It is very important that we understand the discipline of how to live with God because everything flows out of our relationship with Him. What we think about God is the single most important thing in the world-it is the revelation that will drive our life and provide the channel through which our prophetic gift and ministry will flow.
We are probably all aware that man is essentially two parts- soul/body and spirit-what the Bible often calls the outer man and the inner man. In God’s design, He intended the Holy Spirit to dwell and unite with our spirit.
We need to understand that we are two people, human (soul and body) and divine (spirit). When we live in the spirit, our soul and body come under the Lordship of Jesus. When we live in the soul-flesh we are human and behave just like the world. When we learn how to separate our soul and spirit, then we will be spiritual people in whom the glory of God shines.
Alot of Christians are what I call schizophrenic (multiple personalities). Once and a while they manifest the Spirit, most of the time the flesh in all its different manifestations. And then they wonder why they are having problems. They are walking as mere men and women (1 Corinthians 3: 1-4).
The soul is made-up of essentially our mind, emotions and will, but also our conscience, and imagination (the screen of our mind) and must take its instruction and authority from the Spirit of God. In scripture, it is spoken of frequently as being something over which we must gain and exercise authority.
2 Corinthians 4: 16- therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
Up until the time of salvation, our soul rules unopposed in our life. We live a life unconnected with our spirit until God intervenes. We make our own decisions, reigning and ruling through our soul. We do what we want, living to please ourselves most of the time. We become self-centered and our love is often conditional.
At the moment of salvation, our spirit comes to life but our whole ability to live that life for God and other people or for ourselves is still dominated by the soul. At salvation, and internal battle begins. God breaks in, we are born again, and our spirit is revitalized. Now the battle for supremacy begins.
There is a law that emerges within us at the moment of salvation. Salvation is not a one-off occurrence-we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. Salvation is a process of sanctification. Sanctification is about bringing everything within us under the rule of God so that joyfully, in everything that we are and have, we are becoming His. The spirit begins to exert this pressure from within, but the soul doesn’t want to give up its rule over us.
If our will is not the vehicle for the spirit, then our emotions will try and run the show. However, our will has an insatiable appetite to be in the presence of God, so our will is the vehicle for life in the Spirit, not our mind and emotions. As our will comes under the rule of the Spirit, our soul learns how to submit joyfully to the Holy Spirit.
When our soul power is broken, we come into extreme joy. The soul power has to be broken or we cannot serve God effectually. The soul, if unconquered, is always affected by external things. So, life in the Spirit is about learning how to live from the inside to the outside, not the other way around.
When we live in our soul, we are always waiting for God to do something. When we learn how to live in our spirit, we don’t need a move of God coming from the outside, we have one on the inside of us. This is what Jesus meant when he told the Samaritan woman at the well, if you drink my water, you’ll never have to be thirsty again.