EXPLORING YOUR SOUL: TEACHING (PT. 1)
BEFORE YOU WATCH:
Why do you think it might be important for us to learn to explore our souls?
Does the idea of asking God to “search you and know you” make you nervous? Why or why not?
Read Genesis 2:7. The phrase “living being” is literally a “living soul.” What does this tell you about your soul?
AFTER YOU WATCH:
What teaching about emotions did you find most helpful or challenging? Why?
How might the phrase “you become like what you love” help you understand your soul a little better?
DOWNLOADS:
WE ARE SOULS: I want to start with a quote by George MacDonald. He says, “We don’t have souls, we are souls.” For most of us, we’ve unknowingly grown up with the ancient Greek mindset about how we are created. The Greeks saw humans in a duality, or made up of two parts, the physical and the spiritual, the Body and the soul. However, the Hebrew people had a much better understanding of the way we were created. They didn’t divide us into two separate parts. They acknowledged that there were aspects of our being that controlled different things, but they knew that they were all connected, both the seen and the unseen. [2]The Old Testament word in Hebrew for soul is “nepes” [nef-fesh] The very first use of this word is in [Gen. 2:7] Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature [soul]. This picture shows flesh and spirit are combined to create a human soul. When the bible uses the word soul, it’s referring to the unique mysterious total combination of what makes us human. A SOUL IS WHAT WE ARE. So what exactly makes up a soul? How do we care for our souls?
[3]Among the places that Jesus talks about our souls he says 24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life (soul) will lose it, but whoever loses his life (soul) for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? [Matt. 16:24-26] Jesus says that we have a danger of losing our soul as we try to attain the worlds definition of success. He implies that there is something called a self that needs to die in order to truly follow him.
[4]Another place he famously talks about souls is in [Matt. 11:28-29] 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus says that if we are experiencing weariness or a sense of burden, there is something in our souls longing for what Jesus can provide. I’d like to give you a visual model of your soul and a way to begin uncovering ways that we often are tired, weary, and heavy burdened and need to come to Jesus. And then we’re going to create space to talk to God about what’s going on in our souls and ask him to speak to us and give us the rest that only he can provide.
(TEACH/APP) A MAP OF THE SOUL (God)
DALLAS WILLARDS MAP: [5][IMAGE] In Dallas Willards book, renovation of the heart, he outlines a biblical picture of our souls. When all of these parts are working together according to God’s will and deep desire to pursue Him, we experience what the bible calls “shalom” or wholeness. Fully integrated. [6]When our desires are moving us away from God’s presence and will, they dis-integrate and don’t function well together. This is usually because we’re acting out of our sinful, broken sense of self. It’s the identity we’ve crafted for ourselves to meet our own needs and try to live the good life on our own. So let’s take a moment to look at the role of the heart in our soul.
· [7]HOW’S YOUR HEART? (SPIRIT) [Prov. 4:23] Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. In the bible, this organ is given the role of housing emotions, will, desire, and is what motivates our actions. We like to think that the core of who we are is our minds. I think therefore I am. But that’s not true. We are not primarily thinking creatures, we are desiring and loving creatures. We chase after what we love. We BECOME WHAT WE LOVE. I think that’s why the great commandment starts with “LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART.” To find out how our heart is doing we have to look at…
o OUR LONGINGS & DESIRES: In [Mk. 10]. Two disciples ask Jesus, Jesus, we want you to do whatever we ask of you. He knows their desires are wrong, but he still asks, “what do you want me to do for you?” Then he asks the blind man, “what do you want me to do for you?”
1. If Jesus were to ask you the question that he asked them, what would your answer be? Don’t rush past this. Because whether you admit it or not, you’re probably already chasing it. If it is a desire for power, security, or recognition like the disciples, it’s a sign your heart needs attention. Your desires have been bent away from God and towards the “self” Jesus said needed to be denied. Our hearts are also the place of…
o OUR EMOTIONS: TO BE EMOTIONAL IS TO BE LIKE YOUR GOD. It is part of bearing his image. Now the problem is when people go to extremes. Either they suppress and stuff them or they indulge them and are carried away by them. Stuffing doesn’t work, because emotion always comes out, and it’s usually as anger. Indulging them means living in chaos because our emotions are always changing. OUR EMOTIONS ARE SIMPLY MESSENGERS (BOTH POWERFUL PLEASURABLE AND UNPLEASANT EMOTIONS: NO SUCH THING AS A BAD EMOTION). They are telling us somethings going on under the hood, pay attention. We must learn to feel, name our emotions, and then ask God what he is telling us about our heart. Here are a few questions you might ask…
1. What things seem to make me irritable(polite anger)/angry? Like when someone treats me a certain way, or I’m afraid of losing something, or looking a certain way.
2. What am I sad about or need to grieve? What losses have I experienced?
3. What makes me feel inadequate or a failure?
4. Do I feel loved, accepted, wanted, or significant? It’s from our hearts that come…
o OUR GUT RESPONSES: Neuroscience tells us that our brains have a slow track and a fast track. Our slow track brain is what we usually think of as logic and reason. However, much of what we do springs from our fast-track system in our brain. It’s the way we respond when we get that look from someone, or that tone of voice, or see that body language from someone else. It’s our habituated response.
1. No, you misunderstood me. I didn’t mean (blank) I meant (blank). Here’s why I did it this way. JUSTIFICATION
2. You’re doing it wrong! Here, let me show you how. CONTROL
3. You hurt me with what you said/did… continual OFFENSE
4. Okay, whatever I can do to make it happen. APPEASE
5. Fine! If you’re going to be that way. I’m done. WITHDRAWAL
