Today we continue our series, “Progress On Purpose.” I told you that God wants us to walk in “NEW LEVELS IN 2021!” But if we are going to do so, we must be intentional about our progress. With that in mind, as we lay the foundation for the year, I told you that I would discuss “Leveling Up” in five areas:
1. Spiritually
2. Financially
3. Physically
4. Internally
5. Externally
We have covered the first three thus far. Today we are looking at the fourth: Leveling up internally. In this section, I will cover the following:
1. Being anxious for nothing
2. Receiving unshakable peace
3. Joy and peace in believing
4. Relaxing your mind and getting physical/psychological rest
5. The highest form of faith is rest
Setting the stage:
I was going to move on to the last of our five topics in this series (Leveling Up Externally), but I did not want to introduce something new on a Friday. I asked God what He wanted to do. He led me to close out the “Leveling Up Internally” portion with a message about your SOUL.
God is a tripartite being, and so are we. He is Father, Son, and Spirit. We are spirit, soul, and body).
(1 Thes 5:23 KJV)
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There are three parts of you. Say:
- I am a spirit
- I possess a soul
- I live in a body
When we come to God:
Your spirit WAS saved (or changed) instantly: This happened by God’s Holy Spirit connecting with your spirit.
(Romans 8:16 AMP)
The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.
Your soul is now BEING saved (or changed) progressively: That is the focus of our message today.
Your body WILL BE saved (or changed) eventually:
(1 Corinthians 15:52-54 CEV)
It will happen suddenly, quicker than the blink of an eye. At the sound of the last trumpet the dead will be raised. We will all be changed, so that we will never die again. Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won’t die or decay. The bodies we now have are weak and can die. But they will be changed into bodies that are eternal. Then the Scriptures will come true, “Death has lost the battle!
Since your spirit WAS CHANGED, and your body WILL BE CHANGED, all that leaves is your soul. Once you are Born-Again, you must spend the rest of your life changing your soul.
Your soul is comprised of your mind (the way you think), emotions (the way you feel) and will (the way you make decisions). Leveling up your soul is about aligning your thinker, feeler, and chooser with God and His word.
Your Soul determines how you see yourself.
Your Soul determines how you see life.
Your Soul tells you what you think you can do and what you think you can’t do.
Your Soul determines your outlook and your outlook will determine your outcome.
Solomon said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov 23:7).
— Who do you think you are?
— What do you think you can do?
— Who do you think you can be?
These questions are answered in your soul.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Leveling Up Your Mind.
(Proverbs 4:23 ERV)
Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life.
a) You will never experience any level of change in life beyond the level of change you experience in your mind. Because everything you DO comes as a manifestation of the thoughts you THINK.
b) Your thoughts are so important that Solomon taught us to keep and watch over our heart with all diligence, above all else, because our thoughts control our life.
c) If you want to LEVEL UP in 2021, you must take the time to THINK about the way you are THINKING.
d) If you don’t ever THINK about your THOUGHTS, it is very easy to go astray. Before you realize it, you will be off-course.
e) In order to focus your life, you must focus your thoughts.
f) This is a season for you to take control of the way you think. As you bring your thought life in alignment with God and His divine purpose, it will be much easier for you to live a life pleasing in His sight.
g) You are the way you THINK you are (Prov 23:7). Success and failure both start in the mind. If the enemy can cause you to see yourself defeated in your mind, then he does not have to actually defeat you, because you are already defeated. You defeated yourself before you ever got started.
h) You are only limited by your capacity to believe God. Nothing is impossible to the person who believes (Mark 9:23). It’s time to remove every artificial limit you have ever place on your limitless God. These artificial limits only exist in your mind!
2. Leveling Up Your Emotions.
a) This lines up with the previous point because a person with uncontrolled feelings is actually a person with uncontrolled thoughts.
b) Your mind is the control center of your life. If can control the way you think, you will control the way you feel too, and you will be in control of the way you live.
c) God has given you the grace to take control of every thought, because He wants you to be in control of your life. It’s your mind and it will focus on whatever you make it focus on. And if you control your thoughts, you will be able to control your feelings.
d) Feelings will amplify your thoughts. So if you don’t control bad thoughts will not be able to stop feeling bad.
e) God gave you feelings to enjoy life. Feelings are a blessing when they are under control. You were designed to control your feelings, not for your feelings to control you!
f) The more you renew your mind to think and act like God, the more you will find yourself “feeling” the way God feels about things. If the way you feel about something or someone does not line up with God, then you are the one who needs to change!
g) Don’t keep good records of bad things. Holding on to the negative things people have done to you in the past will result in your holding on to past pain. If you do this, you will relive the pain over and over again, and this is certainly NOT God’s will!
h) God has forgiven you. In 2021, as you attempt to Level Up your feelings, get to the point where you are quick to forgive, so you can MOVE ON with life! This is how you make progress on purpose!
i) As you enter this day, I want you to realize that you can tell your feelings how to feel!
3. Leveling Up Your Will.
a) You will is where you make decisions. The Father wants you to get to the point where your will is aligned with and in submission to His will. This is important because you will reap whatever you sow.
b) God is a Father who wants to teach His children so that they can make wise decisions, because He knows that at the end of the day your life is a grand-sum-total of your decisions. If you make good decisions, Godly decisions, then you will get Godly results. That’s why you have access to His attainable wisdom. Why not tap into it on a regular basis?
c) The Bible is full of wisdom literature, like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. The Holy Spirit also gives you access to divine wisdom that is beyond this world. If you open your heart to God’s Word and His Spirit, and you are led by God in your decision-making process, you will be amazed at how making good decisions will cause your life to LEVEL UP!
d) Don’t fool yourself. Your decisions matter. So choose wisely. Make a decision right now that you are going to LEVEL UP the way you make decisions in 2021!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for this teaching. I am a spirit. I possess a soul. I live in a body. My spirit WAS changed. My body WILL BE changed. So right now my singular focus is the salvation of my SOUL! I learn to THINK, FEEL, and MAKE DECISIONS that align with You, Your word, Your will, and Your ways! As I LEVEL UP my soul, I LEVEL UP my life in 2021 and beyond! This is why I can boldly declare that GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith, in Jesus’s name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
