In order for us as believers in Christ to seek the things which are above and set our mind on them (Col. 3:1-2), we need to experience the dividing of our soul from our spirit (Heb. 4:12) and we need to turn to our spirit.
All the things related to God and His economy are in spirit; when we are in our spirit, we are in heaven, and we mind the things which are above, but when we’re not in our spirit, we mind the things which are on earth.
We need to not seek the things on earth but learn to seek the things above by allowing the piercing word of God to divide our soul from our spirit through the exercise of our spirit over the word of God.
As believers in Christ, we are God-men, men who have the divine life in their spirit; our Christian life is a life of two lives – the divine life being lived out in our human life.
We need to daily deny our human life and just turn to our spirit to seek the things above by calling on the name of the Lord. The Lord is rich to us all who call on His name, and He is always near to us – He is one call away.
When we call on the name of the Lord, we are in spirit, we enthrone Him in our being, and we see the things in the heaven and appreciate the things related to the ascended Christ.
If we don’t turn to our spirit and call on the name of the Lord, many of the things related to Christ in His heavenly ministry seem abstract and distant to us, but when we call on the name of the Lord and turn to our spirit, we receive the divine transmission from the throne of God to our spirit.
Our spirit is mingled with the divine Spirit, and there’s a transmission taking place from Christ in heaven to us on earth by means of the all-inclusive Spirit in our spirit. The transmitting end is the throne of God in heaven, and our spirit is the receiving end.
The way we cooperate with the Lord in His heavenly ministry is simply by turning to our spirit and calling on the name of the Lord, and by experiencing the dividing of our soul and our spirit, so that we may mind the things which are above and no the things which are on the earth.
In this article we want to see our need to experience the dividing of the soul from the spirit, as show in the New Testament, so that we may mind the things which are above.
We need to Experience the Dividing of the Soul from the Spirit by the Living Word of God
In order for us to seek the things which are above and cooperate with Christ in His heavenly ministry, we need to experience the dividing of the soul from the spirit (see Heb. 4:12).
Many believers think that the spirit and the soul are the same thing, but 1 Thes. 5:23 shows that the soul and the spirit are two separate items, and there’s a difference between the spirit and the soul.
The soul and the spirit can be divided because they are two entities and are of two kinds of substances. Regardless of how hidden our spirit is within our soul, they are still two distinct organs, in the same way as the marrow is hidden within the bone, and it is of a different substance than the bone.
We need to experience the dividing of our soul from our spirit by the operation of the living word of God (Heb. 4:12). Our human spirit is so hidden in the soul that it needs to be divided from the soul by the living and operative word of God, which is sharper than any two-edged sword.
It is quite sad to see someone who is older humanly and who has been a believer for many years and who is not yet broken, and in him the soul and the spirit are not separated; when you meet such ones, you may be touched how nice and steadfast in the Lord he is, but it’s still him – and not Christ – who is expressed.
We are not promoting any “Individualistic Spirituality” but we all need to realize that our soul has to be divided from our spirit.
Look at the example of Peter – he thought that he’s so strong, he will follow the Lord unto death, and he will never deny him….but the Lord prayed for him, that when he turned again he would strengthen the brothers.
And in Acts 1 we see that Peter was not independent from the brothers, standing out; he stood in one accord with the others and spoke, and the Lord had a way through him, because he experienced the dividing of the soul from the spirit.
Our soul and our spirit are so mixed and joined together, that it is hard for us many times to distinguish between the two, and we mistake our soul for the spirit.
We need to exercise our spirit over the word of God to pray God’s word and let the word pierce in our being to divide the soul from the spirit.
We need to stay in the fellowship of the Body so that the living word of God would speak to us both personally and through other members, and we would experience the dividing of the soul from the spirit, so that we may live a daily life in two realms: in the human realm we fulfill our responsibilities, but at the same time we live one spirit with the Lord, joined to Him in spirit.
May we be in spirit habitually, and may we have the experience of the dividing of the soul from the spirit by the living and operating word of God! To experience this, we do well to tell the Lord,
Lord Jesus, please give us the experiences we need to have the dividing of our soul from our spirit through the living and operating word of God. Cause us to see that the spirit is different from the soul, and keep us praying Your living and piercing word until our soul is divided from our spirit. Lord, we want to live one spirit with the Lord, fulfilling our human responsibilities and living in spirit one with You, enjoying the divine transmission constantly! We say Amen to Your word!
Experiencing the Dividing of our Soul from our Spirit to Seek the Things Above and be Constituted with Christ
In 1 Cor. 2:14-15 we see two kinds of persons – the soulish man and the spiritual man. To the soulish man, the spiritual things are foolishness, and a soulish man cannot receive or understand the spiritual things.
The spiritual man discerns the spiritual things and likes to receive the spiritual things, and to know and experience the things which are above, but to the soulish man, such things are abstract and don’t make sense.
The soulish man is the natural man, the psychological man, a man living in the soul; when we live in our soul – and not in our spirit, no matter how smart and knowledgeable we are, the spiritual things don’t make sense to us and we fail to understand them.
Our soul is absolutely impotent in spiritual matters, unless it is under the control of our spirit, and it is renewed in the living and operative word of God.
Because we spend so much time in our soul – and we don’t turn to our spirit or exercise our spirit, many times we may not want to go to the meeting, we may not want to pursue the Lord in our personal time with Him, we may not read the Bible, and the things the saints speak of may not be very interesting to us.
The soul is a contradiction to the spirit. But when we realize that our spirit is mingled with the divine Spirit, and we touch the Lord in spirit, we understand the spiritual things, and we seek to live one spirit with the Lord.
We need to experience the dividing of our soul from our spirit to seek the things above and discern spiritually both the things of man and the things of God.
The soulish men think they understand but nothing makes sense to them, but the spiritual men – those who exercise their mingled spirit and live in spirit – have spiritual discernment, spiritual knowledge, and spiritual communication.
We need to be those who forget about the things on earth such as culture, religion, philosophy, and the natural virtues, and set our eyes to the heavens and set our mind on the wonderful and excellent things that are above.
We need to exercise our spirit and experience the dividing of our soul from our spirit so that we may seek the things above and set our mind on them, and we will enjoy the divine transmission of all that Christ is, and we will be constituted with Christ.
May we learn to open our spirit and our whole being to the heavens, and keep the “switch turned on”, that is, remain in our spirit and exercise our spirit, so that the divine transmission may flow in us unceasingly.
By experiencing the dividing of our soul from our spirit and by exercising our spirit, we can seek the things which are above and set our mind on them. Then, the riches of Christ’s heavenly ministry will be transmitted into us, and we will be transformed inwardly and constituted with Christ (see Col. 3:1-2; Heb. 7:25-26; 8:1-2; Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; Col. 3:10-11).
Amen, may we be those who, having been raised together with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God!
Lord Jesus, save us from being soulish men who don’t exercise their spirit and who don’t live in the spirit. May we experience the dividing of our soul from our spirit through the exercise of our spirit so that we may seek the things which are above and set our mind on them! Amen, Lord, may the riches of Christ’s heavenly ministry be transmitted into us to transform us and constitute us with Christ! Amen! We lift up our eyes and set our mind on the wonderful and excellent things above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron K. for this week, and portions from, Basic Principles of the Experience of Life, pp. 82-83, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Cooperating with the Heavenly Ministry of the Ascended Christ (2017 Spring ITERO), msg. 1 (week 1), Seeking the Things Which Are Above.
- Hymns on this topic:
# By the cross discern the spirit, / ’Tis the holiest place divine; / There commune with God in spirit / And His presence will be thine. (Hymns #748)
# For the word of God, word of God, / Is living and operative, operative, / And sharper than any two-edged sword, / And piercing even to the / Dividing of soul and spirit / And of joints and marrow, / And able to discern / The thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Scripture song)
# Oh, what a breadth! Oh, what a length! / The height, the depth unsearchable! / Christ the Lord is unlimited, / So vast, immense, immeas’rable. / All that He is and all He has / Is now our life unspeakable. (Hymns #500)
About aGodMan
In Colossians 3:1 and 2 Paul tells us not only to seek the things which are above but also to set our mind on them. This means that we need to forget earthly things—culture, religion, philosophy, and the natural human virtues. Instead, let us lift up our eyes to the heavens and set our mind on the wonderful, excellent things, the things that are above. These are the things which can cause us to be transformed, for they transmit a heavenly element into us. Let us learn to open our spirit and our whole being to the heavens and keep the “switch” turned on so that the transmission from the divine power plant may flow into us unceasingly. Do not be distracted by religion, philosophy, or anything else. Focus your attention on the things above and stay open to the heavenly power plant. Then the riches of Christ’s heavenly ministry will be transmitted into you, and you will be transformed and constituted of Christ. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 515-516, by Witness Lee)
AMEN!
Amen.
Si Señor quita todo lo que Te estorba a Ti,libera el camino así Ti cada momento deseamos estar ante Ti.divide nuestra alma de nuestro espíritu,para disfrutarte en Tu plernitud amén .
We need to have our soul divided from our spirit by the Word of God. We, then, can focus more on the things in the heavens, where Christ is.