It is the dominant mindset of our Godless human nature to perceive our world through the eyes of the soul but the Bible instructs us that we are viewed from God’s perspective in the order of Spirit, Soul and Body.
To illustrate this point Jesus told Nicodemis in John 3:3: Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. In furtherance to expound His point, Jesus said, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.”
Jesus was pointing out the necessity of knowing the difference because if a person who professes to be a follower of Christ does not discern his own spirit from his soul, he will be ignorant of how to commune with God because it must be done in his own spirit. Remember, the Bible instructs us that our spirit was formed by God’s act of breathing into Adam. We function within this blueprint. Let me give it to you in reverse: we cannot discern the voice of God outside our spirit. This is why Jesus said, “my sheep know my voice and no other voice will they follow.”
Which brings me to my next point: why didn’t Jesus just say ‘my sheep know my voice’ and just stop there? Because our spirit hears but whose voice will it follow? It is an erroneous understanding of the Word to believe that our spirits are completely devoid of function unless we are born again. No, it is alive, but not able to discern the voice of God and that’s where it is dead. Without salvation, our spirits are dead to God’s voice because Jesus must give it a rebirth, which is why He called it “rebirth.” Jesus illustrated the necessity of two things in that passage:
- The necessity of discernment John 3:8 when Jesus told Nicodemis: The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.
- Jesus is confirming that the spirit of man indeed functions, but it does not discern God’s voice. A man’s spirit must be born-again in order to hear God’s voice or else it will follow other voices, which are nothing more than demonic or carnal. This is how people are drawn away from God and it can be a very supernatural experience to them. This is how there are so many religions in the world and why Jesus said, “my sheep know my ”
Hence, the unregenerated spirit functions no differently from the way our soul functions. Some scriptures to illustrate this fact are: Gen. 41.8; Judges 8.3; Prov. 14:29; Prov. 17:22; Is. 29:24; Is. 65.14; Dan 5:20.
Jesus furthered His own illustration of the war between our Spirits and our Souls, Jesus told His disciples: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. His point here was that our spirits can hear the voice of God, but our flesh will dominate it by being weak to its own desires that are separate from God’s will.
If we believe that our spirit is dead altogether without rebirth then we lack the ability to explain to the lost the source of their supernatural experience, Satan.
Moving on let’s breakdown exactly the functions of our spirit and the scriptures where we find this information:
- The function of conscience is in our spirit. It is our conscience that we find the definition of good and evil. Remember, this is where it all began in the garden of Eden. Whose definition will be believed? God’s or Satan’s. Following are some scriptures for backup: 2:30; Ps. 34.18: Ps. 51:10; John 13.21; Acts 17:16; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 5:3; 2 Cor. 2:13; and 2 Tim. 1:7.
- The function of intuition is in our spirit. Our intuition is our sensing organ of our spirit. It is independent of outside influence and is knowledge that does not come from our mind, emotion or our will. We actually know from our intuition, but it is the mind (a component of our soul) that helps us understand Following are some scriptures to illustrate: 26:41; Mark 2.8: Mark 8:12; John 11:33; Acts 18:5; Acts 18:25; Act 20:22; 1 Cor. 2:11; 1 Cor. 16:18; and 2 Cor. 7:13.
- The function of communion comes from our spirit. It is our place of worship and where we discover intimacy with God. This is why it is so important to worship at home as well as in church. It is in the place of worship where we find our faith and courage to stand with God, which many times can require standing alone and in the face of strong opposition. If we don’t commune with God alone, we won’t walk deep. If we can’t go deep, we’ll never last long. Still waters run deep. Following are some scriptures to illustrate: Luke 1:47; John 4:23; 1:9; Rom. 7:6; Rom. 8:15; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17; 1 Cor. 14:15; 1 Cor. 14:16; and Rev. 21:10.
The relationship between conscience and intuition is that conscience judges according to intuition and condemns anything that conflicts with intuition. The relationship of communion between conscience and intuition is that communion is the source and foundation of what our conscience and intuition rests on. This is how people can follow other gods and it be a supernatural experience for them. Because their spirits are following a supernatural being, but not the true God who is only found in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Our spirit is our sanctuary within ourselves. It is our place of worship and when we are in submission to His voice, we find communion with Him. We waste precious time when we don’t take the time to commune with Him daily to hear His voice and follow it.
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