1. PROSPERITY OF THE SOUL (PART 3)

2. 3 John 2 “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

3. It is the prosperity of the soul that ensures that we get a renewed mind, controlled emotions and a submitted will. When we look at the S, S, B chat we see that your life can be governed in either two ways.

4. From outside in – body, soul, spirit. Or from inside out – spirit, soul and body.

5. SPIRIT SOUL BODY

6. However the soul needs to be prospering if the instruction from your spirit is to be communicated effectively to the body for it to carry them out.

7. The Mind The mind is the arena for generating, processing, arranging in a logical manner and storing up our thoughts and imaginations

8. It is the part of our soul where we have our intellect, imaginations and memory. The mind manifests our intellectual power, our creative power and our storage capacity.

9. Out of these arise our wisdom, knowledge, reasoning and creativity – without these mental capacity one is foolish and dull. A man’s mind occupies an important place in his life because his thoughts, imaginations and memories influence his speech and ultimately his actions.

10. “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.” Proverbs 23:7.

11. Your body will only act out what it has been told by the mind – so if the mind is not renewed you will continue acting the way you have always acted and you will continue to get the results that you have always been getting.

12. When an instruction comes from a regenerated spirit and finds an unrenewed mind that instruction is immediately frustrated and ultimately discarded.

13. But when an instruction that has its origin from God is dropped in your spirit and finds a renewed mind that instruction is quickly communicated to the body and acted out at once so that now you are walking in the spirit or after the spirit and not after the flesh.

14. The same way when an idea comes through the body to the mind so that it can be processed and acted out, when it finds a renewed mind that idea is first of all judged by the word of God and if it fails the test it is immediately discarded but if it finds an unrenewed mind it is implemented to the detriment of the spirit.

15. The mind of man constitutes of three major parts;

16. Intellect This is the part of the mind that has logical circuits– through the intellect, the man reasons, analyzes issues and draws logical conclusions.

17. Through the intellect, man makes calculations and deductions and comes to logical conclusions. This part of the mind when allowed by the man to be influenced by the spirit it has the capacity to operate in supernatural dimensions.

18. When under the control of the Holy Spirit, the intellect of a renewed mind has the capacity to tap into the mind of God and come up with ideas, thoughts and wisdom that are supernatural that can usher them into incredible levels of thinking and operations.

19. Adam before the fall had such an incredible intellect that he used it to govern the earth and all the creatures on the earth.

20. When God brought animals for him to name in Genesis chapter 2:19“And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”

21. Adam supernaturally named them and whatever he called them that is what they were called.

22. When man fell the body took leadership and now we have to fight the good fight of faith to bring our intellect under the subjection of the wisdom that comes from God.

23. When the mind is unrenewed this part of the mind called the intellect always opposes the leading of the Holy Spirit because the ways of the Spirit are foolishness to an unrenewed mind.

24. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:14 “but the natural man (the intellect of an unrenewed mind) 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.”

25. Then he continues to teach in verse 15 “but he that is spiritual – meaning the one whose mind has been renewed and now he is living from the spirit going out – (judgeth all things) that is stands and looks at his thought and judges them using the standard of the word of God.”

26. Then he concludes in verse 16 “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.”

27. 2. Imagination (the second part of the mind)

28. This is the part responsible for erecting images in man. These images can be stationary or moving images, real or fictional, images of the past, present or future.

29. Imagination is a powerful faculty in the mind of man and it is here that man paints a picture of the future he desires or aspires for. Through the imagination man has been given the ability to create and forecast how tomorrow should be like.

30. God made the imagination as a tool for man to think creatively like Him because creativity is impossible without imagination.

31. The Bible says in Job 32:8 “but there is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.”

32. When the imagination is inspired by the Spirit of God in a man with a renewed mind that man is able to come with creative ideas that have never existed before. However if the imagination is not coming from a renewed mind it brings out corrupted ideas that are demonic and completely perverted.

33. Romans 1:21 give us an example of this when the Bible says “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

34. The answer to that is located in 2 Corinthians 10:5 “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;”

35. God intended for man to use his imagination to create the future he desires “as a man thinketh (creatively imagines) so is he.”

36. 3. The memory This is the storage bank for the man; it stores images and thoughts that have been accepted by the soul.

37. The memory is the storage place for man’s experiences in life – good and bad, wicked and holy, success and failure, defeat and victory – all these is stored up here.

38. The memory is like a photographic bank and is able to bring out with great details the happenings in a persons’ life.

39. The memory will store up things that happened to us along time ago with great detail so that if we were to recite what happened to us we would do so just as if it happened yesterday.

40. When we allow the Holy Spirit to flow through our memory He brings to remembrance all the wonderful things that we have learnt or God has done.

41. Jesus said in John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

42. But when we don’t renew our minds the memory becomes a tool in the hands of the enemy to remind us of all the messes that we have been – and the failures and the defeats.

43. The Bible says that the children of Israel said to Moses in Numbers 11:5 “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:”

44. But did they also remember the lashings of whips and the making of brick and mortar, did they remember the afflictions and the pain of watching their boys being murdered by the midwives.

45. The enemy seeks to control your life though the intellect, imagination and memories that is not of God.

46. SPIRIT SOUL BODY

47. The original definition of repentance is CHANGE OF MIND. An unrenewed mind stands in enmity with God.

48. How to renew the mind.

49. 1. Learning You must commit yourself to acquire knowledge that is different from what you have had all along.

50. You must commit to unlearn all the stuff that has kept you grounded and gain new information that will liberate your mind.

51. Hosea 4:6 - “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

52. Knowledge is the key to unlock every prison door in your life. From knowledge you then get understanding. Understanding is the correct interpretation of knowledge.

53. Whereas knowledge is the gathering of information, understanding is the interpretation and analysis of that information. It is your depth of understanding that determines how outstanding you become in life.

54. 2. Meditation. Meditation is the mental processing of knowledge into understanding. Meditation is the pondering over the information to extract from it all the needed facts so that it can be acted upon.

55. Meditation is the deliberate process of consciously staying mentally framed on information until the nitty gritty of that information is released to you.

56. To meditate is to fix your mind on information until the light from that information breaks out.

57. God told Joshua in Chapter 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

58. Paul then writes in Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,

59. whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Meditate on these things – think them through.

60. 3. Tap into divine wisdom. Wisdom is the correct application of what you have understood.

61. Wisdom is the result of knowledge and understanding being put into practice in your life. Wisdom is knowing what to do after receiving light from knowledge and understanding.

62. Wisdom is the use of divine light to produce answers for questions in life. Divine wisdom guarantees the flow of divine ideas, which ultimately guarantees your unique placement in life.

63. This wisdom has its source in God who opens your mind to His mind.

64. 1 Kings 4:29-31 declares “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.

65. 30 And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

66. 31 For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.”

67. This is the wisdom that made Solomon become the richest man that ever lived – the Bible declares in 2 Chronicles 9:22-24 “And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

68. 23 And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart.

69. 24 And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.”

70. How do you tap into this wisdom? Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”

71. Living a lifestyle that fears God and pleases Him is the foremost requirement for the flow of divine wisdom.

72. Daniel 1:8 the Bible says “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat nor the wine which he drank.”

73. 17 “and God gave them knowledge and skill in all wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” This is the wisdom that God gives to those who fear Him.

74. 4. Reasoning. God expects you to renew your mind by reasoning. Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:…..”

75. To reason means to engage in rational, logical and analytical thinking. To reason means having good judgment and sound sense.

76. To reason means using your mental faculties to arrive at quality and sound decisions.

77. Reasoning means looking at the issues analytically and objectively with a view to locating the right steps to take and draw intelligent conclusions.

78. 5. Creative thinking or imagination. Imagination or creative thinking is the formation of mental images and pictures of something that is neither perceived as real nor present to the senses.

79. Imagination or creative thinking is the mental act of image formation – that is seeing mental pictures of where you want to go.

80. Through creative thinking we are able to mentally formulate the image of our destination – through imagination God allows you to color your destiny the way you desire.

81. See the power of imagination in Genesis 11:6 (KJV) “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. ”

82. 2 Corinthians 10:5gives us the recipe for wining. “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;”

83. Casting down every negative thought and imagination that is contrary to what you are standing on from God.