatred of those who get in your way, senseless arguments, resentment when others are favored, temper tantrums, angry quarrels, only thinking of yourself, being in love with your own opinions, being envious of the blessings of others, murder, uncontrolled addictions, wild parties, and all other similar behavior. Haven’t I already warned you that those who use their “freedom” for these things will not inherit the kingdom realm of God!
Gal 5 says that the direction the natural man wants to go, that the voice of our body constantly whispers or even shouts that we follow is always in opposition to what the Spirit dictates. There are things appealing to the senses and they tend to want to pull us to make decisions that will want to help us achieve those things. Lust of the eyes: a temptation to make a decision because it is physically attractive, lust of the flesh, sexual appeal and pride of life, because it brings some sort of recognition and impress people. These 3 things can pull on the soul when it is time to make decisions. Unless the body has been trained to be in subjection, it will be difficult to find and do the will of God.
Just because your body wants to do wrong, doesn't mean you are not saved, or that you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. (If that were the case, Paul was not saved.) You will have to contend with the body, the flesh, as long as you are in this world.
The flesh however should not dominate us. We must not be body-ruled. Sometimes it's not even outright sin but instructions like “get up and pray”; body says, “I want to sleep some more”. “Give him your seat” body says, “but I earned it”, “let him have the money” body says, “but why?” “Pray for him for 1 hour” body doesn't want to. The body sometimes wants to do something nice in order to gain a reputation for being nice or in order to use the strings to manipulate people later. However, when we consistently subjugate the body, it becomes easier to follow the leading of the spirit, if not we will even follow the body and think it's the spirit guiding us.