The Soul of the Lord Jesus is the throne of the almighty God of Heaven. The Throne of God was established for eternity in the Soul of Christ when Christ endured the crucifixion of His will in the garden of Gethsemane:

Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. (Luke 22:42)

And in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:44)

The Spirit of Christ is One with God, and we have been called to the same Oneness.

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. (John 17:21)

Every born-again human being is at some point on a line between the first man and the second man. It is not that the Lord has called us to be an in-between man, or that the final result is part natural man and part life-giving spirit. It is true, rather, that we, if we are pressing forward in the plan of salvation, are changing constantly from a living soul into a life-giving spirit. It is a gradual transformation.

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (II Corinthians 3:18)

The body of the saint, if he is alive on the earth, is a natural body. If the saint is deceased he has at present, according to our understanding, a spiritual form but no body. We think the glorified body is the reward the Lord will bring with Him at His appearing.

The life of the believer while he is living on the earth is governed to a great extent by his bodily desires until he grows strong enough in the Lord to discipline his body and keep it under his control (I Corinthians 9:27).

The natural mind of the Christian disciple still is predominant, although he is attempting to discover the Lord's will by processes other than human reasoning:

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:2)

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5,6)

The mind of the believer must be renewed in God as part of the transition from the first man to the second man.

The believers in Christ range from those who live entirely according to their natural body, soul, and brain all the way to those who are at rest in the Lord and are learning to look to Him for guidance in all areas.

Each day the true saints are more confirmed in their attitude of relying on the motivation and guidance of the Lord rather than on their mental understanding of what they should be doing. It is God who is working in them both to will and to do His good pleasure.

How wonderful it is to live in the Spirit of the Lord rather than in the appetites and lusts of the flesh!

To be continued.