How can we be delivered from the soul? This requires revelation from two standpoints, one concerning the soul and the other concerning the cross. We must see that the soul is impotent in the things of God and worthless in spiritual things. No matter how excellent and strong any part of our soul may be, it still cannot apprehend the things of God or understand spiritual things. However clean our mind, however balanced our emotion, and however proper our will, these can never make us spiritual. We must also see that our soul and all things that belong to it have already been crucified on the cross of Christ. In Galatians 2:20, when the apostle says, “I am crucified with Christ,” the “I” he refers to is the soul. The soul, in God’s estimation, deserves only death. Moreover, our soul has already been taken care of by God through the cross of Christ. Hence, we should not value the things of our soul. Rather, we should only admit that our soul should die, that it deserves death, and that it is already dead. Such revelation and vision enable us to condemn the soul, deny the soul, reject the soul, forbid the soul to take the lead in all things, and in everything give no ground to the soul. By the Spirit we put the soul to death; we allow the Spirit to put to death the soul-life and to deal with the activity of the soul by the cross.
We must see how powerless the soul is before God, how it cannot comprehend the things of God and cannot please God. We must also see God’s estimation of the soul and how He deals with our soul. Only then can we deny the soul, reject the soul, and be delivered from the soul. Therefore, we must ask the Lord to make us see not only the impotence of the soul but also the dealing of the cross with the soul. Thus, in everything we will learn to reject the soul and not live by the soul. One who is in the mind should refuse his intellect in all spiritual things; he should put aside completely such functions as thinking and considering and return to the spirit, using the spirit to sense the consciousness of God. When he reads the Bible, prays, or speaks about spiritual things, he should refuse his thinking, imagining, theorizing, and investigating, and follow closely the sense in his spirit and move on in the fellowship of God. One who abounds in emotion should refuse his emotion in everything. He should not allow his emotion to lead and direct, but let the Spirit deal with his emotion. Thus, he can sense the will of God in the spirit. He should fear his emotion just as he fears sin, and in fear and trembling live in the spirit, not being directed or influenced by his emotion. One who is in the will should see his will as the enemy of God in the things of God, as the opponent of the spirit. Thus, he will condemn, refuse, and deny his will. He should allow the Holy Spirit to break his will by the cross so that he does not live before God by his firm and strong will but by the consciousness in his spirit.
Whichever part of the soul we are in, we should condemn and refuse it. Whether it is our mind, emotion, or will, they all should be broken and dealt with. In all the things of God, we should refuse the leading of the mind, emotion, and will. Rather, we should let the spirit occupy the first place to govern, direct, and employ our mind, emotion, and will. In this way we can be delivered from the soul. Then, on the one hand, we can employ all the organs in the soul by our spirit, and on the other hand, we will not live by the soul. Hence, we will not be soulish but spiritual.