Grace and truth

True freedom is only found in the fulness of Jesus Christ...

by Helen Gardiner

AS Christians, we have come to the understanding that we are tri-partite beings made up of a physical body; a soul which comprises the mind or intellect and the emotion centre or "heart;" and a spirit. The body and the soul are sometimes collectively referred to as the flesh.

When we are born again by the Spirit of God, our formerly dormant spirits are awakened to God and we begin to enjoy fellowship or communication with God the Father and Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. Immediately our spirits are saved and we know they will live forever. Our souls, though, have to be renewed and redeemed by process.

Several times we are exhorted, particularly by the apostle Paul, to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. We understand that the way of the Spirit must have first place, and that our bodies and souls need to come under submission to the way of the Spirit, if we are to mature in Christ.

What the Spirit desires is that we walk in accordance with the truth of the Word, and the Spirit gives us the revelation, conviction, strength and grace to do that, if we call upon Him to help us.

And yet, I have found that so many of us walk according to the flesh; according to the dictates of unrenewed minds and impulsive and erratic emotions.

I do find that many people seeking Christian counsel are looking only for a shoulder to cry on; a hug and an assurance that God understands and/or everything is going to be all right. And, often times, God, in His grace will meet us there... but it is not His desire to keep us there.

The Holy Spirit is wanting at this time to bring forth the fullness of Jesus Christ: the fullness of His grace and the fullness of His truth. At this point, it is still indeed rare to find these two attributes running concurrently through Christian vessels with equal intensity.

And yes, while our spirits are of paramount importance to the Lord, He is also highly concerned with the well-being of our souls and of our bodies.

King David writes in Psalm 23:2&3: "He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

Countless testimonies of physical healing in the Bible and subsequently down the years attest to the Lord's concern for our physical bodies.

God the Father has made provision for our salvation, both instant and ongoing, through Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and His Word in accordance with His grace.

The soul, I find, is that which most frustrates the purposes of God in our lives. Especially in western cultures. If we are brain or mind people we tend to become overeducated; if we are creative, we tend to feel too intensely and our emotions become too complex. The truth of the Word is too simple and simplistic, too foolish. And we become bound -- unable to enter into the child-like liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And, it is only the simple Truth, brought with the grace of Jesus Christ, which will set us free. That's the bottom-line.

I find in the Church today there is so much mixture. Yet we need the pure Word, brought under the unction and anointing of the Holy Spirit. We need anointed men and women to preach and teach. They get anointed when the Word they are bringing has become fleshed out in their own lives.

How can we co-operate with God in renewing and restoring our souls?

Some try to pretend the soul isn't there, from the moment they are born again. They try to vacate their personalities.

Some time ago, the Lord showed me that it is essential for Him to make our souls whole. A hole, or an unhealed wound, in the soul is an open doorway for the enemy.

But we need to move on from soul wholeness into being able to walk in the Spirit. An unhealed soul will not submit to the spirit and be led by the Holy Spirit, because, often there are demonic forces attached to the wounds.

In my own life, God has had a major work to do in transitioning me from being soulish to being spiritual. I had a slightly overdeveloped brain; a very overdeveloped emotion centre, and experiences in my life and my reaction to them had made me into a wreck.

God had to come along and convince me, firstly, that only He could help me and free me. He took me into the wilderness and broke me. He wooed me to Himself. Initially I had to discipline myself to pray and read the Word, but then I began to love it, and to love Him. I grew to love the wilderness, and especially the manna He fed me...

And He taught me what to do when my soul was hurt or bruised or battered, and, I found, especially when I was placed in the role of co-pastor of a body of people, this would happen fairly frequently initially.

Today, this seldom happens -- because He has made my soul whole.

Anyway, after such an incident, I would cry out my pain to Him, in my quiet and secluded place of prayer. I would sense the presence of His Holy Spirit and I felt as if I was being held by strong and gracious arms. I expressed myself absolutely honestly. I often felt as if my tears were purging something.

Having experienced His grace, I would come to a place of peace. Then He would begin to speak His truth to my spirit.

He would often show me something about the person who had hurt me; maybe what had caused them to say something or to respond somehow; or He would show there was a demonic force behind the words or actions and impress upon me such truths like the fact that our fight is not against flesh and blood. The upshot of all that was that forgiveness could flow easily from my heart.

And then invariably, He would show me something that I had done wrong, some iniquity in my own heart, for which I would seek forgiveness and if, necessary make restitution for. By the time I emerged from that time of prayer that hole in my soul had been healed.

So while He held me initially and bore with me initially, and emphathised with me at first; He led me on and out, by the truth of His Word.

And the Lord has said to me that this is how I must minister to others... with grace and truth. So they can be free.

I would encourage others to seek such healing and total freedom. We can all go directly to Him, as I did; or we can find a trusted and mature fellow Christian who will give us more than just empathy, but will pray, seek His face in prayer with us and give us counsel in accordance with His Word.

If we all did this, a tremendous amount of mischief-making could be averted, and gossip also could be stopped.

Finally, as I was seeking the Lord about writing the above, He gave me the following Scripture from Jeremiah 6: 16:

"Stand in the ways and see,

And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,

And walk in it;

Then you will find rest for your souls."