BLOG

How your three minds work for you, Part 1

It seems that most people are of the opinion that they have just one mind. Unless, of course, they are schizophrenic. The probable reason behind this strange opinion is that the soulish mind is selfish and likes to think of itself as “the one and only” mind.

But move over, O my soul. Make room for two others.

We are a tripartite being that consists of spirit, soul, and body. Each of these parts has a mind, a consciousness, with varying abilities to think and to be aware.

The brain is the mind of the body. What we normally call “the mind” is actually the consciousness of the soul. There is still a third and most important mind, “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16) by which your spirit (“Christ in you”) has awareness and knows all things.

Paul had studied the various Greek philosophies of the day and discussed their soulish “wisdom” in the first two chapters of 1 Corinthians. Most of the Greeks were dualistic and believed that man was a dichotomous creature having a material body and a spiritual soul. However, Epicurean philosophy taught that even the soul was made of matter.

Paul presented a different truth to the Church in Corinth, because, as Greeks, they needed to know the difference between the soul and the spirit. They needed to know that the best efforts of their soulish (“natural”) minds were insufficient to know God or to believe divine revelation.

In speaking of “God’s wisdom” (1 Corinthians 2:7), which the present rulers cannot understand with their soulish minds, Paul refers to Isaiah 64:4 in 1 Corinthians 2:9, saying,

⁹ … Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.

Paul was speaking quite literally that the perception of our eyes and ears cannot compare with the revelation that comes by the Spirit of God. Our soulish minds obtain knowledge through the senses and act accordingly. But our spiritual mind obtains knowledge, not through physical eyes and physical ears—or by any other earthly senses—but by an inner revelation from the Spirit.

¹⁰ For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

The average person, untrained in spiritual matters, obtains knowledge through the body parts, and this makes the soul dependent upon the manner in which the body senses things. That is why the soul is carnal, or fleshly. The soul looks to the body as its source of knowledge, thereby giving the flesh a position of power. “Knowledge is power,” and if the soul depends upon the flesh for its knowledge, then the soul has empowered the body and all material things. Hence, we have a carnal soul.

This actually goes back to the Garden of Eden, when Eve saw that the fruit was “a delight to the eyes” (Genesis 3:6). When she acted upon this knowledge, she empowered her eyes and by extension put the body in a position of power over her soul. That was the point where her soul became carnal. And so, in the laws of blood we read in Leviticus 17:11, “the fleshly soul is in the blood” (literal rendering). The prohibition against consuming blood is based on the principle that we are not to be in agreement with the fleshly soul but rather to breathe in the revelation of the Spirit. We are to recognize that it is the breath of God that gives life to the blood (where the soul resides).

To truly understand the divine order of things, you must understand the parable of spirit, soul, and body. The relationship between these three parts of our being is depicted in our breath, blood, and flesh. The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach, “breath, wind, or air in motion.” It is pictured as the breath that we breathe, which gives life to the blood (soul), so that the blood may in turn give life to the flesh.

That is the proper order of dominion. When the spirit of man replaces the body as the source of life to the soul, then and only then can a person be said to be “spiritual” or “spiritually-minded.” A materialist cannot comprehend such things, for they normally reject the existence of spirit. Modern science too was founded largely on materialism, but as science has matured, it has rediscovered the realm of spirit. I suspect that this new science of the spirit began with quantum physics in the 1920’s, which says:

1. Your consciousness affects the behaviors of subatomic particles;
2. Particles move backward and forward in time and appear in all possible places at once;
3. The universe is connected with transfers of information that are faster than light.

(Quoted from Dr. Carolyn Leaf, Switch On Your Brain, p. 105)

In other words, they discovered a dimension in which time and space do not seem to exist or at least is not relevant. That is the realm of spirit. It is all around us and in us. With the emergence of quantum physics, science is now agreeing with the Bible. This must drive the materialists a bit crazy, because they have made it their mission to make atheists of all intelligent beings. Yet His Truth is marching on.

Another principle of quantum physics is the Law of Entanglement, which is really the law of Universal Reconciliation. Dr. Carolyn Leaf does not appear to understand the real implications of this Law as I do, of course, but see what she says:

“The law of entanglement in quantum physics states that relationship is the defining characteristic of everything in space and time. Because of the pervasive nature of the entanglement of atomic particles, the relationship is independent of distance and requires no physical link. Everything and everyone is linked, and we all affect each other.

“The law of entanglement has a biblical correlation: ‘So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another’ (Rom. 12:5). If you are not doing what God put you on this earth to do—your divine sense of purpose (Eccles. 3:11)—then even though you may not know me, you are still affecting my life. We are all part of God, so this interconnectedness is not surprising. Your intentions, your prayers, and your words toward others will have impact because of this law…. In fact, we are so entangled that our intentions alter not only our own DNA molecules, but the DNA molecules of others as well.

“An ingenuous [ingenious?] experiment set up by the HeartMath Foundation determined that genuine positive emotion, as reflected by a measure called ‘heart rate variability,’ directed with intentionality toward someone actually changed the way the double-helix DNA strand coils and uncoils…. Other research shows that even thirty seconds a day of direct heartfelt intention will cumulatively alter not only your own destiny, but impact the lives of others in this generation and the next three at least.” (Leaf, pp. 110, 111)

In other words, the Law of Entanglement is the scientific way of expressing the biblical principle of intercession called “Identification.” Intercession works because we are all one body, and when one person weeps, we all weep. When one person rejoices, we all rejoice.

Yet identification is only the first step of intercession, as I showed in my book, Principles of Intercession. To complete the process and make changes outside of ourselves, we must go through the same steps that Jesus did, first identifying with us, then bearing our iniquities (being blamed for the problem that the intercessor is trying to change), then undergoing death and resurrection, and finally ascending to the place of authority. Once an intercessor has been seated in authority over the objects of his intercession, then he is in a position to make decrees which are authoritative in the divine court and which must be obeyed at some point in time.

The Law of Entanglement makes us all one body, and causes us all to be affected by what other people do. However, intercessors suddenly turn in a new direction, and their actions affect the rest of the body. An intercessor takes the lead. Instead of being affected by the negative things happening in the body, an intercessor rises above this and brings positive change to the rest of the body. This is not an easy work, for all intercessors must become part of Jesus’ pattern and actually participate in a lesser way in His identification, death, resurrection, and ascension.

The same Law of Entanglement also identifies us with Jesus Christ as part of His body. This is the basis of our communication with Him, in addition to the benefits we receive from the work He did (and still does) in the earth. We will all benefit in the end, but there is an established path that all must follow. Some follow that path earlier than others. Most will not follow that path until after the Great White Throne judgment, when every knee bows before Him. Yet in the end the Law of Entanglement guarantees that Christ’s work of intercession will affect all men.

Meanwhile, our prayer, intercession, and spiritual warfare affect all other people in some way, even though most people are unaware of it. Most never make a connection between the events in their lives and the events happening in the heavens. Yet if we know that true prayer recognizes Christ’s voice coming from within our spirits, then we may break the flesh’s cycle of bondage. We may then walk in the Spirit, as admonished to do in Scripture.