Say to them, “The Lord Yahweh says this. . . .I mean to raise you from your graves my people. . . .I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live.” (Ezekiel 37:12-14) If the Spiritof him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from thedead will give life to your own mortal bodies through the Spirit living in you. (Romans 8:1)
There doesn’t seem to be much room for debate for that, according to God’s Word, we are spiritual beings! In fact, I’ve been ruminating about this statement and trying to unpack it for about a month now, “We are spiritual beings who have a soul and live in a body.” The scriptures quoted above confirm the fact that if we are believers we have a spirit. The confusing part has to do with the soul.
Conventional wisdom and common usage intermingles the two which, to my mind, diminishes the power of the Holy Spirit in our individual lives. In fact, I’ve just been following a Lenten devotional called Seven Weeks for the Soul by Gerard Hughes. Our church library had it, and a lot of other very good guides to refresh our spirit on display. I grabbed this one just at the start of Lent. (I must confess, the title drew me because I had already been pondering the soul/spirit issue and wanted to see if this book had anything to help clear my mind.)
Pastor Tim must have read this book! He has been guiding us through his worship messages, discipleship teaching and the Source on Wednesday nights on many of the subjects covered in this book. It all has to do with disciplining the soul - that our spirit may be our prime motivator and guide as we navigate this life wanting to serve God and fulfill His plan for our lives.
Our soul has to do with our mind, emotions and will. A spiritual person, like you and me, longs to demonstrate our spirit-led life through the Fruit of the Spirit as well as the gifts designed to encourage, instruct and serve others. A congregation full of spiritual beings who have disciplined souls will be walking witnesses to what God can do when His people submit to Him. The pure joy of that knowledge just has to burble over into our worship time! That’s my prayer for Washington Cathedral.
Pastor Sally Jo Holmes
Conventional wisdom and common usage intermingles the two which, to my mind, diminishes the power of the Holy Spirit in our individual lives. In fact, I’ve just been following a Lenten devotional called Seven Weeks for the Soul by Gerard Hughes. Our church library had it, and a lot of other very good guides to refresh our spirit on display. I grabbed this one just at the start of Lent. (I must confess, the title drew me because I had already been pondering the soul/spirit issue and wanted to see if this book had anything to help clear my mind.)
Pastor Tim must have read this book! He has been guiding us through his worship messages, discipleship teaching and the Source on Wednesday nights on many of the subjects covered in this book. It all has to do with disciplining the soul - that our spirit may be our prime motivator and guide as we navigate this life wanting to serve God and fulfill His plan for our lives.
Our soul has to do with our mind, emotions and will. A spiritual person, like you and me, longs to demonstrate our spirit-led life through the Fruit of the Spirit as well as the gifts designed to encourage, instruct and serve others. A congregation full of spiritual beings who have disciplined souls will be walking witnesses to what God can do when His people submit to Him. The pure joy of that knowledge just has to burble over into our worship time! That’s my prayer for Washington Cathedral.
Pastor Sally Jo Holmes
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