Updated 8/27/15

Kingdom Principle: The war of the Kingdom is not of flesh and blood, but first we must win the war that wages within us.

Song of Solomon 2:8-13 Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9 James 1:17-27 Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

I hated it in high school when I fought a losing battle with acne. I remember hearing my mom say – drink more water and eat more vegetables…. And yet I confess – my body was neither disciplined enough to make such a change nor my soul developed enough to hear such wisdom. Instead, I scrubbed my face with wash until it was raw, then covered it with ointment until it was burned. I was fighting a problem on the inside with a war on the outside. I thank God I never had to fight the battle with an STD…. the expression of herpes on your body doesn’t have to do with a problem on the outside; it has to do with a problem on the inside. That problem is an undeveloped soul, and when it rules your life with lust and immorality, eventually it will leave its mark as well.

This year we have looked at the concepts of body, soul and spirit; please take the time to review them, 1. Understanding that you have a body, soul and spirit. 2. How submission of the body and soul takes place to the spirit. 3. The role of faith in the body, soul, and spirit.  Last week focused on the body and spirit, this week we focus on the interplay of the body and the soul. The body is to be disciplined, the soul is to be developed, and the spirit is to be directed. A simplistic overview of the three– the body focus is right actions, the soul focus is right attitude, the spirit focus is righteous attire (where is it Christ’s righteousness in which we are clothed, based on no work of our own.)

The tongue is the mouth piece of the soul, as they eyes are the window to the soul – the later taking things in, the tongue expressing them out.  Reviewing last week you can pray in the spirit, with no use of your tongue, and you can see that which is spiritually true, beyond what is physically present. But your soul needs to be expressed via the body. In fact, if your body shuts down (as when under anesthesia) so does the soul.. When the body and the soul are disengaged from one another – the devil has taken a foothold and lies rather than truth flow freely.

When the body is disciplined, yet the soul is repressed (lack of emotion, will and understanding) the body will find victory in its own superiority. The disciplined body yearns to become its own god, making itself an idol for others to lust after and for temporal expression to rule one’s life. Contrasting this with the undisciplined body, it becomes a tool of the soul chasing after the world in extremes; cravings of the flesh, lust of the eyes or boosting in what he has or does. (1 John 2:15-17) The disciplined body in partnership with the soul longs to express love, and all of the fruit of the Spirit.

How then does the soul develop? Servant Leadership is at the crux of the soul development. This servanthood is  more about attitude than action and the creating of space for all persons involved (both served and server) to grow. However the soul foolishly seeks to independently thrive without either the body or spirit. The focus then becomes how much service I can do, or am I am better than you because I do.  The soul develops when we grow in leadership through posture rather than position and in relationships through listening rather than controlling.

This week:  We see the beauty of the body and soul integrated and in submission to the spirit – yielding the true expression of beauty of the body and expressing love relationships in the Song of Solomon and the Psalm. We also see the Jesus; rebuke of the Pharisees who are allowing their disciplined bodies to be the ruler of their lives. The body and soul want to find a way for them both to win – the result is that both loose in eternity. The only way that both will win is in submission to the spirit. Most people choose either the body or the soul to focus on – You can be highly moral yet morbidly obese. You can have the body of an athlete and give your soul to the devil. The result of either is that you not able to give your life to the King, rather you find yourself being pursued by the Father of lies who steals, kills and destroys. (John 8:44, 10:10).

Overall as the creation of God – we are the greatest of the good and perfect gifts from the Father. As the church we are called to represent and express that and boost in our obedience demonstrating true religion.

Three signs of an undeveloped soul:

1.  Living life in the extremes – either being a work-a-holic, or having no will to work at all; being addicted to physically “working-out” or finding to ambition or ability to exercise; reading the Bible and studying exhaustively all sources of insight and teaching to accumulate knowledge or seeing no power in the Word of God – letting other to feed you what is need from Scripture. Where do you sense that there may be an imbalance in your life?

2. Being Shamed or Shamelessness. When the Song of Solomon is read some people are uncomfortable (shamed) because is deals with the beauty of the woman and the intimacy of a sensual/sexual relationship of a husband and wife, others have no shame at any level when is comes to the human body, and as a result also have little intimacy or true beauty to pursue concerning sensuality and sexuality. In your relationships with the opposite sex, does shame or shamelessness find its way where it should not be?

3. Playing the role of the fool. The post was two weeks ago, but the idea of being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger is a reality of an undeveloped soul.  How has God revealed to you in the last two weeks  – any foolish behavior in your life or areas where you are lacking in wisdom?