Daily Word

To grow spiritually, we must gain a clear understanding of the difference between soul and spirit.

Our soul encompasses our natural emotions, thoughts, and will—heavily influenced by our physical senses and thus entirely confined to the visible, physical reality—whereas our born-again spirit possesses supernatural spiritual senses that bring us into direct contact with the spiritual realm.

Consequently, our natural (self-generated, independent) "spirituality" is actually "soulish" and dependent upon the external senses: one feels a constant need to sense God’s Presence and is perpetually seeking spiritual experiences.

The problem, then, is that in a born-again person, genuine spirituality is often conflated with this soulish spirituality, opening the door to the influence and manipulation of religious demons.

All religions originate from the activity of religious demons, and they strive to reduce the Christian faith to nothing more than a religion—a matter of religious experiences.

You must clearly understand that your experience of God’s Presence is not God’s Presence itself. It could be an illusory perception of the soul—or it could be a genuine spiritual experience.

What takes place in the spirit is registered in the soul, yet God’s Presence is just as real even when you least perceive it: “The Lord is certainly in this place, and I did not know it!” exclaims Jacob after encountering God in a dream (1/.).

Indeed, He is omnipresent—present everywhere—even when no human being perceives it. There are no “holy places”—only a holy God, exalted above all, present everywhere.

Sometimes God “hides” Himself (2/.) from you and me, in order to teach us to walk by faith. This is the “desert experience,” where we are stripped of all external, soulish, and physical sensations—all experiences of God’s Presence—so that we may begin to grasp the enduring reality of that Presence.

In your spirit, you are united with God, always in His Presence. The inner life of the spirit remains unaffected by the body, the soul, or external circumstances; it is always the same—unshakably real.

Only in the depths of our spirit do we know, that we know, that we know, that we are children of God, even when we do not “perceive” or “experience” it.

Never seek the sensation of God’s Presence—seek God Himself!

(1/. Gen. 28:16); (2/. Is. 45:15)