Today’s message will be a powerful message of revelation for some of you. It is a message that answers a question we never ask. Why do we find it so difficult to change our ways when we know continuing in the way we are heading is not good for us? How many of you have ever stopped to ask yourself, “Why won’t I change?” Sometimes, when we listen to the Lord continually, He gives us answers to questions we never thought to ask, or that we are afraid to ask. Today will be one of those days for many of you. You will not change your ways because the longing of your soul for the things you desire is stronger than the longing of the desires your spirit has for you. Your longing will go unsatisfied until you allow your spirit to rule your soul. You must learn to change easily.
Here is why I say that. Our souls are our humanity. The soul is the place from where all our wants and desires come. It is the place of our emotions and our needs. Our soul responds to the things of the world. If you live more like you are of the world, your soul will rule. The way you look at life and the way you approach satisfying the desires of your heart will determined by your soul. Our souls are the place where we look at ourselves and take care of ourselves. If we need a job, we may pray that the Lord will bless us with a job. But often we ask this because our practical and emotional needs for work dominate the moment in which we live.
Our spirits are the place in our lives that are focused on God. Our spirits try to teach our souls to be converted from focusing on ourselves to focusing on God. But this is hard for many of us to hear and even harder to understand. Our souls will say to our spirits, “I am focused on the Lord, which is why I prayed and asked Him for help.” But our spirits respond to us by helping us see that when our lives are really focused on God and not on ourselves, we would pray, “Lord, what now?” When we tell the Lord we need work, or we need a friend, or we need a favor, we are speaking from our souls for our souls. But when we ask the Lord what now, we are coming at Him from our spirits, asking Him to direct our minds, thoughts, and emotions so He can direct our ways.
Why do you think so many of us are unwilling to change our ways? Why do we pray for people, but those people never seem to change? It is because they do not want to change their emotions because it would change who they are. So, they do not have fulfillment because they do not change so that they can have fulfillment. Much of what you desire would change for you if you learned to change from an emotional human desiring to satisfy your soul to a spiritual person desiring to feed you spiritual growth and development. We don’t recognize when our souls fight against our spirits. Our souls focus on us. Our spirits are the things in us that are of God. Our spirits are always trying to point us toward God. So, we have a fight. The soul points us towards ourselves while our spirits tell us to look to God and ask, “What now, God?”
Scripture captures all this in Psalms 107:8-9. It says, “Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and He fills the hungry soul with goodness.” The Lord knows we are in a battle between our souls and our spirits. But He is telling us that He is the only One who can satisfy the longing of our souls. We cannot do it ourselves. A new job will not do it. A new friendship will not do it. A promotion will not do it. The only thing that can satisfy what we want in our souls is the Lord who transforms us from looking at ourselves for our needs, to looking at Him for our direction. With one question, you can starve your souls. You become one who changes quickly and easily when you learn to go to the Lord with this one simple question you’ve probably never asked: “Lord, what now?” Ask Him that today and ask Him that all the days of your life. He will give you the desires of your heart. Live a Delivered Life. Love you.
Live Delivered 