Where is the Spirit of Man?

While I teach about the Inner Man as composed of three main systems (Heart, Mind, and Soul), other question pop up.  Like where are the Emotions, where is the Belief System, where is he Volition?  These are faculties of function of the three major systems.  The Spirit is a faculty of the Soul.  The Belief System reside in the Heart.  The Emotions are found in the Soul, not the Heart.  All of these systems and functions make you want you are.  The good news is that they are not fixed in functions, like a clock.  They are changeable which is good if you use them well or brewing trouble if you use them poorly.  You are a PARTICIPANT in all that you will be in the future and your destiny is not a matter of fate, karma, or place in society.

The Heart has two primary facilities, Belief System (Treasury) and Judgment (Throne) that I will address elsewhere. 

The Soul has two DOMINATE FACULTIES which are termed Spirit and Flesh.  These two faculties provide Influence (control) over the other six Faculties of the Soul.  

You were born with the capacity to learn.  The Flesh is active at birth, and the Spirit becomes active at the Second Birth.  That may sound odd or unfair, but we cannot argue what has been established in the post-Eden or sin-compromised world.  God warned Adam that if he ate of the forbidden fruit, he would die.  And he did.  While the function of our Soul can be guided or influenced by the faculty of the Flesh, it is not meant to be a moral compass except as cultivated by parents, teachers, and others to function in society.

The faculty of the Spirit is basically a vacant room in the Soul that provide a moral compass in addition to what the Flesh provides.  Frankly, these two faculties function independently and are often at odds.  For example, "Should I steal?"  Parents and good teachers will usually tell us not to steal but provide a few exceptions.  If a person is cultivated in some parts of the world or societies, stealing is privately sanctioned as a skill or necessity.  

The faculty of the Spirit is 100% against stealing preferring to exercise faith over compromise on this subject.  It desires to stand strongly against stealing believing that our industry, inventiveness, skills, and hard work will be blessed by God to produce a good solution.  In an example given by Jesus, He explained that the Father feeds the birds of the air.  He feeds the wild animals throughout the world as well.  God know you so well that He has counted the hair on your head.  So, He is able and willing to take care of each of us.

Be aware that the Spirit and the Flesh compete to be the dominate force in all things but you have free will.  Prior to the Second Birth when the Holy Spirit becomes resident in the empty area of the Spirit, the only constraint to the fulfillment of your free will was the constraints of society (The Law & Culture).  We all felt the attraction and influences that drew us toward self-satisfying behavior.  Only the constraints of law, shame, risk, and failure kept us from following the worst of our options.

After the Second Birth, a new and superior influence came into action that was truth-laden.  It was an infant influence for living a good life that would grow as it was feed the truth.  You recall the manna that dropped from heaven to feed Israel in the desert.  The manna of today is TRUTH, and that truth comes solely from God.  

No one gets instant maturity at the Second Birth, and this enlivened Spirit will often run contrary to the learned habits of the Flesh.  At this point, we will need to rebuild the Belief System that is a part of the Heart, and the Heart needs the raw ingredient called TRUTH.  Therefore, we need to change our diet, habits, and routines to follow a new diet that will starve the Fech and feed the Spirit.  

Sound familiar to a physical practice of weight loss?  To get rid of unwanted fat and build muscle you must exercise (pray) and eat well (read the Bible).  Only then will we change from what we are today to what we will be tomorrow.