What is the human spirit? Many people get the human spirit and the soul confused.  They aren’t the same thing, but many christians never reach their full potential because they combine these two very distinct things together.  

23 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.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 KJV

This verse makes it plain that these three things – spirit, soul and body – are very much separate.

Man IS a spirit

You and I are spirits.  That’s the true us.  Why? 

Because God said in Genesis when He created us that we were to be in HIS IMAGE.  God is a spirit.  That means we are a spirit.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Genesis 1:27 KJV

How does a spirit die?

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Genesis 2:17 KJV

Ok so we know now that we are spirits, but how does a spirit die?  This verse tells us in Genesis 2:17.  Remember when Adam and Eve ate of the tree?  Did they immediately drop dead?  No!  That’s because they died spiritually. 

Man dies when he does something he knows not to do willingly.

9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 

Romans 7:9 KJV

This is Paul talking.  He obviously could be physically dead when writing this so then what death is he talking about?  It’s the death spiritually that each one of us felt before being a Christian.  

That feeling of emptiness and death that never goes away and eats at the inside of you.  That’s death!

Christians allow Christ to live in their once dead hearts (spirit)

20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20 KJV

See this is why the Bible says we live by faith and not by sight.  We are alive on the inside not by anything we have done but only by faith.  We place our faith in Jesus and what He did on the cross – that’s it. 

What happens next?

OK so maybe you’re new to this Christianity thing or maybe you’ve grown up in church your whole life.  There are plenty of things that we can do to grow and live prosperous lives.  

Check out the following post to learn more about what you can do to increase your walk with God and live prosperous in this life.

Step 1: Turn Aside and Meet God

The Human Spirit can…

Ok so we know that we all die spiritually because we have all sinned.  We also know that Jesus gave us life for free.  But there are so many other things that our human spirit can do and is. 

Our Human Spirit:

• Can Die – Genesis 2:17 
• Can Hunger / Thrust – Proverbs 18:20-21
• Can Grow Weak / Grow Strong – Jude 20
• Can Be Merry (Joyful) / Sorrowful – Proverbs 17:22
• Can Be Wounded – Proverbs 18:14
• Can Be Seared – 1 Timothy 5:2
• Can See, Hear and Speak – Matt 12:34, Luke 6:45, Matt 11:15, Ephesians 1:18
• Can Grow a Harvest – Proverbs 18:21, Mark 4
• Has Parts and Chambers – Proverbs 20:27, Proverbs 18:8
• Can Overflow to Healing – Proverbs 20:30, Proverbs 18:14
• Can Convict of Sin – Proverbs 19:3
• MUST Be Protected – Proverbs 4:23
• Can Be Renewed & Cleansed – Psalms 51:10