People who are not walking in the Spirit, and their spirits are not open to God, cannot take the meat of the Word. They stumble; they back off when deep things of God are preached to them because it is more than they can handle. The apostle Paul was careful not give them meat when they could only handle the milk.
Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man. I Corinthians 2:14–15.
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able to bear it: Nay, not even now are ye able. I Corinthians 3:1, 2.
These Scriptures begin to describe the various levels of a Christian’s walk. There are those Christians who are really saved, but they are very physical Christians. They are not very soulish and not spiritual—they live pretty much for the natural man. These are, of course, carnal Christians.
Paul calls the soulish Christian the natural man, but he is really the soulish man. He walks with the Lord to some degree, but his revelation is limited and what you can feed him is limited. Unless there is a certain emotional content to the sermon, the soulish man doesn’t feed. He thrives on emotional things that appeal to his sentiment. He loves for some pastor to beat him down in a sermon.
The soulish man lives in the realm of emotions and feelings, but for all his experiences and shallow attempts at dedication, there is no lasting result.
A soulish person can become spiritual if he will listen to the LIVING WORD that God gives, do what God has told them to do and determine to walk with God, no matter how they feel. Then they will become a functioning member in the Body of Christ, and the church they attend.
If a little sign were put on each church, “This church is soulish,” “This is on the carnal plane” or “This church is spiritual,” few would be labeled “spiritual” churches.
At best you would have to say “This church, though predominantly spiritual, is a little soulish, too.” You can’t avoid a certain element of soulishness. However, if the spiritual ones prevail in the congregation, it is amazing how they have a way of siphoning off the pressures that are on the soulish people. A spiritual person will alleviate the oppression against the soulish man, but another soulish man will do the reverse—he will add to the oppression.
Do you begin to realize what has been wrong with you when you’ve failed? You have just sunk down to the wrong level. People have to walk on the plane of spirit, because up in the spirit they can be blessed and receive so much. There, they can handle their problems; but the minute they come down and sink below the level of spirit to a soulish level, circumstances will come in and wipe them out.
On that soulish level, circumstances can destroy some people. Adverse circumstances would be enough to destroy life if they were prolonged for any period of time.
We must learn to walk in the Spirit. But I say, Walk by the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:16.
You have a certain amount of immunity by being a spiritual person. When you walk in the Spirit you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. We can say all we want about overcoming but no one who walks on the soulish level can call themselves an overcomer.
They will be wiped out all the time by their own emotions, feelings, and his awareness of circumstances. No one can live a consistent life on the level of soul; he may try to but he won’t succeed. The real overcomer is the one that lives in the Word and loves it; they keeps their spirit open to God continually. Their awareness of God is so great that, though they are highly aware of the world around them, it does not affect them in the same way it does others.
We don’t preach about soul and spirit much anymore. Maybe we should because it is so basic. This is what the walk with God is all about—walking in the Spirit under Jesus Christ our Lord.
I Corinthians 6: 1 Corinthians 6: 17But he that is joined (continuous repeated action- to glue, cleave, join together with) unto the Lord is one (to indicate the singularity of something, thus emphasizing that there is but one only, one and the same, not at variance with, in accord with) spirit.
You are one spirit with the Lord, but you must learn how to join your spirit, to the Lord’s so that you become aware of it. The Lord doesn’t join Himself to your soul; He joins Himself to your spirit: you become one with God in your spirit.
Is it possible to be one flesh? Yes, through marriage or through fornication… know ye not that he that is joined to a harlot is one body? for The twain, saith he, shall become one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. I Corinthians 6:16–17. There can be unity on different planes, but God is concerned only about a unity of spirit. The churches have a unity of spirit.
Being spiritual isn’t a luxury in a New Testament church, you either do it or you get stomped on! Move into it as fast as you can. Some people come in on a high spiritual level and everything is wonderful, but when the going gets a little rough, they tend to go down into the soul level. That is the one time they should stay on the spirit level, because the minute they go down, everything starts buffeting them.
The Lord is demanding that we rise above the turbulent air as fast as we can and fly above the storm. The higher you fly the smoother your ride!
A sifting is coming. The Lord is demanding we get with it or else. The pressures are coming on fast. The Lord is putting it to every family, “You are going to get down to business. You are going to walk with Me.” It is a time for much prayer. We must be set to do a work for God, because we don’t have too long to work before this thing is all over with. As far as present things are concerned, everything is giving way to a whole new level.
Father, we thank You for the blessing and for the privilege of being spiritual. Thank You for the privilege of not being soulish. Lord, we know how valuable this lesson is; it is a key of making it into the Kingdom and making it strong; and we claim it in the name of the Lord. We have the witness of the Holy Spirit that this message is going to be a lifesaver for some of the people, and Lord, we thank You for it. Amen.
PROPHECY
O House of God, thou that art the habitation of the Most High; O ye living stones, where His presence dwelleth, knowest thou not how that the Lord worketh with thee? And doth He not take the mortar of love and cause thee to be bonded one to another? Doth He not build thee up in the pattern and plan as it pleaseth Him? Doth He not cause thee to grow and increase in your love one toward another, that ye should not be joined to one another, but that there should be more than that: that you should be fused into a oneness, as the Body of the Living Christ? Wilt thy heart not rejoice? Yea, put away this from thee, that thou shalt sit in seats of judgment of thy brother or sister. Judge not, lest you too should be judged. But open your heart to love one another, and to believe, though God has caused thee all to walk by a diverse path. One seemeth to have taken a high road, and the other a low. Yet, in the days to come, ye shall all dwell in Mount Zion together. And there shall neither be the exalted or the abased, but ye shall be one in Christ. And ye shall stand together as one. Shall there be partiality with thy Lord? Nay, shall He honor one above another? No. It is the hand of the Lord that is with thee to cause thee to have the same care one toward another. Amen.
Behold, can there be a beginning without first there is an ending? Can the Lord bring thee into a new level of ministry, but what first you must come to the emptying out, and the end of the old? For thou art about to enter in to new phases of ministry, and new areas. And limitations, like walls, shall come down. The anointing of the Lord shall flow, for God hath judged the thing and brought an end to it, and cast it aside as useless. For would it not be a hindrance now, that which the Lord has used to be a blessing in the past? Thus, shalt thou discard the old, and enter into the new. And you shall be like the chicken, that comes forth from the egg. When the time is come, it must emerge. For if it doth not fight to come out of the shell, it shall perish. And the shell that hath housed it in the time of its formation and blessed it with protection, now becomes the hindrance and oppressive thing to it—to be put aside, to be broken, forgotten. So it is that the Lord bringeth His people through the tests, and through the trials and adversities. While they chafe under the restriction, is it not that they shall reach up in faith and break out into a new realm in the Lord? Behold, how the Lord hath allowed many things to restrain thee, and to protect thee; days of formation. But now cometh the time that ye shall break forth on the right hand and on the left. Lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes, and enlarge the place of thy habitation; so that the Lord bringeth thee blessing. And He bringeth thee to the end of that which has restricted.
O House of the Lord, hath not the Lord caused those that come unto thee to be few in number, for the ministries had not yet been formed? But now that the Lord hath done the work within thee and the Word lives within thee, shall He open the fountains to flow on the desert, shall He not bring the thirsty ones to drink? Yea, many shall come to drink of the waters that the Lord bringeth forth in this house. It is a time, a set time and a season, that the Lord hath appointed for men. Amen.
PROPHECY
For shall not the Lord bring thee into a day in which the sun shall rise as it hath any other day, and ye shall not be aware that before that sun shall set, the Lord shall have changed the course of your life completely; and that the word that hath rested upon thy head, that hath crowned thee with the favor of the Lord by promise, shall suddenly become a reality before thee? Yea, that thou shalt rise on a morning and look about, and behold, the mountains that plague thee have been cast into the sea and the enemy that hath pursued thee hath turned to flee, and pursueth no more.
Behold, the hand of the Lord is with thee, and thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Those that shall walk with their God, shall not the Lord cause them to behold a horizon that seems to trouble them? But when they shall look forth unto the light of His glory they shall say, “Behold, these days and these weeks that my heart has been heavy, I have beheld a mirage, and not the truth.” Therefore, let your heart be strong to believe the Lord. For he bringeth forth according to His Word; He speaketh and it shall come to pass. He saith unto His people, “Thou art my people,” and He causeth them to walk forth in His goodness and His mercy. Let your hearts be joyful in the Lord; let there not be an occasion of sighing or of sadness or of mourning. For there shall nothing die except the expectations of the enemy. And there shall be no mourning but that which comes forth from the abyss in the hour of judgment. There shall be joy and rejoicing as thou shalt behold that the Lord bringeth forth the Day of the Lord, with joy and rejoicing, and the purposes of God shall be wrought in the earth.
Let your heart be glad, for He casteth down the proud in the imagination of their heart. Behold, how unsuspecting are the arrogant, they go their way and they say, “Behold, I shall eat of my desire, and none shall defer it, and none shall judge.” They knoweth not that before they wipe their mouth, while they are yet feasting upon their lust, God shall smite them down. Oh let the heart of the people not be senseless, let their understanding not be stupid. Let them rejoice that the Lord bringeth forth a day, and they that have trusted their God, and they that have walked in the word of the Lord shall be established; they shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be moved. Look not to thy frailty, but look to the mighty hand of Him that establisheth you. Look to the Lord that is able to cause His word to rest upon thee. And shall it not make thy life as a solid rock?
Blessed are they that trust in the words of the Lord; blessed are they that put their confidence in the promises of the Lord, where the prophecies shall flow and thou shalt look and say, “It seemeth not to come to pass”—but the word of the prophet shall say, “Behold, it shall come—look again”. And thou shalt say, “Behold, I see naught,” and he shall say, “Look again.” And soon thou shalt behold in thy seeking the cloud the size of a man’s hand. And know that God hath brought the abundance of rain and He hath turned away the days of famine and drought from His people, and brought forth the days of victory, when all of the hosts of darkness shall be defeated and cast down, and thy Lord shall reign and He alone shall be exalted. Oh let the Spirit of the Lord rest upon thee, put thy trust in the Lord. Amen.