02.08. CHAPTER 08: THE SALVATION OF OUR SOUL

CHAPTER 8: THE SALVATION OF OUR SOUL Our soul – consisting of our mind, will and emotions – has the potential of being able to express our free will response to all that GOD brings to life in our spirit man. Our response to GOD – in our free will - unveils in hope, faith, righteousness, love and holiness. One day we will express our free will – free from sin and death – in all that we do in word and deed.

We are designed to function by loving GOD with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. Loving GOD is the actualization of freedom from the Law of Sin and Death. Loving GOD is descriptive of true liberty. The reality of increasingly loving GOD is essential to the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets in our inward parts. The fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets in our soul is the product of the Righteousness of GOD (see Romans 3:21-23, KJV) as illustrated in Figure 8.

FIGURE 8: Schematic Of The Soul

Fulfillment – in the Law and the Prophets - comes about as our soul is made functional in the Nature and Character of JESUS CHRIST. The transformation of our soul unveils us each in the image of JESUS CHRIST through HIS fullness formed in us (see Romans 8:29; John 1:16-17). How does this come about? When we are quickened by the HOLY SPIRIT in our spirit man, the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST resident within us is “brought to life” or quickened in our spirit – to express the realities of the Word resident within us or brought into us. Our soul is able to respond – through mind and will - to what the HOLY SPIRIT has brought to life in our spirit man.

Given that the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST has been perfected and completed through the cross, in living expressions of HIS Nature and Character, we have in GOD’s Word – from and through the Spirit of CHRIST – the ingredients of YESHUA’s Nature and Character available to us. YESHUA’s Nature and Character is constituent to HIS Spirit. The ingredients of YESHUA’s Nature and Character unveil in the context of the specific contents of the Rhema Word, the HOLY SPIRIT has quickened in our spirit. From what is quickened by the HOLY SPIRIT in our spirit man, our soul can actualize from the Spirit of CHRIST – by the HOLY SPIRIT - the Nature and Character of JESUS CHRIST that will (in turn) transform and re-position our mind, will and emotions in GOD, in accordance with HIS call upon our life. This re-positioning is contained in a process of renewal (the old becoming brand new) and regeneration (that which is dead in sin being brought to life in righteousness) that is worked into us – by the HOLY SPIRIT. JESUS CHRIST proclaimed in John 16:14 that the HOLY SPIRIT will take that which is of JESUS CHRIST, and disclose it to us. This disclosure takes place in our inward parts. The very heart and essence of this disclosure involves the Character and Nature of JESUS CHRIST – the true MAN – being formed in our soul in its total form and function!

Such an actualization of the Nature and Character of MASHIAH YESHUA has to be released and worked into us by the HOLY SPIRIT. However, the HOLY SPIRIT can only work in us as we respond in hope, faith and love.

Hope, faith and love are expressed by hearing, understanding, accepting and expressing the Word in freewill prayer, worship and our lifestyle – as we respond to what the HOLY SPIRIT is saying through the Spirit and Life of MASHIAH YESHUA.

It is the Spirit and Life of JESUS CHRIST that gives true expression to what the HOLY SPIRIT is saying through the quickened Word (see John 6:63; John 16:14; John 16:13-15). When our soul responds to what is being communicated in the Spirit and Life of JESUS CHRIST, the HOLY SPIRIT is able to manifest the specific extracts of the Nature and Character of JESUS CHRIST – alive in HIS life-giving Spirit - into our soul according to our soul’s freewill response.

Galatians 4:19 declares that CHRIST is being formed in us. The term “us”, arises from all that expresses our personality – the composite of our nature and character - in terms of the functional specifics of our mind, will and emotions.

Ephesians 4:23-24 expresses the root form of this potential for transformation in our soul: … be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in GOD has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. The new self comes to life in us, as our soul is perfected and completed in the Character and Nature of JESUS CHRIST (see John 1:16-17, KJV+NKJV+NASB)!

Ephesians 4:23-24 declares that our new self “has been created” in the kind intents of the FATHER’s will (see Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 1:3-11). Hence, the HOLY SPIRIT is bringing to life – in us - the actualities of what has already been created in the FATHER’s Heart. Ephesians 2:10 proclaims that we are being created in CHRIST JESUS.

CHRIST JESUS – in terms of HIS Fullness – is the blueprint of our creation! And, this creation is the actual workmanship of the living GOD, so that we will walk into the good works that GOD has ordained in our lives. Our ability to do what GOD has designed us to do is part and parcel of the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets! The spirit of our minds is renewed in the Spirit of CHRIST through the ministry of the HOLY SPIRIT, and this enables us to ‘put on the new self’ – by freewill choice in response to GOD. This new self is descriptive of our soul actualizing its salvation from and through the Character and Nature of JESUS CHRIST. Our soul actualizes the Character and Nature of JESUS CHRIST as the HOLY SPIRIT perfects and completes the specifics of the Character and Nature contents of the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST into us – in line with the quickened Word alive in us. The ‘new self’ then grows in the image and fullness of CHRIST JESUS. MASHIAH YESHUA’s Fullness – received as we respond, and in how we respond, to GOD’s Word - gives expression to our new self in MASHIAH YESHUA’s Image.

Fundamental to the image of MASHIAH YESHUA is the actualization of HIS Character and Nature. John 1:16-17 reads: For of HIS Fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through JESUS CHRIST. The ‘new self’ comes to life in us, in a realization that arises in and by and through the Character and Nature of MASHIAH YESHUA, perfected and completed into our mind, will and emotions – through the HOLY SPIRIT’s ministry!

We come forth in the image of MASHIAH YESHUA (see Romans 8:29-30) in mind, will and emotions! We develop a new personality in conformance to JESUS CHRIST (see Galatians 4:19)! It is the HOLY SPIRIT who engineers this new man even as we choose to respond in our own freewill. Our soul that reflects all that is personal to describing us, comes alive in a growing likeness to JESUS CHRIST – in HIS Image. We develop a brand new personality with a whole new thinking and behavior pattern that rises in the composite expressions of our renewed mind, will and emotions! We become more CHRIST-like in a dynamic process of transformation that the HOLY SPIRIT is expressing in the FATHER’s will.

Without the Nature and Character of JESUS CHRIST there can be no actualization of our new self. Our new self – arising from our soul – is necessarily being created in CHRIST JESUS through HIS Nature and Character manifested (perfected and completed) into us. Our new self is necessarily being created in the image and fullness of MASHIAH YESHUA (see Romans 8:29-30; John 1:16-17, NASB+KJV+NKJV; Ephesians 2:10). In all this, our soul – consisting of our mind, will and emotions – has the prerogative to respond to what is being made alive in us. We respond with our mind, will and emotions!

We respond by believing and acting upon the realities (or, thought flows in terms of ‘words’, ‘pictures’, ‘motivation’, ‘inspiration’, ‘discerning’, ‘illumination’, ‘empowering’, ‘faith’, ‘love’, ‘righteousness’, ‘holiness’ etc) quickened into our soul – from GOD’s Word alive in our spirit, by the HOLY SPIRIT.

We act upon these Word realities by hearing, understanding (see Matthew 13:23) and accepting (see Mark 4:20) what we actualize by the HOLY SPIRIT, through our spirit man. Our active response develops as we hold fast to GOD’s Word and apply it in our living (see Luke 8:15) by word and deed (see Colossians 3:17) through the exercise of our own free will. By holding fast to GOD’s Word and exercising the Word in word and deed - through our mind, will and emotions – we are perfected and completed so as to actualize our ‘new self’. Our ‘new self’ grows and develops in the image and fullness of MASHIAH YESHUA, as the specifics of the image and fullness of MASHIAH YESHUA – contained in HIS Words - is perfected and completed into us by the HOLY SPIRIT. The contents of the life-giving Spirit of JESUS CHRIST are genetic in design, and give actual expression to the image and fullness of JESUS CHRIST. The contents of the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST are perfected and completed into us by the HOLY SPIRIT (see John 16:14). It is a painstaking work of an amazing grace worked into us in loving detail. In this process JESUS CHRIST – acting through the HOLY SPIRIT’s ministry in our inward parts – becomes: (i) the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; (ii) the Mediator of the New Covenant into our inward parts; (iii) the Author and Finisher of our faith; (iv) the ONE WHO ever lives to intercede for us; and, (v) HE is the guarantee to all this being brought to fruitful completion in us! AMEN (see Revelation 3:14 b; 2 Corinthians 1:20-22). The nature and character ingredients to the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST, is what enables the renewal and regeneration of our soul and, our soul’s constituent functions in mind, will and emotions. The end result is the re-engineering of our personality – in the image of JESUS CHRIST. We are actually transformed – the new unfolds entirely unlike the old (see 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10). The willingness to do all things in the Name of the LORD JESUS is configured into our soul man (see Php 2:13; Php 4:13; Galatians 4:19) through the work and ministry of the HOLY SPIRIT. This happens as the Character and Nature of JESUS CHRIST is worked – or, perfected and completed – into our mind, will and emotions. What is worked into us – by the HOLY SPIRIT – always involves our free will acceptance. This is an interactive process of us choosing to abide in MASHIAH YESHUA and, of HIM choosing to abide in us in HIS Fullness communicated (see John 17:26 c). A battle of choices has to be fought – by us, in our inward parts – for the actualization of this process of transformation and change. The development of these choices - in truth – always involves the work of GOD in our inward parts! All things are possible in GOD! In Ezekiel 36:27, YAHWEH declares: I will put MY SPIRIT within you and cause you to walk in MY statutes, and you will be careful to observe MY ordinances. This comes about as our mind, will and emotions choose to respond to what the HOLY SPIRIT is saying, in word and deed (see Php 2:13; Colossians 3:17)! We respond in hope. We respond in faith. We respond in righteousness – right action. We respond in love. We respond in holiness – being set apart to GOD and HIS specific purposes for us.

Hope, faith, righteousness, love and holiness are spiritual expressions of the choices that we make. The Spirit of CHRIST – resident in our spirit – can energize these choices (expressed in hope, faith, righteousness, love and holiness) in a power resident in the Spirit of CHRIST! But always our soul has to choose!

And, as we grow our choosing is enabled in the nature and character of YESHUA made increasingly alive in us. This is why salvation is entirely of JESUS CHRIST, WHO gives actual expression in human terms to the moral nature and character of GOD towards us.

Hope in MASHIAH YESHUA results in the substance of HIS faith (see Hebrews 11:1, KJV) being communicated into us (see Galatians 2:20 c, KJV). The substance of HIS faith – actualized from setting our hope on HIM – in turn also becomes the conduit for the actualization of the reality of HIS love for us – through substance communicated. In fact through the substance of HIS faith, we can actualize genuine, supernatural change that is of the substance of HIS Fullness that gives credence to the fact of our salvation in a new man that is of HIS Fullness (see John 1:16-17, KJV+NASB+NKJV) and in HIS Image (see Romans 8:29-30)! Our response through the gift of tongues can facilitate the work of the HOLY SPIRIT in giving revealed expression to the Mystery of CHRIST into our inward parts (see 1 Corinthians 14:2; Isaiah 28:9-12; Ephesians 3:3-4; Ephesians 3:8 c-12). This comes about because tongues are a spiritual tool – alive in our spirit man - that enables us to energize the power that works within us (see Ephesians 3:20; 1 Corinthians 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:4-7) in and through the spiritual conduits of hope, faith, righteousness, love and holiness. The power that is able to work within us is resident in the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST (see Romans 1:3-4; Hebrews 1:3 b) and is energized into actual functions by the HOLY SPIRIT (see John 16:14) through the revealed Word (see Deuteronomy 29:29) that is alive in us (see John 6:63; Hebrews 1:3 b; 1 John 5:10 a).

Through tongues we can actualize the contents of all that is hidden in the Mystery of CHRIST – through hope (see Colossians 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 14:2; 1 Corinthians 14:6; 1 Corinthians 14:18; Ephesians 3:3-4). The actualization comes through the substance of the Mystery of CHRIST that hope in CHRIST JESUS opens to us (see Hebrews 11:1, KJV). Hope in CHRIST is designed – in the righteousness of GOD – to actually manifest the substance of the Mystery of CHRIST! This is why 1 John 3:3 actually tells us that: … Everyone who has this hope fixed on HIM (JESUS CHRIST) purifies himself, just as HE (JESUS CHRIST) is pure. The substance of MASHIAH YESHUA’s purity is manifested into our inward parts through hope. Hope is the channel for the deposit of substance. If our hope is in CHRIST, the substance will be of CHRIST – in HIS purity. This substance of HIS purity the HOLY SPIRIT works into our inward parts – purifying us in return. Because the process involves our choices made in a focused and persistent hope, we are told that “we purify ourselves” through the exercise of this hope. The process of the energization of power into the functions (such as the exercise of hope for example) of our inward man must however, entirely be by the HOLY SPIRIT; it must never be a self-denominated process that is of the spirit of man alone.

We must always function by the HOLY SPIRIT, in CHRIST JESUS so that we are actually set free from the Law of Sin and Death (see Romans 8:2). Functioning by our spirit man alone develops our independence from GOD the HOLY SPIRIT. In the New Covenant all of our functions will ultimately flow by the HOLY SPIRIT. Figure 9 illustrates the treasures of GOD available to us through the proper use of tongues.

FIGURE 9: The Use Of Tongues

We can receive exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us (see Ephesians 3:20). This power is inherent to the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST brought into us in the revealed Word (see Hebrews 1:3 b; John 6:63; Romans 1:3-4).

Matthew 13:23; Mark 4:20 and Luke 8:15 describe growth forms in 30-fold, 60-fold and 100-fold measures that are available through the Word received in our hearts. Understand the potentials of the power that can be developed to work within us, by the HOLY SPIRIT, to facilitate sustained growth in 30-fold, 60-fold and 100-fold measures (see 2 Peter 1:19)! This is why we can become actual sons of GOD! This is why nothing will be impossible to us in the will of GOD. Ultimately, we are perfected and completed as we do all things in word and deed in the Name of the LORD JESUS (see Colossians 3:17). Our soul has to come into the objective willingness of obedience to GOD (see the Testimony of JESUS CHRIST expressed in John 5:30)! This objective willingness to obey involves the transformation of mind, will and emotions in the actual nature and character of JESUS CHRIST realized. This transformation is achieved in the FATHER’s Will (see Php 2:13; Isaiah 48:16 c) through the contents of the Testimony of JESUS - HIS Words – being worked into us by the HOLY SPIRIT (see John 6:63; John 16:14). However, all this is contingent on our willingness to respond to GOD. Where does the objective willingness in obedience to GOD come from? The capacity to obey comes from the Nature and Character of YESHUA MASHIAH worked into us by the HOLY SPIRIT! The greater our conformance to CHRIST, the greater is our capacity to obey (see Galatians 4:19; Hebrews 5:8-10; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 3:4; Hebrews 12:2 a; 7:15-16, 21-22, 28). Obedience is one example of the many facets of CHRIST JESUS that we can receive and put on. Our conformance to CHRIST manifests as CHRIST is formed in us. This happens as the HOLY SPIRIT perfects and completes the specific contents of the fullness of MASHIAH YESHUA into our spirit and our soul (see John 16:14; John 16:13-15). The contents of the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST (see Php 1:19 c) – expressing HIS Faith, HIS Love, HIS Character, HIS Nature etc. – are perfected and completed into us by the HOLY SPIRIT. The actualization of the Nature and Character of YESHUA MASHIAH manifests as the Fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT (see Galatians 5:22-23). And, we must understand that the actualization of the Nature and Character of YESHUA MASHIAH is the exclusive fruit of the ministry of the HOLY SPIRIT (see John 16:14)! The Fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT is the fulfillment of the Law! And, the Fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT becomes the basis for the fulfillment of the Prophets (and our prophetic potential) through the functions of our spirit man!

We need character – in truth - in our souls, in order to give true functional expression to the potentials contained in the life-giving Spirit of JESUS CHRIST! We will never be able to operate spiritual gifts without the fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT becoming actual functional channels for the expression of the gifts. Our soul - comprising our mind, our will and our emotions - is renewed and regenerated by the HOLY SPIRIT’s work (see Titus 3:5; Ephesians 4:23-24; Php 2:13; Galatians 5:22-23) as we – in our soul - choose to learn to put on CHRIST and function in the Spirit Of CHRIST. This is not an instantaneous happening but, is a labor of love as strongholds of our flesh, and flaws in our character and nature, are dealt with through the work and ministry of the HOLY SPIRIT (see John 16:14; Galatians 5:22-25)! The HOLY SPIRIT is able to deal with every perversion of the human soul as we respond to the HOLY SPIRIT’s in-working of the contents of the Testimony of JESUS into our state of being. When we fail to make the right choices, when we find blockages within us that prevent us from making the right choices; or, when we simply find that we do not want to do the right thing; we have the opportunity to address the issues of our nature and character with GOD. We can ask and seek after the GOD-engineered solutions to our fallen nature and our character flaws.

GOD can cause us to take delight in the fear of the LORD (see Isaiah 11:3 a; Ezekiel 36:27).

Addressing our flaws and the issues that prevent us from walking in the way of GOD is part and parcel of the process of repentance that is integral to the progression of our salvation. Repentance involves the pursuit of GOD-enabled change in our selves.

We need to ask for the HOLY SPIRIT. In Luke 11:13, MASHIAH YESHUA categorically declares: … how much more shall your heavenly FATHER give the HOLY SPIRIT to those who ask HIM. In John 16:7; John 16:13-15, MASHIAH YESHUA declares: … I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you …. . But when HE, the SPIRIT of Truth comes, HE will guide you into all the truth ….. HE shall glorify ME; for HE shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. All things that the FATHER has are Mine; therefore I said, that HE takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.

All things from GOD are given to us in CHRIST JESUS and come to us exclusively by the HOLY SPIRIT. It is the HOLY SPIRIT WHO unveils the wonders of MASHIAH YESHUA – prophetically described as the Mystery of CHRIST (see Ephesians 3:3-4; Ephesians 3:8 c-11; Colossians 1:26-28) - into the state of our being.

And, the fullness of MASHIAH YESHUA is the essential ingredient to the development, function and maturity of our spirituality. MASHIAH YESHUA’s Fullness is designed to fill all-in-all (see Ephesians 1:23; Colossians 1:19-20; Colossians 1:17-20). Nothing else can take the place of MASHIAH YESHUA’s Fullness (see Colossians 1:19). Biblical Spirituality is entirely of MASHIAH YESHUA’s Fullness formed in us!