Day 58

Are You Operating in the Soul or the Spirit?

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ"  1 Thessalonians 5:23.

At one of our ministry Retreats we talked about  the difference between the spirit, soul, and body.  It was a lesson God has been teaching me over the last few years.  His design is that we follow Him from our spirit which if connected to His Spirit helping us to not operate from our soul (flesh).   Take a step back into your spirit man, and ask God what He sees in your life today.  Once He shows you, how will you respond?

Our spirit can identify the spirit of others we come in contact with.  The spirit of another person is never our enemy.  They may have a sweet spirit that we can easily respond to, or their soul may have been well fed and catered to over the years.  So how will you choose to respond if that happens?  I can tell you I would often respond in like spirit and it  never was a good senario.

I remember a man who came into my work place a few years ago and he seemed to be angry at everything I did.  He didn't like it that I was having to take his BP again (which by the way was sky high) or that I was asking him some of the same questions he had just answered in the Dr's office.  He just seemed to mad at the world.

Finally I felt impressed to ask him why he was so angry.  He immediately broke down into tears.  He began to share the many things that he ha been through in the previous year.  It was like watching a pressure cooker releasing steam and when he was done he just sat in a heap of self pity.  

If I had responded to him out of my soul, we would have been in conflict.  Instead, we were able to share positively.  I sensed that something was behind all his anger and God was able to minister healing to him as we shared.  I am very aware that it could have gone a lot different than that.  I could have pushed him over the edge with that question but thankfully the nudging I had from the Holy Spirit was correct and I had a chance to be a listening ear.  Sometimes that's all someone needs, to be heard.

Prepare yourself now to operate out of your spirit connected His Holy Spirit when you face someone who may be angry, argumentative, or accusing.  Choose how you will respond before hand.  If you choose the right approach you might just be able to help someone else defuse and take a look at themselves.  You will feel better and hopefully so will they when you operate out of the spirit.