3 Key Differences Between Spirit and Soul

The soul and the spirit have different ownership

1. Your Soul Is Yours but Your Spirit Belongs To Another

The soul is the immaterial essence of a person. It is made up of your mind, will, and emotions. It bridges your body to your spirit and represents your innermost being, thoughts, feelings, and desires.

All of those things are yours.

Your spirit is the live-giving breath that God breathed into your nostrils. It is your life force. It represents a connection to something greater than oneself and part of you that communicates with a higher power. Your spirit is also the force that has the power to influence your mind, will, and emotions — your soul, who influences your body.

It is the spirit inside you that determines who you are.

A godly spirit makes a godly person. An ungodly spirit makes an ungodly person. A cheerful spirit makes a cheerful person. A peaceful spirit makes a peaceful spirit. The spirit of fear makes a fearful person. An evil spirit makes an evil person. A crushed spirit makes a broken person and so on.

Your spirit belongs to a higher power, but your soul is yours. And just as you can sell your car or your house because it belongs to you, people can also sell their souls knowingly or unknowingly.

This is why we often hear the expression, “He sold his soul to the devil.”

When people sell their souls, they no longer have control of their own minds and emotions, and they do things outside of their own will.

Everything that is yours must be protected or it can be stolen or you may be tempted to sell it when times get hard. If you gain the whole world, and you lose your soul, your spirit suffocates within you.

You can’t sell your spirit because it belongs to a higher power. Everything that belongs to another must be well cared for.

If something is not cared for, it dies.

2. Your Soul Is Always Active but Your Spirit Can Die

Your soul is like a stream that is connected to the ocean of spirit. It contains your destiny, purpose, gifts, and the ultimate significance of your individual life. It is the vital, mysterious, and wild core of yourself.

For these reasons, the soul is always active, present, and engaged even if the individual is not aware of it. It continues to exist and function as long as the spirit remains in the body, even though your soul can be in bondage or it can be tied to another.

The spirit is the ocean itself. Dirty streams make a tainted ocean. Therefore, the spirit is a more fragile or vulnerable aspect of one’s being. It is something that can be damaged or destroyed by negative experiences or influences, such as trauma, addiction, or despair. And for that, the spirit requires care and attention in order to be sustained.

Just as the body is fed every day with physical food and water, the spirit also needs to be fed with spiritual food and nourishment through spiritual practices that make you feel alive.

If you feel like you haven’t felt alive in a while, check on your spirit.

The spirit is like a flame.

A spirit that isn’t cared for can be extinguished. Its fire can go out. If you lose your soul bridge, your spirit is stifled within you.

A spirit that is not fed for a very long time can grow weak and faint within you. The spirit that is suppressed by outside spirits can be crushed.

And worse, the spirit can die.

Many people die before they die. This means they’re alive, but their spirit flame has gone out. Their spirit is asleep or dead. Or their spirit has been overtaken by another spirit. Then an awakening is needed to shake the sleeper spirit awake. A revival is needed to bring the dead spirit back to life.

When the spirit is awakened, the soul that was once lost is retrieved and restored.

But the soul doesn’t live forever.

3. The Soul Ceases to Exist in the End but the Spirit Is Eternal

The soul is made of the mind, will, and emotions, and it comes into existence when the spirit meets the body.

What happens to the mind, will, and emotions when a person dies?

It is no more.

The dead person can no longer think for themselves. It can't decide when and where it wants to be buried. It can't use its own willpower to will itself back to life and the dead body feels nothing.

The mind, will, and emotions of the person cease to exist.

When the spirit separates from the body, then that soul bridge is no longer needed. If the spirit was to return to the body or the spirit was given a new body, then the soul — mind, will, and emotions of the person — would be restored.

The spirit on the other hand is eternal and continues to exist beyond the physical realm. It continues when life ends. So it’s true when they say we are spiritual beings having a temporary human experience.

This is why the spirit is so important.

But how come we are not taught in school how to care for the eternal spirit as much as we are taught to care for the temporary body?

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