Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV) 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Yesterday we looked at this verse to discover how the Word of works to produce the rest of faith. The bible says the Word of God is sharper than any two edged sword. We likened that to a surgeon’s scalpel. A scalpel is a precise instrument. In the hands of a skilled surgeon, a scalpel opens the body to expose what is wrong and then cuts out the diseased parts to bring healing to the whole body. Although there may be pain involved, the intended result is healing.
The Word of God functions in much the same way. The Word is the scalpel and the Holy Spirit is the surgeon. One of the ways that the Word produces the rest of faith is to open up our lives and expose the things that are hurting us. Then the Surgeon uses the scalpel to cut out things that are either not healthy or simply hindering our faith from producing fruit.
The process is sometimes difficult and painful. I do not believe it has to be. If we cooperate with the “Great Physician” and let him do his work, I do not believe the pain will be so great nor the healing time so long. It is when we try to hold on to what is being cut away that we suffer. Either way, the intent of the Lord is to bring wholeness, not just healing, into our lives.
Jesus says much the same thing in John 15.
John 15:1-2 (NKJV) 1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Here Jesus is speaking of vines and branches. Branches that are unfruitful are taken away. Dead branches on a tree hinder the flow of life to the whole tree. When they are removed, cut off, the tree becomes healthier. Fruitful branches need to be pruned. This process also involves cutting. Although the branch may be fruitful, if there are parts of the branch that are not producing they steal life from the productive parts. Pruning the branch by cutting away what is unfruitful increases the overall production of the tree. In verse 7, Jesus says, “If you abide in me and my Words abide in you…..” It is the Word that does the cutting.
Before the surgeon cuts anything out of the body he opens it to see what is going in inside. The Word of God has the power look into our hearts and see what is really going on inside. Most of us will attest to the fact that we usually do not know what is hindering our faith. We have the promise. We may even be meditating on the promise we find in the bible. Yet we do not see the result and we do not know why.
Although building faith in the promise is important, that is not all the Word does to produce rest. If we give ourselves to the Word, it will begin to reveal what is hindering us from receiving. For instance, we may be praying for healing. As we meditate in the Word, the Lord may lead us to other scriptures on forgiveness. We may not understand what these verses have to do with healing. If we allow the scalpel to do its work we will find that we are not healed because we have not forgiven.
We may be praying for financial blessing and we seem to find scriptures on attitudes that seem unrelated. If we continue to be led by the Spirit, we will find that the attitudes he is pointing out are the things that have kept us from the promise of financial blessing. We could look at many other examples but I think you understand.
As I was reading this, the specific things that are being divided caught my attention. I decided to look up the words. What I found was interesting. First, we see that the word divides “soul and spirit.” The Greek words are “psyche” and “pneuma.” Psyche is defined as the “animal sentient thought.” It is also translated the soul. We get words such as psychology from this root word.
Pneuma also carries the idea of thought but of a higher nature. Its primary idea is of breath or a breeze. The Holy Ghost is the Holy “Pneuma.” Our words like pneumatic, meaning something driven by air comes from pneuma. What is the Word of God really separating here?
I believe the “soul” is that part of our being that deals with the mental and emotional. It is the place where our thoughts reside. It is neither good nor bad. It is a place we process information. It is the place from which our emotions flow. It is also the place that determines our strength of will and how we use it. The “spirit” on the other hand is the place where we are connected to God. In Genesis 2, God breathed into Adam the breath of life. (Genesis 2:7) I believe the spirit of man is the part created in the “image and likeness of God.” (Genesis 1:26)
It is in the spirit that we hear God. The thoughts that come from our spirits are the thoughts that come from the Lord. We hear these “higher thoughts” in our mind. The voice we hear will be the same as the voice we hear for our own thoughts. Therein lies the problem. How do I tell what thoughts are mine and what thoughts are Gods. The answer is the Word of God.
Part of how the scalpel of the Word brings us to the rest of faith is by discerning between our thoughts and God’s thoughts. Have you ever said, “I thought I heard God say this but I don’t know if it is really God or just me?” How can we be sure? The Word of God is designed to separate between the two.
There are some obvious ways that the Word does this. For instance, the more we fill our mind with God’s written words from the Bible, the easier it will be to discern God’s spoken words that come from our spirit. I have been with my wife since I was 13 and she was 16. I am now 61. I know my wife’s voice. Even if the words are written down, I can identify if they are hers or not. The same is true, if in reverse, about the written Word of God and his voice. The more I fill my heart and mind with the written Word, the more I will be able to separate my words from his Words.
That is part of how the word separates soul and spirit. I believe there is much more. The Word is alive. It is not just a book. It has a power that comes from God to enable us to distinguish what comes from our own mind and what comes from God. I do not fully understand it nor can I really explain it. I just know that it is true and I know I must submit to the process.
Keep your mind in the Word. It will begin to clarify what is you and what is God. As that happens you will be able to rest in faith because you will know that you know what God has spoken and you will not rest until you see it come to pass in your life.
More tomorrow.
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