Spirit over mind over matter
I give glory to God for all gained knowledge. Some times I speak as if I have done something, but in the end, it is God that has done this work within me. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one
can boast.”
This body is a vessel and it includes a mind, will and emotions: The soul and heart (I may say “heart” and I may say “soul”.. they are one in the same as far as my understanding is. These terms are spiritual). – FYI: This posting needs updating.. This was an old post and further knowledge has been gained in this area.. please let God guide you on this..If my soul is more conformed to the world on a specific topic, then the mind will follow in its self-talk and it’s inevitable that the vessel’s end result will take an action that is conformed to this world. In this example, the flesh (which believers are putting to death) has trained my mind (thoughts), which is over matter (the body and its actions). When the soul is choosing its signals from the Holy Spirit, then it’s Spirit over Soul over matter.
With my freewill, I choose to obey or disobey signals from Him. I find that when I choose a fleshly/worldly view on something, it’s because I’m selfish. But when I choose to do God’s will, then life is grand. When I allow the world to take over, I’ve learned that it is always a bad situation. My soul is wanted by 2 entities, the God and the evil one. I choose which one I give my life to, at any moment, in any situation. My soul is either conformed to this world and choosing things of the world/flesh, or it is being transformed by the Holy Spirit and it conforms to God, thus it chooses God. I find that my outward actions are a result of reasoning within, and a choice. Within me, the reasoning and final choice is led by justification or a moral governing. Basically, the choice is a result of who the soul is more aligned with – Adam or Christ. In other words, Me-first (self-justification, self-glorification, etc) or God-first.
There truly are 2 realities in my opinion (Adam and Christ). When I choose the ways (and think thoughts) of the Holy Spirit, I am in God’s world and I smile. I could think thoughts of the flesh/the world, but I do not have to allow this. The Holy Spirit is always here ministering to the mind.. but also, is the flesh, which is on the cross in-Christ that keeps wanting to come off because of disbelief or selfishness. When things aren’t going well or I’m viewing things in a negative sense, the Holy Spirit didn’t go any where, I’m just not choosing Him. He may be grieved, quenched, etc. This is the one thing that I realized that I control, choice. I can choose to place the world in charge of my soul or I can choose to put the Holy Spirit in charge. This, sometimes is very difficult. I get sucked into the flesh a lot. I get down and out. I get worried, stressed. I feel pain, sadness, hurt, frustration and so on. Then I think of what I mentioned above, make a better choice, and these negative thoughts/feelings vanish. I basically take the authority in Christ and cast out the evil. I confess, I desire to repent. I end up being what I think, which is a result of what I chose to align with, Christ..
In my humble opinion, whichever spiritual entity we choose to win the battle for our soul will end in the experienced reality. If life isn’t going well, it can be changed in an instant by refocusing thoughts away from this world (the master deception) and focus it on the real reality, the Holy Spirit. (Of course, I speak to believers and those that have been born again). It’s a matter of heart/soul. If we do not have the Holy Spirit, we have the flesh and self-righteousness. We have a worldly view. When the Lord comes in and we’re born again, we can start to see the Kingdom of God, and then choose Him.
There is a war getting waged for our souls. My choices will impact my soul, which determines the winner. The battle ground is the mind. Choose wisely.
Praise the Lord.
In Christ,
Joseph
Thank-you for insight into the spiritual governance of self. Experience is a good teacher in many areas of learning, however the absolute understanding of any experience is incomplete at best without the witness of the Holy Ghost, the third member of the Godhead. It is paramount to understand that the closer you get to the source of absolute truth, the greater the trial of endurance, because to whom much is given, much is required. To walk in the light, one must be well equipped. This requires the putting off of the natural man, and the putting on of the whole armour of God. This is a journey which begins with the first step in the right direction, which is faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. The second step is repentance. The third step is baptism by immersion by those who are in authority and the fourth step is the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Knowing who has authority is key. Man cannot take authority from God. God authorizes whom He has chosen. The Book of Mormon.
In the article it is being postulated that the human being consists of the body which houses the spirit and the soul. The soul acts as the central processing and decision making unit. The soul makes its decisions based on submissoons and persuasions from both the spirit and the the body or flesh. If the soul’s faith is in the flesh it’s decisions will be according to the submissions made by the flesh, and if the soul has more faith in the spirit it will decide according to the submissions made by the spirit ( the spirit always being in unison with the Holy Spirit). With this postulation in place the auothor then makes the following averment “I can choose to place the world in charge of my soul or I can choose to put the Holy Spirit in charge.” If the human being consists of the spirit, soul and body, then in the above quoted statement, what or who is “I”? who choses what the soul does.
The soul is generally accepted as the central being, which is made up of the mind, the will, and emotions. The mind receives input > The will chooses and emotions are a result of those things we align our will with. That’s my analysis..