A Deeper Word

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A Healthy Soul

Jim Reish

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Colossians 3:15 (KJV)

We must not let emotions control us, but instead use wisdom and self-control. We must avoid making purely emotional decisions. Do something because God told you to do, not just because it feels good at the time. And conversely, we mustn’t avoid doing certain things because they don’t feel good to us. After feelings subside, you’ll probably regret most decisions made based on emotions.

God wants us to have strong, stable, healthy emotions. His desire for us to that we maintain our peace and joy even when things don’t go right. And He wants our souls to be healthy so we can make right decisions- decisions made because our spirit man is in charge and not our soul.

What is a healthy soul? As we’ve mentioned in other posts, the soul is made up of the mind, will, and emotions. A healthy souls has:

  • A strong mind: A mind that is renewed to think right and make good choices.

  • A surrendered will: A will that says no to its own stubborn way and says yes to God’s will.

  • Stable emotions: Steady emotions in good and bad times.

The more we obey the Word, the more practice we get in developing our souls. The result is that we think right (mind), which helps us to feel right (emotions), which makes us more willing and able to do right (will). Let’s look at how our souls become healthy.

  • God’s Word will renew our minds, so we think with the mind of Christ, in line with the Word of God and His will.

  • God’s Spirit will strengthen our wills to we can walk in God’s ways, following Jesus wherever He leads.

  • God’s Presence will minister to our emotions, healing them and restoring them so we are filled with the fruit of the Spirit.

As the Word becomes first place in our hearts and lives, the Holy Spirit will be able to do His deep work in us. That will make God’s presence real to us, creating deeper fellowship with Christ and making us more conscious of Him. In this way, we’re changed from glory to glory. The more we experience God, the more we will be whole spirit, soul, and body.