Creflo Dollar
Is there a distinction between the spirit and the soul? Man is a spirit, he possesses a soul, and he lives in a physical body. You are a spirit being created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). Your soul is comprised of your mind, your will, and your emotions (your thinker, your feeler, your chooser). It’s your psychology, your personality. How you view life is right up there in your soul.
First John 4:17, AMP, tells us this: “In this [union and communion with Him] love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him], because as He is, so are we in this world.” As Jesus is in heaven, so are we in this world. That is your true identity. You have to go even beyond your family name and come to the place of recognizing that you are a spirit being, created in God’s image. That’s first base where identity is concerned. You are not your body. You are not your soul. You have to understand and believe that.
We cannot continue to do what the Church has done for decades, probably for centuries. We cannot continue to use spirit and soul interchangeably, as though they are one. This is a big deal! There is a clear distinction between your spirit and your soul. When death takes place, your spirit—the real you—along with your soul, moves out of your body. So when people die on this earth, they’re still alive in either heaven or hell (2 Corinthians 5:8; Luke 16:23). Why? You can’t kill a spirit! That’s the part of you that’s just like God! It’s the zoë life of God, eternal life (1 John 5:11).
Your soul is like a mirror that can reflect anything at any time. If you tilt your soul toward your born-again spirit, which is perfect, it will reflect spiritual things and Christ-like characteristics. But if you tilt your soul toward your body, it will reflect sin. Sin in your life, or Christ in your life, is a matter of where your soul is tilted.
In our souls, we experience wild fluctuations of thoughts and emotions. We can go from the height of ecstasy to the depths of despair within a moment. Have you ever experienced that before? You can be happy one moment, and the very next moment you’re trying to figure out why you’re feeling sad. Emotions are feelings on the inside that will direct and take you somewhere. Your soul does that because your feelings follow your thoughts. And sometimes your thoughts are all over the place. You change the way you think by renewing your mind with the Word of God and allowing His thoughts to become your thoughts (Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 10:5).
As a born-again Christian, your spirit is together with the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:16). You have God’s nature. You have the same stuff that makes God, God! God took a piece of Himself and passed it out to each one of us who are born again! God lives in your spirit. Your spirit is the only place where He can live because that’s the only perfect part of you. God sealed you with His Holy Spirit, so your spirit is perfect and flawless. You are just like Jesus, which makes you “heaven-ready!” Glory to God!
“In Him you also who have heard the Word of Truth, the glad tidings (Gospel) of your salvation, and have believed in and adhered to and relied on Him, were stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13, AMP).
