DEATH OF THE CARNAL SOUL

DEATH OF THE CARNAL SOUL

August 29, 1991

By:   Carolyn Sissom

We have been taught about dying to self and dying to the flesh.  However, I believe if we are to make it in these last days of the church, we must move into another level of dying to the carnal soul.

The soul is the will, intellect and emotions. The devil has access to our flesh and soul through our Adam nature.  But as Christians, we can choose to live at a higher level; “In the Spirit”.

 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

The devil brings idolatry into our soul for love of spouse, children, sex, money, possessions, recognition, power or fame.  When our heart is occupied with something else more than God, the affections have been set on the things of earth instead of heaven.  The devil has access to us through “earthly love”.  A jealous God will not be content with a divided heart.  Does that mean we stop loving our family and friends? “Of course not!”  It means we learn to love them in a healthy way.  The way God intended with “agape love”.

Where is the pain in our life?  Let us pause for a moment and reflect on the most painful area of our life.  Who put the pain there?  God didn’t.  When we are in misery in our soul, depression, torment of our mind and struggles of our flesh, the devil is causing it by demonic influence in some area of our life.  It is any area where he still has access to us through our Adam nature.

Whatever has power over us to control us, cause us pain, or make us unhappy is the very avenue the devil will use to break through our fortress and steal our joy, peace and happiness.  God is bringing the Church to a place of maturity whereby we can stand boldly against the devil’s schemes and not be moved.  The ways of the world are attached to worldly things that follow after the spirits of “lust of the eyes”, lust of the flesh”, and the “pride of life”.  These desires gratify the cravings of our sinful nature.  But, Praise God, He made another way to live due to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead which raises us above this lower level of life.  It is Life in Christ, walking, in the Spirit, not by sight, having nothing to do with circumstances, but obedience to the revealed Will of God.  This higher level is not what we desire, but what He desires.  It is being concerned with His eternal purposes.  It is when Jesus becomes the desire of our heart.  When we reach a place where we no longer ask God to accommodate himself to our small kingdoms, but we ask Him how we can fit into His eternal plans and how we can flow in His Kingdom.

Paul said if best:  “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, not things present, not things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  At this point in Paul’s life, the devil had no more power over him in any area of His life.  He was no longer vulnerable to the devil’s schemes.  He knew how to abound or abase.  Suffering and pain were no longer his enemies.  The “ruler of the kingdom of the air” was under his feet in the same way he is under the feet of Jesus Christ.   “…through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of Life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

If we allow the Spirit of Truth to lance our boil of pain, cleanse our wounds of guilt, anger, unforgiveness, self-pity, jealousy, hatred, fear, etc.; feel the pain; weep for the losses; then forgive with the mind, spirit and heart, we will have put to death every pain in our life that has power over us to steal, kill or destroy life.

We must then place a tombstone on these “dead things”, and not even go back to the grave sight to grieve the past.  We must accept the Gift of Life that God hands us, in the form of His choosing, yielding our wills and desires to His perfect love toward us.

There are many in the church today who are among the “living dead”.  They are those whom Jesus referred to when he said, “Let the dead bury the dead”.  The unlanced boil of pain has produced death in their life.

But, our God has made a way to set people free from the law of sin and death. He is calling His church to “enter His rest”, be cleansed by Spirit of Truth, filled with His life and enter our spiritual garden as His beloved.  We are urged by the Holy Spirit to claim our inheritance and become children of the free woman never again to become bond slaves to earthly love and attachments.

We can own all things, possess all things, enjoy all things, but we must be willing to be tent dwellers in our attitudes toward these things.  We can’t camp around the last touch or move of God in our lives.  We must live in the present with expectancy.  We will be held accountable for every day of the “Gift of Life” that we did not enjoy.  The righteousness of Christ imputed to us secures the carnal soul from death with our bodies, preserves it, elevates it, and we become partakers of a supernatural gift of light, life and love not possible to the carnal soul.

Carolyn Sissom, Pastor

Eastgate Ministries, Inc.

(1)  “A carnal soul is a deal soul.  Death includes all misery; carnal souls are miserable souls.  But to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  A sanctified soul is a living soul, and that life is peace.  The Spirit visits many who are unregenerate, but in all that are sanctified he dwells.” (Matthew Henry – page 1771)