FIRM

FOUNDATIONS

SPIRIT, SOUL & BODY

FOUNDATIONAL DOCTRINES FRAMEWORK COURSE 1

JOJI KOSHY LALU

BANGALORE
Table of Contents

Chapter 1....................................................................................................5
Creation of Man – The Image of God.....................................................5
Chapter 2...................................................................................................7
Spirit, Soul & Body – The Main Functions.............................................7
1. Spirit of man & Communication to God.....................................7
i. The Fall of Man.........................................................................7
ii. Born-again recreated spirit..................................................9
iii. Serve and worship God with the spirit..............................10
iv. Spirit man – the inward man – the real person................10
2. The Human Body........................................................................11
3. Soul: The Control centre of the human body and for communication with other people. 14
a. To control the Human body...................................................14
b. To communicate with other People.......................................16
The Power of Imagination..............................................................16
Words: The Building blocks of the Soul........................................20
Diagrammatic Representation of the Spirit, Soul & Body...............26
Chapter 3..................................................................................................27
Spirit vs. Flesh.........................................................................................27
Chapter 4..................................................................................................31
The Renewed Mind.................................................................................31

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Chapter 5..................................................................................................34
Salvation Prayer.....................................................................................34
Have you ever made Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life?34

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My Journey into Discipleship
Hebrews 5:12-14 (KJV)
12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one
teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God;
and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness:
for he is a babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who
by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and
evil.
Hebrews 6:1-2 (KJV)
1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on
unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from
dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
My journey into Foundational Doctrines began in February 2006.
During this time, Pastor Michael Varghese (my Senior Pastor) was
encouraging the church members to involve themselves in
discipling people. He asked me to do the same, having given me a
sheet of paper with some scriptures. I (with my pregnant wife in
tow) began my Foundational classes with just one family in
attendance. I have never looked back since.
Over the last fourteen years, I have taught these truths in small
groups, Bible schools, conferences and in churches. What began
with a sheet of paper has run into several sheets of paper today,
with much teaching under many topics. Over the years, I discovered
that every time I revisit these topics, I gain new insights, while also
realising how inexhaustible God’s knowledge and wisdom is.
Further, I have also witnessed how people who took these
teachings seriously have themselves grown and are playing a
pivotal role in their respective churches.
As seen from the afore-mentioned scriptures, these teachings are
the elementary lessons or ”letters of the alphabet” of God’s word
(Hebrews 5:12). Further, these are also understood to be the
original teachings of Christ while he was on earth (Hebrews 6:1). In
a nutshell, it can be said that this was the original discipleship
programme started by Jesus during his ministry years. This is what
Jesus taught His disciples when He was on the earth and this is
what the Apostles taught in the first church. They taught it publicly
and from house to house (Acts 20:20,21).
This booklet in your hand is the first in a series of teachings meant
to assist you in learning the Foundational Doctrines of Christ. This
will lay a framework of some important topics that every believer
should know. Moreover, it will enhance your ability to rightly divide
the word of truth and become both an effective learner and a
teacher of these Doctrines.
My wife Igwangheile Joji Lalu and me are ever grateful to God and
to our Pastors, Michael and Chitra Varghese for encouraging us to
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be doers of the Word of God and not simply hearers only. They
have invested countless hours teaching us and discipling us and
pouring out themselves into our lives. They were always there for
us when we needed help, counsel or prayer. They taught us how to
walk by faith and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and to rightly
divide the word of truth.

We would not be where we are if it were not for our Pastors and
their lives which is like an open book that we were able to see, read
and observe closely every day. Their lifestyle was not just an
example, but an actual visualization of how to walk the Christian
walk in spite of our natural human limitations.

Now I commit these doctrinal truths to you, as I believe it is not by

accident that you have stumbled upon this book and the truths
written in this. God has a plan and purpose for you and wants to
bless you to be a blessing to multitudes.

Thank you for investing into the truth of God’s Word.

Love,
Joji Koshy Lalu.

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SPIRIT, SOUL & BODY
1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace
Himself sanctify you completely; and may your
whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Paul gives us the three part nature of man
– spirit (pneuma), soul (psuche) and body (soma). Man is a spirit,
has a soul and lives in a body. Paul tells the church in Thessalonica
that God wants to preserve them wholly. This means preserving
their Spirit, Soul and Body.
Generally, people believe that they are only made up of body and
soul. They confuse soul and spirit as being the same thing.
Therefore, on a day-to-day level, they only acknowledge a physical
part and an emotional/mental/inner part (commonly called
"personality").
A lack of understanding of these three parts of the human person
has hindered the church from understanding the complete truth of
who they are in Christ and how to obtain everything that has been
freely given to them. Understanding this, unlocks the spirit realm so
that we can experience who we are and what we have in Christ!
Since the spirit realm cannot be naturally seen or felt, the only way
to accurately perceive spiritual truth is through the Bible. We
simply have to take God's Word and believe it!
This booklet will help us understand the 3 parts of the human
person, so that we will be in a position to distinguish between them
as we study God’s word.
Greek definitions: (The New Testament was originally written in
the Greek language)
Spirit – pneuma:
It comes from the Greek root pneu. The root pneu communicates the idea
of the dynamic movement of air. For instance, it can mean to blow, as to
blow air or to blow air through an instrument to produce a distinct
musical sound. There are also places where it is translated to breathe or to
emit a fragrance.
Finally, this root word can be used to denote the projection of emotions,
such as anger, courage, or goodwill.
But when the root pneu becomes pneuma, as in this verse, it carries a
more profound range of meanings, including life, force, life-force, energy,
dynamism, and power.
The Jews considered the pneuma to be the powerful force of God that
created the universe and all living things, and the force that
continuesto sustain creation. In the Old Testament, the pneuma of God
would sometimes move mightily upon a person, enabling him to do
supernatural feats.
Soul – psuche/ psyche:
It describes a person’s mind, intellect, will, and emotions.
Body – soma/ ptoma:
It always referred to a dead body and is often translated as the word
“corpse.”. Also refers to the body both of men, animals or plants.
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Chapter 1 Jesus said in John 4:24, that God is a Spirit.

Creation of Man – The Image of God John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth.
Genesis 1:26-27
So, if man was created in the image of God and the complete man
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to
includes spirit, soul and body; then the part of man that is created
Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
in the image of God must be his spirit (pneuma).
over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He God is called the “Father of spirits”. God wanted family.
created him; male and female He created them.
Hebrews 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which
In Genesis chapter 1, we see that God decides to make man in His corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather
be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 
image with the sole purpose of ruling and reigning on the earth just
like the way He rules and reigns over all creation. So, God created
Romans 8:16  The (Holy) Spirit itself beareth witness with our
man and woman as close in likeness to Himself as He could and still
spirit, that we are the children of God: 
be a creation, giving them God-like characteristics.
This means the image that we see when we look into a mirror is not
We see that God did not use any other existing models to make the
the real, us. It is a reflection of our body. Our body is not the real
human. He used Himself. He wanted us to be like Him. Just as He is
us, but a house or a dwelling place for our spirit (the real person).
God in His realm, which is the spiritual realm, He wanted us to have
dominion in our physical realm.
James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith
without works is dead also.
Man was created to reflect the glory of God on the earth, the
physical realm. – to shine bright, rule and dominate over everything
Ecclesiastes 12:7 
that God made on the earth. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall
return unto God who gave it. 

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As seen above, the moment our spirit (pneuma) leaves our body,
the body is devoid of life or plainly speaking – it is dead!
The part of us that came from God is our spirit.
The fact that we are alive and reading this booklet indicates that
our spirit is right now in our body!
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living soul.
1. Man’s body was formed of the dust of the ground.
2. When God breathed into Man’s nostrils, the spirit of man
(the source of life) entered his body.
3. When the spirit came in contact with his body, the soul
was formed and man became a living (with life) soul.
Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty
gives him understanding.
The Human spirit is created at the point of conception.
Researchers at The North Western University in Chicago have
documented an amazing occurrence when fertilization takes place.
They photographed a bright spark of zinc that erupts as a flash of
light when the sperm meets the egg.
God is light and everything related to Him is light, so it’s not
surprising that this phenomenon would take place when the human
spirit is created at conception. It is possibly God’s signature
revealing His handiwork at creation.
Conception is the work of the Holy Spirit to create life between a
man and a woman, and irrespective of the developmental stage of
the embryo, it is an eternal spirit being.
The human spirit is eternal and never ceases to exist at the point of
physical death. It came from God who is the “Father of spirits” as
we saw earlier in Hebrews 12:9. That’s where the spirits of babies
come from.
Romans 7:9  For I was alive without the law once: but when the
commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 
Paul is saying that before he reached the age of accountability (to
know right from wrong) his spirit was alive unto God – in fellowship
with God. But, “when the commandment came…” – when he got
old enough to know the difference between right and wrong,
because of the fallen fleshly nature of man, that fleshly nature
dominated and sin revived and he died.
His spirit was no longer in fellowship with God and that’s the
reason that he had to be born again – his spirit has to be reborn.
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The spirit of man is in a state of innocence in a baby until the time
of accountability when the mind consciously makes a decision to
either accept or reject Jesus as Lord.

One of the purposes of the soul was to control the body and
perform the right actions physically. This is done using his 5 senses,
his mental faculties and his logical reasoning abilities – constituting
his physical personality. We will study on this further in the later
chapters.

Please remember:
We all are Thinking Beings created in the image of a Thinking God!
This means that We Think; We choose; We create intrinsically! We
are more than a Computer!

 POINTS TO PONDER 
 Do you know that you were created in the image of God?
 Did you know that knowing God is not just something we do
with our physical senses, but it is more on a spiritual basis?
 Have you had the experience of being filled with the Holy
Spirit? Share some of your experiences in your small group.

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Chapter 2 i. The Fall of Man

Spirit, Soul & Body – The Main Functions
1. Spirit of man & Communication to God
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth.
We see in John 4:24 that God is a Spirit. The part of man that is
created in God’s image is his spirit. The correct and the most
effective way to communicate with God is through the spirit – the
same class of beings.
Adam’s spirit came from God. His spirit was connected to the life
(zoe) that came from God. This life sustained his whole being.
God had fellowship with Adam every day in the Garden of Eden –
spirit to Spirit1 communication. Adam was more spirit-conscious
than he was body/ self-conscious.
That is why scripture says that even though they were naked, they
felt no shame.
After God put man in the Garden of Eden, God gave a specific
command.
Genesis 2:15-17
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of
Eden to tend and keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree
of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not
eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
We see that God said the day he eats of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil he will “surely die”.
In the original Hebrew text, we do not find the phrase “surely die”.
Instead, the word “die” (mûth) is used twice implicating two
deaths. It means that the day the human eats of the fruit of that
tree, he will die once and then because of the first death, he will
die again.

Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and
were not ashamed.

1
The spirit in man is indicated with a small s; and the Spirit of God is indicated
with a capital S, throughout this booklet.

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The first death is “spiritual death” or the separation of the spirit
from the life of God and the second death is “physical death” or
the separation of the spirit from the body. So, it simply means that
he will die spiritually and then later die physically. This is why we
see Adam lived for a further 900 years before he died physically.
When Adam disobeyed God and sinned against God, his spirit died
or was separated from the life that came from God. The part of
him that was exactly like God was cut-off from God.
Adam’s spirit now became devoid of the life force that came from
God – he died spiritually. What was left now, was only the soul and
the body. He was now unable to communicate to God with his
spirit. His spirit still continues to exist, but separated from God.
Thus, began man’s quest to seek and communicate to God, who is
a spirit, using his soul and body – and religion was formed! Now
communication with God involved his senses, his mind, his intellect
and the physical actions performed by his body.
The immediate consequence of spiritual death was - “self-
consciousness” bringing fear, nakedness and shame and also a “sin
consciousness,” instead of “God consciousness”. Adam and Eve
knew they were not in right standing with God anymore.
Genesis 3:7-8
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that
they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the
garden.
We see here that everything of creation changed. The curse of the
law of sin and death entered the world system.
Every person born from Adam was born with this nature – where
they are more dominated by their soul and body, or in other
words flesh-dominated – “CARNALLY MINDED”.
Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and
begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named
him Seth.
We see the primary reason why a child chooses to be disobedient
and selfish (despite not being taught to do so) is the inherent sin
nature. They are born with this dominating flesh nature. Though a
child’s spirit is from God, he/she continues to choose wrong even
after they attain the age of accountability. We can see that their
flesh nature dominates and their spirit is still separated from God.
This is why they have to be born-again (or, recreated anew) in their
spirit.
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So because of the first man’s sin (offence) and disobedience, all
men who came from him are made sinners and are subject to
judgement.
Romans 5:17-19
17  For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more
they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)  again – created new in the image of God – exactly like Jesus.
18  Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all
men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free
gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 
19  For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so
by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.  2 Corinthians 5:17- 18
ii. Born-again recreated spirit
As we saw above, all men born from Adam are born in Adam’s
image - with the sin nature dominating their flesh and their spirits
become separated from God and they are spiritually dead. So if
they die physically (when their unsaved, dead spirit is separated
from their body), they are separated from God for ever (eternal
death). They cannot enter heaven. As soon as they die, their spirit
immediately goes to hell.
Everyone born of a woman from Adam is spiritually dead.
That is why we need to be born-again – recreated brand new in
the spirit.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to
you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God."
We must understand here that when one accepts the finished work
of Jesus and receives His Lordship, his/her spirit becomes born-
The Scripture says they become a New Creation.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old
things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
18 Now all things are of God, …
The Literal Greek translation of that verse says that on being born
again we are a brand-new species of being that never existed
before – a brand new created being that is 100% like God. We
must remember that everything about this newly created person
is 100% like God.
At the same time, we must understand that a natural person (the
one who is not born again) can’t know things of the Spirit of God
because their spirit is dead and disconnected from God. To their
natural senses, such things are foolishness.
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1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
So we must remember that:
A. Our spirit was instantly and completely recreated (brand
new), when we received Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
B. Everything we will ever need in the Christian life is
already present in its entirety in our spirit.
C. At this very moment, our born-again spirit is as perfect
and complete as it will ever be throughout all eternity.
D. Our spirit is—right now—as perfect, mature, and
complete as Jesus Himself.
iii. Serve and worship God with the spirit
The right way to serve God and worship God is with our spirit.
That is why Jesus said in John 4:24, that God is seeking those who
worship Him in spirit.
Paul also said in Romans 1:9, that he serves God with his spirit.
Romans 1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in
the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you
always in my prayers;
iv. Spirit man – the inward man – the real person
In Romans 2:28-29, Paul brings a clear distinction between outward
body and the inward man.
Romans 2:28-19
28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that
circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that
of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is
not of men, but of God.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27, that he (his spirit man) kept his
body under. We see Paul is clearly differentiating the body and the
spirit.
1 Corinthians 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into
subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I
myself should be a castaway.
v. Where is Man’s spirit?
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Proverbs 20:27 gives us the location of the spirit and its activity.

Proverbs 20:27  The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD,

searching all the inward parts of the belly. 

Jesus used the same words in John 7:38. 2. The Human Body

John 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out Our body is the tent / dwelling place for our human spirit. Without
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 
the spirit, the body is dead.

It is the dwelling place for the Human spirit and the Holy Spirit.
It plays a primary role to make tangible and visible changes in the
 POINTS TO PONDER 
earth.
 Did you know that the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden
delinked Adam and Eve and their subsequent generation
James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith
from the fellowship they had with God?
without works is dead also.
 Have you been able to realise that your flesh has a nature
and it is not God’s nature?
To bring about any physical change on the earth, we need a body
 Have you been able to differentiate between what comes
that came of (is made of) the earth. This is why evil spirits always
from your spirit / from your soul / from your body?
try to possess a body. Any spirit by itself is incapable of doing
anything on the earth without a body to perform the action.

When Adam sinned against God, God cursed the ground and
everything that came out of the ground is under the curse.

Genesis 3:17-19

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17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of
your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded
you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for
your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall
eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to
the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return."
Everything that came out of the ground is under the curse,
including the human body.
The process of physical death begins with decay and degeneration.
It is for this reason we grow old and age-related diseases and
symptoms come on the body. Wrinkles start appearing. Bones start
growing weaker and brittle; and muscles begin to deteriorate. All
these are a result of the curse, finally leading to physical death.
Even with the latest innovations in medical science, scientists are
unable to stop the ageing process. Our body continues to
regenerate and produce new cells all the time. Still the process of
ageing cannot be stopped and the fundamentals behind this is still
not fully understood by medical science.
But from the Bible, we understand that this is a result of the Law of
Sin and Death.
If you are born-again, the moment you die physically, your spirit is
in heaven with Jesus forever. Your body is on the earth, but your
spirit has left your body and is in heaven.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall
return unto God who gave it. 
2 Corinthians 5:1, 6, 8
1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we
have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens.
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in
the body, we are absent from the Lord.
8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord.
The sin nature – carnal nature, dwells in the flesh. The desires of
the flesh are powerful. They affect the soul and make a person yield
to temptations. It is a very powerful thing. Paul felt frustrated with
the body sometimes.
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from
this body of death?
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 Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the
dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will
also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who
dwells in you.
Our Body is also the House for the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit dwells in us and gives life to our mortal bodies.
The moment you receive Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, your spirit
is Born-again. Also, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells with our spirit Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed
within our body. the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have
the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Ephesians 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having We belong to Him because His Spirit dwells in us.
believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from  POINTS TO PONDER 
God, and you are not your own?
 In this section could you see how important your body is?
As we see above, our body now becomes the dwelling place for the  Did this teaching help you clear some of your false notions about
Holy Spirit. Jesus said He would send the Holy Spirit and the Holy your body?
Spirit will abide with us forever and He dwells with us and in us.  Share some experiences, and also how this teaching on the Body
has helped you.
John 14:16-17
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper,
that He may abide with you forever--
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it
neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He
dwells with you and will be in you.

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3. Soul: The Control centre of the human body and for
communication with other people.
The soul of man includes four main components. They are:
1. The Mind – The seat of our thinking, where thoughts
originate or are put in.
2. The Intellect – A part of the mind that is used to intelligently
assess situations and problems
3. The Will – The ability to make decisions based on the
outputs of the mind and the intellect.
4. Emotions – the ability to express the decisions using the
body
Everything originates in the human mind as a thought. These
thoughts originate based on what is perceived by the five natural
senses or prior experiences / information or could also originate
from spiritual sources (God or demonic forces).
We must understand that whatever is in the mind is then analysed
by the intellect, triggering further thoughts and finally a decision is
made by the human will. The body then expresses this decision
using words with emotions or by physical action.
The human Soul has two main functions:
a. To control the Human body.
Primarily the human soul controls the body and the functions of its
organs. We can understand this with the help of the following
illustration.
Imagine this: if we want to pick up a glass of water from a counter
top, our Mind has to think about it, and then we have to see it
physically to confirm its location. After this, our Will makes a
decision to lift our hand, move it accordingly, and pick up the glass.
But just in case, our hand moves without our permission, then
there is something wrong.
The human body reacts to what is happening in the soul. If a
thought that comes in the mind evokes an emotion full of anger,
the body reacts accordingly by performing works that may induce
hurt or destruction to other people and property. Also, the body
may react by speaking words that may induce emotional hurt to
other people.
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In addition to the above, there are occasions when certain
thoughts, pictures or words have the ability to trigger emotions of
care, concern and love.
Thoughts about certain favourite foods can trigger a hunger pang.
Sometimes the names of certain food or pictures or videos of food
can stimulate certain reactions in your body.
Psalms 44:25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; Our body
clings to the ground.
Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…
Let us understand this thought further. As written in the above
scriptures, no man speaks or does anything unless he first thinks
about it. We think about something in our mind first. Then we
speak about it and then with our body we make provisions for it
and get it done.
For example, if we desire to buy a car, we will first think about it.
We continue this process by thinking about all the cars we like.
Then with our intellect, we analyse our financial situation and
compare the prices and features of the cars that we like and with
our will we make a decision to which model and make of car you
would buy. Then with your mouth you speak about it and then get
up and act on it with your body.
Another good example that we see from the scriptures is in 1
Chronicles 22, where King David desires to make a House for the
Lord. But the Lord told him that he would not do it, but his son
Solomon would do it. So, King David makes provisions for it.
1 Chronicles 22:7-8
7 And David said to Solomon: "My son, as for me, it was in my
mind to build a house to the name of the Lord my God;
8 but the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'You have shed
much blood and have made great wars; you shall not build a
house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the
earth in My sight.
As we have seen above, David says, it was in his mind to build a
house for the Lord. He was thinking about it. What he thought, he
spoke. Even though the Lord told him he would not be doing it, the
thoughts about it motivated him to move and make provisions for
the building.
1 Chronicles 22:14-16
14 Indeed I have taken much trouble to prepare for the house of the
Lord one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million
talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond measure, for it is
so abundant. I have prepared timber and stone also, and you
may add to them.
15 Moreover there are workmen with you in abundance: woodsmen
and stonecutters, and all types of skillful men for every kind of
work.
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16 Of gold and silver and bronze and iron there is no limit. Arise
and begin working, and the Lord be with you."
b. To communicate with other People
Anytime we talk to someone or try to communicate the things in
our soul, the person hearing us also uses his soul to process the
information we give them. He thinks what he heard. He uses his
intellect to analyse the information he received. With his will, he
makes a decision to agree to it and approve it or not. With his
words and his emotions, he will convey his decision to us.
In 1 Chronicles we see that David was so consumed with the
thoughts of building the temple for God that he made provisions
for it even though he was not permitted by God to construct it. God
told him that his son Solomon would be building it instead. So, after
he has communicated this to Solomon, we see him tell Solomon to
“Arise and begin working…” Solomon received this information and
was convinced about it that he finally builds the most famous
temple.
Every form of communication with another person is primarily a
soul-to-soul communication irrespective of the means used for it.
We maintain relationships and friendships through the soul. Love
and care are expressed and felt through the soul. Anger is
expressed through the soul, and so is the case with rebellion.
Even our basic communication via phone or email is soul-to-soul
communication..
Every time we watch a movie, read the news, browse through
Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp, it is our soul that is working and
processing all the information and causing us to react to it with our
bodies.
The Power of Your Imagination
Our imagination is our ability to render the image of what we
hope for (confidently expect) in our mind, even before it happens.
It is our God-given ability to see ourselves in the will of God, based
on the word of God.
Every word that we hear is rendered as an image in our mind.
For example when you hear someone say, “Dog”, you immediately
see the image of a dog in your mind. You do not see the letters
DOG pop up in your mind. It could be the image of any dog familiar
to you. The word “imagine” can also be interpreted as “Image IN”.
Before you decide to buy a car or a bike, you see images of the bike
in your mind. You also see yourselves driving the vehicle. This is a
very powerful tool that only human beings possess.
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Every innovation in technology, master works of art, architecture,
all originated in the imagination of someone.
We may not have thought of it before, but the devil tries to lure us
into sin by using our mind and emotions. He injects thoughts into
our mind and emotions that act as stimulants to get us all stirred up
in a certain area of our life. At that moment, we are consciously
aware that we can let the temptation pass us by — or we can allow
those thoughts to fester in our mind and take root in our emotions
until they become a major stronghold in our mind to battle and
conquer. By refusing to accept the thoughts in the first place, we
can avoid the whole struggle!
It is similar to a sexual temptation. We can choose to turn and look
the other way, or we can dwell on that temptation until it fills our
mind and imagination. If we choose to meditate on the thought
that the devil is trying to put into our head, it won’t be too long
until the devil is waging a full-scale battle in our mind! If we don’t
put on the brakes and stop those thoughts, the devil will conquer
us.
That’s why it’s so important that we learn how to control our
thinking. If we can keep our mind under the control of the Holy
Spirit, we will make it almost impossible for the devil to defeat us in
any realm of our life.
Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in
the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually.
The fallen nature of humanity with the weakness of the flesh
constantly and continually welcomes these vain and destructive
thoughts.
After destroying the original world with the flood, God himself is
telling us that man’s imagination is evil from his youth.
Genesis 8:21b …for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his
youth;
The devil is a master when it comes to mind’s manipulation. He
knows that if he can get us to spend a little time meditating on
something wrong, he can eventually entice us to do it! If the devil
was persuasive enough to deceive brilliant, mighty, powerful
angels, how much more easily can he deceive people. The
emotional makeup of human beings makes them even more
susceptible to the devil’s masterful skills of lying, deception, and
manipulation.
Pride was the cause of devil’s fall from heaven. This very nature has
been transferred to humankind after the fall. This pride was the
reason why the people started to build the tower of Babel in the
land of Shinar.
6

God himself acknowledged that what the people imagined doing,
they would indeed be able to accomplish.
Genesis 11:5-6
5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the
children of men builded.
6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all
one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will
be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
You walk out your imaginations
Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and
drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
The word “temptation” is the Greek word peirasmos, and it may
refer to any outside source that appeals to a weakness in our
flesh. That appeal pulls us like a magnet; it lures us mentally,
emotionally, and sensually; it fascinates the imagination; it entices
the flesh to take a closer peek.
If you don’t stop this process, it will set its hook in our soul and haul
us right smack dab into the middle of some kind of sin! We end up
walking out what we were thinking in.
Jeremiah 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of
the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the
name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any
more after the imagination of their evil heart.
Jeremiah 7:24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but
walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil
heart, and went backward, and not forward.
Jeremiah 9:14 But have walked after the imagination of their own
heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
Jeremiah 13:10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words,
which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after
other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as
this girdle, which is good for nothing.
Jeremiah 16:12 And ye have done worse than your fathers; for,
behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil
heart, that they may not hearken unto me:
It is important to note here that if our spirit and mind are invaded
by information or images that are evil, the entrance of those
images into our mind and spirit can wreak havoc in our life for years
to come.
Our mind is like a movie screen — and what we allow into our mind
continues to live in our imagination for a very long time.
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So instead of watching, reading, or listening to a lot of evil garbage
that will clog up our mind for years, why not take a safer and
smarter route? In other words, don’t allow that garbage to enter
our mind in the first place!
We say what we imagine and then we work it out
Jeremiah 18:12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk
after our own devices, and we will every one do the
imagination of his evil heart.
Jeremiah 23:17 They say still unto them that despise me, The
LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every
one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No
evil shall come upon you.
It was for this reason that Paul urged us, “Casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to
the obedience of Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ;
The words “bringing into captivity” are from the Greek word
aichmalotidzo, which pictured a soldier who has captured an
enemy and now leads him into captivity with the point of a
sharpened spear thrust into the flesh in his back.
The captured enemy knows that if he tries to move or get away, the
Roman soldier will shove that spear clear through his torso and kill
him. Therefore, this captive doesn’t dare move but remains silent,
submissive, and non-resistant.
The word “strong holds” is the Greek word ochurōma, which
generally means a castle or a fortress. The only weapon that can
bring this castle or fortress of lies down is the Word of God.
James 1:21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of
wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is
able to save your souls.
The moment we begin to ignore God’s Word and cease to apply it
to our life on a daily basis, we will start to lose our sense of
righteousness and peace. We will find that the devil will start
attacking our mind more and more, trying to fill it with lies and vain
imaginations.
We see, when we remove God’s Word from its rightful place at the
very core of our life, it won’t be long until we will begin to
spiritually come apart at the seams!
3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest
prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
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  POINTS TO PONDER 
There is nothing good in our flesh and it constantly wars against our  Were you able to see how powerful your soul is?
soul and our born-again spirit.  Have you ever thought about your imaginations, and the
influence it has on your life?
1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and  How has this teaching on the Human Soul and imaginations
pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; helped you?

Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it
is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

So, we should continue to renew our mind with God’s ways of

thinking as revealed in His word. His word is the truth. He cannot
lie. This will be like an anchor to our soul and would hold it down
steady irrespective of what the devil tries to toss at it.

Hebrews 6:18-19
18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for
God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and
stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

God cannot lie. So His word has to come to pass if we believe it

and speak it. That word in our hearts and minds is like a strong
anchor to our soul and does not let it waver and be tossed to and fro
and be affected by everything around us.

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Words: The Building blocks of the Soul
The primary thing that affects our soul is words. We live in a voice-
created, voice-controlled, voice-activated world. The world we see
was created by words that came from God’s mouth. We were made
in the image of God. The words we open ourselves to through our
senses and the words we speak are important. Further, our words
affect us and our circumstances. In fact, they affect everything that
concern us.
Nothing happens on the earth until words are spoken about it. For
example, if we desire to build a house, we would first think about it
and express our thoughts by words. The words we say releases the
creative force that enables us in building that house. Encouraging
and discouraging words, both affect our soul. This in turn impact
the decisions we make and the actions we take.
What we expose ourselves to – the videos we watch, the news we
read and hear, social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter etc. all affect our soul and the decisions we make. The plain
fact is the more we expose ourselves to the things of the world, the
more we act like the world.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The Bible warns us not to be conformed to the world and its
patterns and its ways of thinking. However, it asks us to by
transformed in our outward man, our outward expressions, our
lifestyle by renewing our mind – our thoughts – our soul. This way
we can fulfil the good, acceptable and perfect will of God.
Now the question is: how can we renew our mind? How does it
happen?
James 1:21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of
wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word,
which is able to save your souls.
Only the word of God can renew your mind and save our souls. The
Word of God is primarily God’s words – words spoken by God
himself or spoken by His appointed and anointed people, by the
working of His Holy Spirit. We can also say it is full of God’s
thoughts. What God thought about, He spoke out and it has been
written down for us.
Let us look a little deeper into James 1:21.
This verse tells us what we need to do in order to truly receive and
absorb the Word of God into our lives and not just be superficial
hearers of the Word.
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The phrase lay apart means to lay something down and push it
beyond reach so that it cannot be easily retrieved. It is a
deliberate decision to make a permanent change of attitude and
behavior. It is the same Greek word used to depict the purposeful
removal of old, dirty clothes.
When we hear the Word of God and we come to the realization that an
area in our life doesn’t line up with the Word, we have to decide to “take
off ” or remove what is wrong.
Simply recognizing that something in us is not right will not bring change.
We have to make a decision and take action. This is actually repentance
— deciding to embrace the truth and to change something in our lives or
to turn from a wrong direction in which we were headed.
Lay apart simply means to put enough space between you and that old,
dirty thing in your life that you cannot easily reach over and pick it up
again. When you have done something for a long time, it becomes a
habit, and it is very easy to pick that habit back up and continue in it. In
order to make a permanent break from patterns of wrong thinking and
behavior, you have to “lay it apart” — push it far enough away from you
that you can’t reach it and put it back on again.
The word filthiness describes something obnoxiously filthy, vile, or
soiled; something that is extremely base. It is especially used to
denote filthy, smelly clothes.
When we have a way of thinking, believing, or acting that is wrong
— and we allow it to continue in our lives unchecked — God’s
Word says it stinks with an unbearable stench. If we know that
what we are thinking, believing, or doing goes against God’s Word,
it is a type of grimy filthiness that we need to “lay apart” from our
lives.
We are also told to lay apart superfluity of naughtiness. The word
superfluity describes something excessive and so profuse that it
can be likened to a swollen river that is overflowing and flooding
its banks. In other words, if we don’t get a grip on what is wrong in
our lives, it will become worse and worse until it eventually flows
into every area of our lives.
Naughtiness means something bad, evil, foul, or rank. It is putrid
and has a dreadful stench. Once a believer comes to the realization
that his thoughts, words, or actions are wrong, he has a choice to
make. He can remain in that situation because it requires too much
effort to change, or he can do whatever is necessary to break free.
Instead of tolerating filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness in our lives,
we are to obey God’s instruction to take them off, lay them down, and
push them so far away that we cannot reach them to pick them up
again.
As we lay apart filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, we are
to receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to
save your souls (James 1:21).
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The term engrafted describes something that is engrafted, or
implanted, in us later in life. It is not something which we were The “engrafted” Word of God “is able to save your souls.” The word save
born with. is the Greek word sodzo, which means salvation; wholeness in every part
of life in an eternal or temporal sense. The Word brings salvation that
releases delivering and healing power resulting in wholeness. That is
The best illustration is someone undergoing an organ transplant. If
what the power of God’s Word will do in your soul.
a major organ in your body — such as your heart — were to fail,
you would not live unless you received another one. The heart you
Think about what happens when you hear the Word of God. The truths
receive would not be from your body originally. It would be a come into you like a donated organ that is desperately needed to save
transplanted heart from another body. And your body would need your life. Yet as these godly principles and truths enter your soul, an
to accept that heart and not reject it. internal alarm is sometimes sounded.
Innately, the body knows the organ is not original to that body, and
it begins treating it as a foreign object. Deliberate measures must It is as if your mind says,” Wait a minute! These principles go against my
be taken for the body to receive the new organ. established belief system and what I’ve learned in the past.” Then your
In a sense, your body would have to receive that organ with emotions chime in, “This just doesn’t feel right. What I’m hearing makes
meekness. me uncomfortable.” Similar to the way the human body reacts to
receiving an organ transplant, your soul will attempt to reject the Word of
God.
Meekness is not weakness. It depicts the picture of a strong-willed
person who has learned to submit his will to a higher authority. He has
In order for a transplanted organ to be accepted and take root in a
decided to deny his own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and to
person’s body, that person has to take medication — often for the rest of
deliberately submit to someone else in order to receive what he has to
his or her life. Because the “engrafted” organ is foreign to the body, the
say or to impart. He has chosen to deny what he thinks and how he feels
body often attempts to reject it. However, if the patient stays on the
about things and to deliberately put his trust in someone else in order to
medication and submits to the wise care of his doctor, the organ will be
prosper and receive from that person.
likely accepted and begin to function properly, saving the person’s life.
This means, the only way God’s Word will take root in you and save your
soul is if you receive it with meekness. That is, you have to say no to your
This is precisely what we must do with the Word of God. We must will-
own opinions, views, and ways, and open your heart to hear and obey the
fully and deliberately submit to the wise and tender care of God’s Word.
Word.

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Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a
future and a hope.
God’s thoughts are expressed by His words, exactly the same way
our thoughts are expressed by our words.
So, the more time we spend reading, studying and meditating on
God’s words, we are planting God’s thoughts in our minds and
hearts. The more we do so, the more our thinking is renewed and
made like God’s thinking.
The more we think like God, the more we begin speaking like God.
And, the more we speak like God, the more we begin getting
results like God.
God’s word is His will. So, the more we think like Him by renewing
our mind with His words and thoughts, we incline ourselves to
doing His will and His purposes in our lives, the way He intends to
do it.
After being born again, the rest of our Christian life consists simply
of renewing and releasing.
 POINTS TO PONDER 
 As you renew your mind and believe God’s Word, your soul will
agree with what is already transpired in your spirit.
 When your spirit and soul agree, you release and experience the
life of God.
 When your body and soul agree, you cut off the supernatural flow
of life from your spirit.
 What is in your born-again spirit must flow through your soul in
order to get out to your body and the physical world around it.
This will happen only if our soul is renewed by the word of God.
Hence, we must remember that an un-renewed mind is carnally
minded and it leads to death.
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace.
We see that Carnal-mindedness is allowing our mind to be
dominated by what we can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel.
“Carnal” literally means “of the five senses,” or “sensual.”
Carnal-mindedness does not necessarily mean “sinful”-mindedness.
A person is carnally minded when his/her thoughts centre primarily
on the physical realm.
Spiritual-mindedness releases the flow of God’s life in us, but
carnal-mindedness shuts it off.
Simply put, the above verse states that
 Carnal-mindedness = death
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  Spiritual-mindedness = life and peace.
“Death” means “anything that’s a result of sin.” In this fallen
world, being dominated by your natural senses produces death.
When your thoughts are dominated by what the Word says, you
are spiritually-minded.
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.
The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
As we read in Isaiah, it does not matter what our physical
circumstances may be—God can keep us in perfect peace.
Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is
stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.
As our mind stays on Him, our soul agrees with our spirit, and God’s
peace is released into our soul and body.
Believers shouldn’t live like lost people, who are trapped in their
carnal, physical world.
Ephesians 4:17-18
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no
longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of
their mind,
18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the
life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of
the blindness of their heart;
19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness.
The word Gentile denotes a non-Jew, someone who is not in
covenant relationship with God. As we understand from the above
verse, Unbelievers do not use their minds to perceive spiritual
truth. We must understand here that if we do not renew our mind
and use it to study and meditate God’s Word, it will automatically
gravitate toward what we can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel.
The knowledge of God is critical, but must be understood to be
useful. Without understanding, we cannot release the life in it.
When a Christian walks like an unbeliever, they get the same
result—death.
When a believer’s understanding is darkened (v18), he/she is
alienated from the life of God within himself/herself through
ignorance. Most Christians live their lives separated from the life of
God within due to their own ignorance of spiritual truth.
Lewdness / Lasciviousness (v 19) means being controlled by what
we feel. Most people have gone beyond simply receiving sensory
input to being dominated by it. An important thing we must
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remember: our feelings were designed to follow what we think,
and not to lead the way.

 POINTS TO PONDER 

 Have you seen how important our words can be? Do you recall
any instance when you created something positive with your
words?
 In your relationship as a parent/child/spouse have you wondered
how your words can make or break things?
 Do you understand the importance of God’s Word in your life
now?

Diagrammatic Representation of the Spirit, Soul & Body

As we see from the figures above:

A. The outer circle is our body. It is the part we can see and
feel.
B. The inner circle is our soul. It cannot be seen, but can be
felt. Also, it touches both our body and our spirit.
C. The innermost circle represents our spirit. Although it is
the centre of who we are, it can’t be seen or felt. It is
completely surrounded by our soul.

Our spirit is the core of our being (the real we), our life-giving part.
Our spirit has no direct access to our physical body. Everything that
comes out from our spirit to our body must go through our mental,

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emotional part. Our soul acts as a valve in between our spirit and
our body. The flow of God’s supernatural life from our spirit to our
body (natural realm) depends on how open our soul is.

Chapter 3

Spirit vs. Flesh

Once we are born again, the rest of the Christian life is learning to
walk in the spirit, which is letting what God has done through the
new birth dominate us more than your physical and emotional
realm.

We must remember that we are spirit beings, based so on God’s

word. Our spirit man (or, inner man) should always dominate us
instead of our outer self (which is soul and body). This will be a
difficult task since this inner self (or, spirit) is something we cannot
see with our eyes or perceive with our sense organs.

6

We must perceive our spirit by faith in God’s Word because we
can’t see or feel it. All we have to do is start basing our thoughts,
actions, and identity on who we are in Christ. As long as our flesh is
contrary to our spirit, we will have conflict.
Galatians 5:16-18
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of
the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not
do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
From these above verses we realise that our flesh and our spirit are
always contrary to each other. The word “Contrary” means
“opposed, enemies, adversaries.”
This conflict between our spirit and flesh is our true spiritual
warfare. We cannot please God in our flesh.
Romans 8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
We must understand that living after the flesh brings all forms of
death.
Romans 8:12-13
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live
according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the
Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We must realise that our flesh is Satan’s channel to bring death into
our life.
As a born-again believer, our flesh is made up of our soulish and
physical realms. Paul teaches us that God now deals with people
based on His grace, not their performance. This raised the question
in Romans 6:1:
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound?
The answer, of course, is:
Romans 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any
longer therein?
Our spirit is the part of us that is dead to sin. But our body and soul
can still do sinful things, while the born-again part of us cannot
(which is the spirit).
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When we were born again, we were baptized into His death.
Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into
Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
As we read from the verse above, being baptized into His death is
automatic, but walking in newness of life is not.
Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Manifesting newness of life is something that should happen—but
it depends on how we renew our mind.
Romans 6:5-6
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this…
The great truth here is that our spirit has died to sin; therefore, it
cannot sin. Moreover, our spirit has no desire for sin; but this does
not automatically mean that our soul and body will reflect that
change.
Our walking in resurrection life depends upon us:
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him,
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth, we should
not serve sin.
The term “Old man” refers to the spirit we had prior to salvation.
Our old man no longer exists because it has been crucified, has
died, and was buried with Christ. Our new man is now who we are
in the spirit. The tussle that we are dealing with is between the
spirit and the flesh.
Our old man was crucified with Him, but then the body of sin has to
be destroyed. When we die physically, we leave a body behind.
Let us understand it this way: our old man, the unsaved old spirit
man was crucified with Christ. He died with Christ on the cross. We
are born again. Now, this born-again righteous man still lives in the
same body with the weaknesses in the flesh. So, when we die, we
actually leave this body behind
This earthly body cannot go to heaven, because flesh and blood
cannot enter the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit
incorruption.
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This is a corruptible mortal body. During the Rapture, when the
Resurrection from the dead occurs, This earthly mortal body will be
resurrected to a glorious body. It is just like the very body Jesus
had at his Resurrection.
This is explained by Paul in Philippians, as seen below:
Philippians 3:20-21
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able
even to subdue all things unto himself.
Further, James states:
James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith
without works is dead also.
As we all know, physical death occurs when our spirit leaves your
body. Even though our spirit is gone, our physical body can look
exactly the same as it did while alive, for a brief period of time.
When we were born again, our old sin nature left behind a body.
Our old man was crucified, has died, and now is gone, but its effects
are still being felt through our physical body and unrenewed mind.
Our natural mind was programmed to act like the child of the
devil that we were, before receiving the Lord (Eph. 2:1-2).
Ephesians 2:1-2
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
This means our physical mind will continue functioning like a
computer under its prior programming until we renew it according
to God’s Word. While we have one nature, we have two minds.
The important point to be remembered here is that we only have
one nature—the new one. But we do have two different minds—
the unrenewed mind (of our flesh) and the mind of Christ (of our
spirit).
As we reprogram/renew our natural mind to think like our spirit,
we will experience the life and power of God within us. Our physical
mind decides whether our spirit or our flesh will dominate us. If we
do not renew it with God’s Word, our natural mind will
automatically gravitate towards what it can see, taste, hear, smell,
and feel – which is all on a physical level.
We must get into God’s Word and mix it with faith in order to be
led by our spirit.
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Galatians 5:16 Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of
the flesh.
We can mistake something that comes so naturally to us today as
our “nature.” But in reality, this nature is something that we have
learnt over the years. The reason we still do some of the things we
do is because we have not renewed our mind.
After we have been born again, the “flesh” is not really describing a
“sinful nature,” but more accurately refers to every thought,
emotion, desire, and part of us that is not under the control of our
brand-new, righteous spirit.
Technically speaking, what is true of the Holy Spirit is also true of
our born-again spirit because they are one.
1 Corinthians 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
Since there are no capital letters in the Greek, translators decided
from the context of a passage whether to render it “Spirit” or
“spirit.” Either way—Holy Spirit or born-again spirit—the same
point is made.
Galatians 5:16 Walk in the Spirit [spirit], and ye shall not fulfil the
lust of the flesh.
The thoughts, desires, patterns, and habits that were established in
us through the old sinful nature will begin to diminish as we choose
to be dominated by our spirit instead. We can break all of those
things off because in our spirit, we are already free. It is just a
matter of renewing our mind and beginning to see who we are in
Christ manifest.
 POINTS TO PONDER 
 Did this section help you learn something about your spirit?
 Did you realise that your spirit is created in the very image of God
and can commune with God?
 Have you ever faced any situation wherein you felt that your flesh
and your spirit were struggling against each other?
Chapter 4
The Renewed Mind
In the previous chapter we understood we have two different
minds—the unrenewed mind (flesh) and the mind of Christ (spirit).
A truly born-again person does not really want to continue living in
the flesh. Therefore, the question is how to renew the mind from
the old ways of thinking as Romans 12:2 suggests.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
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The solution to this matter is found in James 1:21 & 22.
James 1:21-22
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness,
and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to
save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving
your own selves.
James 1:22 says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers
only, deceiving your own selves.”
In the Greek, “be ye doers” essentially means be ye becoming. In
other words, start where you are and begin doing something in
obedience to what the Word says.
The word “doer” is the Greek word poieo, and it means to
creatively do something. It is where we get the word “poet.” A poet
has a creative flare for expressing thoughts and ideas. By using the
word poieo, the Bible is saying, “Don’t wait until it is convenient or
easy to obey the Word. Find a way to creatively do what God says
to do.”
The phrase “hearers only” is from the Greek word akroates. This
term was used to describe individuals who audited a class rather
than taking it for credit. Hence, it depicted a hearer only or one
who had no intention of applying what he heard. This person
merely attended the class, but had no serious plans to implement
what was taught.
James 1:21 tells us that there are two kinds of Christians:
1. A Doer, or one who hears the Word of God and does whatever he
can to creatively obey what it says.
2. A Hearer only — one who shows up and is physically present to
hear the Word, but mentally and spiritually, he is disengaged.
That is, he has no serious intentions of doing what the Word says.
James 1:22 concludes with the words “deceiving your own selves.”
The word deceiving essentially means to make a miscalculation. It
is a library term that depicts a scholar placing documents side-by-
side to compare and analyze the information.
Basically, James is saying, “If you think things are going to improve
and be great just because you hear the Word, you have made a
tragic miscalculation — your analysis is wrong.”
Yes, you need to hear the Word, but you must also find a way to
creatively put it into practice. You are called by Christ to be His
“disciple” (mathetes) — a committed learner who does what he
hears.
It is only the engrafted or implanted Word of God in the person’s
mind that is able to renew his mind or change his way of thinking.
Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your
soul shall live; …
How is this possible?
It is simple. The Word of God came out of God’s mouth. Before it
was released out of His mouth, it was in his thoughts. It is the same
with any human. We speak what we think about.
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God definitely has thoughts. But we have to make the choice to renew our mind. We cannot be
forced to do it. As James 1:21 says, we have to “lay apart all
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness”. We have to do it. Then
saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you receive and implant the Word. Then do what the word says.
an expected end.
It is a constant work in progress.
What God thought about, He spoke and His words do not return
empty. It will go forth and accomplish that which it was sent forth In closing, let me explain this to you:
to do. The Word of God is the will of God. The more we will be careful to
obey the written will of God by obeying what the Word says, we
Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:
will step into doing the unwritten will of God. The Unwritten will of
it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that
God means things like whom to marry, where to work, which
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
city/country to relocate to, etc. But as we continue to be willing
and obedient to the Word of God, we will surely enjoy the fruit of
So, the more time we spend reading and meditating on the word of
the land. This is in line with the scriptures:
God, we are spending time meditating on God’s thoughts or God’s
way of thinking. Gradually, our thoughts and ways of thinking will
Isaiah 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of
align itself with God’s way of thinking. Basically, we start thinking
the land…
like God.
When we think like God, we speak like God. And, when we speak
like God, we act like God. Moreover, when we speak and act like
God, we will get God kind of results, because His words do not
 POINTS TO PONDER 
return void. It starts affecting our outward actions.
 What does renewal of mind mean? How does speaking
The more we implant the Word of God in our minds and hearts, God’s word help?
and do it, we become more Christ like.

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  How did this book affect you? Have you been able to learn Send me an email @ jojilalu@gmail.com
something new from the scriptures?
 Has this teaching removed some of your past For Prayer Requests:
confusions/false notions? Call @ +91 99451 28232

Chapter 5

Salvation Prayer

Have you ever made Jesus the Lord and Savior of your
life?

If not, pray this prayer and start a new life in Christ.

Dear God,
I come to You in the Name of Jesus. I admit that I am not right with
You, and I want to be right with You. I ask You to forgive me of all
my sins. The Bible says if I confess with my mouth that “Jesus is
Lord,” and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead, I
will be saved (Rom. 10:9). I believe with my heart and I confess with
my mouth that Jesus is the Lord and Savior of my life. Thank You for
saving me!
In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.

If you prayed this prayer for the first time, we would like to know.