Steel and Spirit Part II
The Believer’s Progression
“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.” (Hebrews 4:12)
Picking up from Steel and Spirit Part I…
The pressing question before every committed believer is this: How do I sever ties with the unyielding soul?
To grasp this struggle, we must understand the believer’s spiritual progression. In Part I, we explored the soul as the bridge between spirit and flesh, constantly influenced by both. The soul is the center of our personality, intellect, will, emotions, and self-awareness. When the flesh dominates, we descend to a carnal state; when the spirit prevails, we rise to godliness. Every Christian journey begins in the flesh. From there, we grow into soul-led believers, ruled by intellect and emotion, before maturing into Spirit-led believers, governed by the Holy Spirit. Let us now explore this progression more closely.
Carnal Christians
Paul identifies the believer’s starting point in 1 Corinthians 3:1:
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal.”
At this stage, believers have genuinely received Christ, yet they remain governed by the flesh. Though they are in Christ, their minds are still in conflict with Him. As Paul explains in Romans 8:7–8:
“The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
This early phase of the Christian life can be short-lived or drag on slowly, depending on the believer’s openness to the Spirit’s work. Still, Paul insists that this stage should be temporary. He writes, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24).
Whether the transition is swift or slow, every true disciple must eventually move beyond this carnal beginning. Yet many do not realize they’ve stalled. They remain stuck, no longer carnal, but not yet Spirit-led. This is the deadlock that ensnares most believers.
Soul-driven Christians
Unlike the flesh, which Scripture clearly describes as being in enmity against God, the soul is not condemned in the same way. Instead, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:14:
“The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
At this stage, many believers assume they are now “spiritual” simply because they are no longer living in overt, fleshly sin. Jessie Penn-Lewis observes that such believers, having gained knowledge and freedom from the visible sins of the flesh, often mistake this for true spiritual maturity. But overcoming the flesh does not automatically make one spiritual. A person can leave behind carnal behaviors yet remain a "natural man"— a soul-led Christian.
In this state, believers may appear morally upright, avoiding the obvious indulgences of the world, but their souls remain energized by the old fleshly patterns. As we’ve established, the soul is influenced either by the spirit or by the flesh. The danger here is subtle: the believer has received the Holy Spirit and experienced an initial dying to sin but not a full dying to self. The believer assumes victory, while beneath the surface, the soul still produces the same inner fruits of carnality; jealousy, division, selfish ambition, and partisanship.
James 3:13–17 offers a vivid contrast between soul-led and Spirit-led wisdom:
“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
This passage makes clear that what often passes as wisdom or maturity in the soul can, in fact, be unspiritual or even demonic. This is why discerning the soul's position and posture is crucial. Without the Spirit's discernment, the soul may confidently lead us into deep error. This is precisely why the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, is needed to pierce and separate soul from spirit, exposing the true source of our motivations and guiding us into genuine spiritual life.
Spirit-Led Christians
The final stage in the believer’s progression is life in the Spirit, where the Holy Spirit, not the soul or flesh, governs the whole person. At this point, the believer has not only died to sin but is also dying daily to self. They have allowed the Word to divide soul from spirit (Hebrews 4:12), and they submit fully to the Spirit’s leadership in thought, motive, and action.
Spirit-led Christians live in active surrender. Their wisdom, decisions, and desires flow not from their natural intellect or emotional impulses, but from communion with the Spirit of God. They echo Paul’s declaration in Galatians 2:20:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
This stage is marked not by perfection, but by discernment and humility. The Spirit-led believer is not merely avoiding sin; they are bearing the fruit of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). Their lives are characterized by increasing conformity to Christ, not only outwardly but inwardly.
Becoming a spiritual Christian is not about receiving a greater measure of the Holy Spirit than the soul-driven believer. All Christians, regardless of their spiritual maturity, receive the same Holy Spirit. The difference lies in how deeply they submit to His work and how fully they allow Him to govern their lives. Spiritual maturity comes not through accumulation, but through surrender, specifically, through the dividing of soul from spirit.
Below are essential steps to walk this path:
1. Radical Self-Examination and Total Surrender to Christ
“And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13)
The process of dividing soul from spirit begins with raw honesty before God. We must lay ourselves bare before Him, examining every part of our personality, mindset, and behavior. This includes questioning our default patterns of thought, our personal wisdom, and the identities we've grown comfortable with including statements like “this is just who I am” or “this is how I’ve always done things.” Instead, we must ask: Does this reflect the Spirit of God? This kind of deep reflection must take place on the altar of surrender, where we become living sacrifices, inviting Christ to conform us to His image. Transformation begins when we stop defending ourselves and start yielding to the scalpel of the Word.
2. Continual Devotion to the Word and to Prayer
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.” (1 Peter 1:22)
The Word of God is not just a source of knowledge; it is the means by which our hearts are purified and aligned with Christ. As we submit to Scripture in obedience, it begins to expose the soul’s residue and renew us from within. Alongside this, fervent prayer is essential. We must pray persistently for our hearts to be filled with sincere love, a love that transcends the self-centered instincts of the natural man. The soul-driven Christian loves conditionally, but the Spirit-led Christian loves deeply, from the heart, because Christ has made His home there.
Importantly, a believer does not become spirit-led and remain so effortlessly. Just as the soul waits for moments to reassert its influence, the Spirit-led life must be guarded and cultivated daily. As Paul exhorts in Romans 8:14, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” This is not a passive identity, it is an ongoing call to walk by the Spirit and not gratify the desires of the flesh or the subtle pull of the soul. Thus, the Spirit-led Christian is one who has moved beyond simply managing sin or refining the soul. They have stepped into a life where God’s Spirit truly governs, and where transformation is ongoing, from glory to glory.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Your Word is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces deep, even to the division of soul and spirit. And so today, I invite Your sword. I do not hide from it. I come as one exposed before You, asking that You search me and know me, and reveal every place where my soul has not yielded to Your Spirit.
Lord, I confess that though I have received Your Holy Spirit, I have not always submitted to His leading. I have often lived by the impulses of my flesh, or followed the wisdom of my soul, my emotions, intellect, and personality, thinking them spiritual when they were merely natural. Forgive me, Lord, for mistaking the absence of sin for the presence of surrender.
Teach me to discern what is of You and what is of me. Help me to lay down every thought pattern and behavior that does not reflect Your nature. Where I have said “this is who I am,” break that identity if it is not aligned with who I am in Christ. Let Your Word divide me, expose me, and purify me, until nothing remains in me that resists Your will.
May Your Spirit rule in me completely, that I may live not as a carnal or soul-driven Christian, but as one led by the Spirit, transformed from glory to glory, until Christ is fully formed in me.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Wow, this was so good. Thank you, praying daily to be spirit led, a serious torching by fire needs to be done to my selfish ambition. God help us 🙏🏿