We have discussed how important the condition of our heart is to life, especially life in the Lord. Now we must look at the relationship between heart (soul) and spirit. The purpose for healing and cleansing our hearts is not so our heart will exercise a healthier form of control. Rather, that restoring our heart is a pivotal work on the way to releasing our spirit to be in union with the Spirit of God. Indeed, Scripture seems to indicate that our whole heart needs to join with our spirit and be able to believe and respond to God freely, if we are to know true recovery.

Vine’s addresses the difference between soul and spirit, using the scriptural reference to them in Hebrews 4:12.

He says that Heb. 4:12 identifies the extreme difficulty of distinguishing between soul and spirit, but observes that "spirit is the higher, the soul the lower element." He calls spirit the "life principle bestowed on man by God," and says that the soul is the observable life of the individual that results in each person uniquely. There is a very close relationship between spirit and soul, and they cannot be separated; only the distinction between them can be clarified. Here is how he sums it up: body and spirit can be separated; spirit and soul cannot: they can be distinguished but not separated.

The Scripture says that spirit gives life to soul and body. When Jesus goes to the ruler of the synagogue’s house to raise his daughter from the dead, the report of what happened reflects the influence of spirit:

When her spirit returned, her body was restored to life, and her personality, soul returned also. This function of spirit should not be surprising to us, as it is the life breath the Lord breathed into us in the first place:

"Breath" is the Hebrew word ruah, which Wilson defines as: "the breath by which animal life is supported, but used only of man; soul or spirit of man…" The King James Version of the Bible renders Gen. 2:7, "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Our spirit is the life force for our soul, and the source of spirit is God!

We tend to take our spirit for granted without much understanding of the function and purpose it serves and the kind of influence it is designed to have. In this chapter I am suggesting that in fact, because of the more extensive link it provides with God, our spirit is actually designed to exert quite a bit of influence, more in fact than our heart. Why is that? The definition of spirit (pneuma) given in Colin Brown’s Dictionary of New Testament Theology (DNTT), clarifies why.

I have had a number of personal experiences that illustrate this definition. I was first looking at these Scriptures about the spirit of man in the early 90’s. At one point, realizing that I was not actually in touch with my spirit, as important as Scripture defined it to be, I asked: "Where is my spirit, and what condition is it in, Lord?" Then I waited on the Lord, fully expecting that He would show me something of how His word applied to me. In a few minutes I could "see" (my eyes closed), my spirit, standing before the Lord, hands raised in profound worship and indescribable willingness, unaware of anything but Him. Whether that was a vision the Lord gave me, or an awareness of my own spirit, I don’t know. But I said: "Wow, Lord. Look at that!" The simplicity of devotion and the certainty of choice was quite a marvel. As I write this now, I think of what Paul said about being afraid that we would be deceived out of simplicity with God. It is interesting that he says that it is our minds that are led astray (not our spirit).

My mind wanted to ask my spirit some questions, so I began to do that. I don’t remember now what the questions were, but my spirit said: "I am not concerned with such complexities; I only want to know what He wants." Double wow! It was the first time I began to realize that the part of my being that could take that kind of stand and be so clear and simple and unmovable in it needed to have much more influence than the reasoning of my mind. How I needed that kind of clarity and focus on the Lord!

For several years following that experience, I would be reminded of it by the Lord, by His word, by my own remembrance, and so return at moments. Then I got to the place of realizing that I needed to pray with my spirit and the challenge was to have my heart agree with what I saw and heard there with the Lord. More recently, the experience of unity between spirit and heart has been deepening. As it has, my appreciation for the role my spirit is to play is registering profoundly! That, of course, is rather humbling for my mind, scary for my heart, and a potential relief for my will. It opens the door to a whole-hearted agreement with the Lord, wherein my will in choosing and acting would experience less enmity between spirit and flesh. Amazing! Looking back on this progression, I see how differently I experience this scriptural material now than I did in the 90’s, a testimony to the way the Lord works to restore our knowledge of Him. It goes along piece-by-piece, line upon line until the working of God accumulates and falls into place as a whole understanding, bringing the power to revive and free.

Nor am I the only one with such experience. I want to share something that was shared with me by someone I ministered to several years ago.

To continue with the Scriptures, I want to look more closely at one that Brown referenced in his discussion of spirit—Acts 17:16. It gives us a clear picture of the influence our spirit is to have on our heart and on initiating and carrying out our response to God. The Scripture reads:

The word "stirred" or "provoked" is paroxuno, to sharpen alongside, provoke, stir. It is a two-part word: para means near or beside, and oxus means keen, sharp, swift. So is there someone near or beside Paul, (the kingdom of God has drawn near, or is at hand), sharpening and stirring him, making him keen and swift to respond? This verse gives us a picture of what complete recovery looks like, and reflects kingdom life flowing through Paul.

Paul’s whole heart is apparently in full agreement (prepared during those years in the desert?), because no heart arguments prevail, such as: "It’s no use; they won’t hear anyway," or "It could get me into a lot of trouble," or "It might make them angry enough to throw me in jail again." Obviously, his flesh is not running things. It is more his spirit responding to God, and his whole heart follows and lends its resources to the moments God ordains. It would appear that there is great power and fruitfulness in our heart deferring to and joining our spirit in the things of God.

Psalm 77 records the role spirit played in Asaph examining his heart and the effect that had on lifting him out of a bout of discouragement and depression. This Psalm was written during a very troubled time. Asaph, who is referred to as a prophet and poet, was one of David’s three musicians, but he was not praising or rejoicing at the beginning of this Psalm.

Selah, means pause and think about this, so let us pause and reflect. It was a time of great trouble for Asaph. He stretched his hand out in the night incessantly, but his soul (heart) refused to be comforted. Often what we want is not comfort and sustaining and strengthening from God, but for the circumstances that are pressing us (seemingly to death) to STOP! But they didn’t stop for Asaph. At that point in the Psalm he was focused on the trouble, was meditating on it, and complaining about it. The result of that was that his spirit was overwhelmed (to shroud, faint, hide self, to be covered, muffled up with sorrow). There are a number of Proverbs that speak of the effect of a sorrowful heart upon our spirit.

But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken (smitten, afflicted, wounded).

Figuratively, "bones" refers to the strongest part—when our spirit is broken, even the strongest part dries up.

Prov. 18:14 The spirit of a man will sustain (furnish with means of living)

Asaph actually knew these things, and does apply them in the Psalm, but at this point he was still overwhelmed: "I am so troubled that I cannot speak" (verse 4). We, too, are in and out of focus, experience our spirit being overwhelmed by challenges, losing heart for the things of God. The question is, do we know how to get back? In verse 6 he began to move toward recovery:

I call to remembrance my song in the night;

I meditate within my heart,

And my spirit makes diligent search.

He began turning the corner from his spirit being overwhelmed, to it being revived and in a condition to help restore focus on God. It started with remembering his song in the night—the times he wrote his songs of praise to God and the lifting he experienced in those high moments. Then he began to meditate or commune (KJV) within his heart. Meditate or commune means to "talk with oneself" (Wilson), or "to ponder, i.e. converse with oneself and hence aloud." He was talking to himself within his heart, and stirred up his spirit to make "diligent search." Here we can see the definition of spirit functioning—the part of us that is most connected to God and His light, which our heart desperately needs in the midst of trials. Proverbs calls our spirit the lamp of the Lord for this very purpose.

Searching all the inner depths of his heart.

Why search the depths of our heart? Why not just ignore whatever is going on there—pay no attention to our feelings? Because it was the emotional turmoil going on in Asaph’s heart that was derailing him and separating him from the Lord! It began to change when he inquired into what was happening in his heart. The release is not found in ignoring it, but in searching it out diligently so it can be held up to the light of the Lord and reconciled, restored. His search turned up some very despairing questions about the Lord: