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God Discovered Jesus MeetUp Week 27   The Soul Click the icon for the one-page, front and back, printable version of this small group lesson as  " The Soul" Week 27     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DyMNHufMvQ

The Jesus MeetUp       THE SOUL       Week 27   Hey, Soul-Brother and Soul-Sister!   In this lesson we learn about our soul: what it is, when it came into being, how to “grow” it, its importance.   You know, there are some people who, not understanding the “soul”, think it can be sold, stolen and bought back.   Let’s see how none of these actions can ever have an influence on the true religionist, the true seeker of Truth, which was embodied in the life and teachings of our very own Master Sovereign Son, known to us as Jesus. The same one who, if God the Father of Love, had decided to leave his throne on high and wanted to come down here on earth and live amongst us, would have been called Jesus of Nazareth...he did, and he was.   First, know that the soul of man is an experiential acquirement. This means that it depends on our life experiences, what we live through, from our own spirit-striving, daily choices amidst the struggles and challenges we face. Hence, the reality of the unique relationship between the material mind and our indwelling divine spirit is neither material nor spiritual but morontial (in-between). It is the soul. And this evolving soul of man (is) the mid-mind in contradistinction (contrast) to the lower or material mind and the higher or cosmic mind. (111:2.7-8)   When your soul is first born and becomes the “new you”... We know that with our first moral decision (choosing to do the right thing at that time) between the ages of five and six, that our indwelling Father Fragment, uniquely chosen for you and me, arrives to live within our mind, there to guide us into making decisions which will lead to knowing and carrying out the will of our Heavenly Father. It is at THAT moment, that our soul is born! Therefore is our soul the depository of what is true, beautiful and good in all of our thinking, speaking and doing.   Definition: depository= a place where things are stored   Here is a big chunk to digest by Jesus...let’s pay attention!   “The soul is the self-reflective, truth-discerning, and spirit-perceiving part of man which forever elevates the human being above the level of the animal world...the soul is that part of man which represents the potential survival value of human experience. Moral choice and spiritual attainment, the ability to know God and the urge to be like him, are the characteristics of the soul. The soul of man cannot exist apart from moral thinking and spiritual activity. (133:6.5) Definition: discerning = having or showing good judgment   There is SO much in this paragraph! This self-reflective part, thinking about our thinking; this truth-discerning, where we detect good judgment in recognizing/sensing truth, with the help of Jesus’ Spirit of Truth, who is our “truth-meter”; this spirit-perceiving function which acknowledges the divine spirit within, all differentiates us from the animal kingdom. Although we are in constant battle with our animal-nature, we are NOT animals. Our soul grows on how we think in accordance with the Divine Will (as best we can determine!) which is encouraged by our indwelling and participating spirit presences in our lives.   The Importance of our Soul and its Characteristics!   ​   Our soul is what will SURVIVE our “sleep of physical death” if we have tried to make as many highly moral choices as possible in the face of any/all potential alternatives throughout our imperfect life. Decisions along with daily worship make us more and more like God. These comprise the characteristics of our soul growth. An exciting concept to consider is: that our “new” form on the other side (size? composition? spirit brilliance? increased mind capacity?) will depend on how many of these decisions we successfully made here. So, now that we know how to add more to this inner storage place of ours, let’s not waste any time in developing our own personal way of enlarging the soul’s capacity for spirit receptivity.   And how do we do this?   Here’s what Jesus taught: “The earnest and longing repetition of any petition, when such a prayer is the sincere expression of a child of God and is uttered in faith, no matter how ill-advised or impossible of direct answer, never fails to expand the soul’s capacity for spiritual receptivity.”(144:4.2)   Again, he goes on to add:  “The soul’s spiritual capacity for receptivity determines the quantity of heavenly blessings which can be personally appropriated and consciously realized as an answer to prayer.” (144:4.4) Wow.   IMPORTANT: Meaning, WE can do exactly what Jesus did here in his short life time, ...given that the more we pray sincerely and with unshakable faith, for others and for spiritual growth in us, we increase our soul power to appropriate (take something for one's own use) and realize (make REAL) the answers to our spiritual requests. Jesus never forbade his apostles from endeavoring to heal and cure, but they failed, and here was what WE need to learn from their errors:   our Purpose must be Pure our Motive must be Divine our Ideal must be Spiritual our Ambition must be Altruistic our Procedure must be based on Love, and our Goal of Attainment must be the Will of the Father in Heaven.   Jesus made clear that:  “as prayer may be likened to recharging the spiritual batteries of the soul, so worship may be compared to the act of tuning in the soul to catch the universe broadcasts of the infinite spirit of the Universal Father.” (144:4.8) Can you see that this takes practice?! But it is our destiny here should we consecrate our minds and will to do so. Use your imagination to “see” how your soul can tune in, like on a radio station, to receive the communications from our Father!   Therefore, our next phase of living, on the “other side”, depends on our soul growth here! ​ This in-between portion of us is our “ticket” to existence on the next level...in fact, becomes our “identity” as it will be the only part of our earthly life which will survive – our indwelling Father Fragment and our personality, both gifts from our Paradise Father will go on to re-join us if we are called to be re-awakened on the next world. However! While we cannot sell, buy back, steal a soul, or have it stolen, we most certainly can lose our soul...all by our own persistently determined thoughts, words and actions. A person who consistently refuses to co-operate with the will of the Father, who KNOWINGLY goes against the way of God, is considered to be in rebellion against the Divine Plan and will most definitely be in jeopardy of soul survival. A soul which is not being nourished/nurtured/fed by good choices and decisions is one that is stagnating!   A stagnant soul is a dying soul.   Definition stagnant = showing no activity; dull and sluggish; inactive; declining   Here is what Jesus explained: “The saving or losing of a soul has to do with whether or not the moral consciousness attains survival status through eternal alliance (an UNENDING union or association formed for mutual benefit) with its associated immortal spirit endowment... All forms of soul conflict consist in the lack of harmony between the moral, or spiritual, self-consciousness and the purely intellectual self-consciousness. (133:6.6)   “The human soul, when matured, ennobled, and spiritualized, approaches the heavenly status in that it comes near to being an entity intervening between the material and the spiritual, the material self and the divine spirit. The evolving soul of a human being is difficult of description and more difficult of demonstration because it is not discoverable by the methods of either material investigation or spiritual proving. Material science cannot demonstrate the existence of a soul, neither can pure spirit-testing. Notwithstanding the failure of both material science and spiritual standards to discover the existence of the human soul, every morally conscious mortal knows of the existence of his soul as a real and actual personal experience.” (133:6.7) ​