Receive Healing by Letting God’s Word Divide Soul and Spirit

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:21).

The division described in Hebrews is exciting because only the Word of God can separate or divide us from the inside out.

When I first saw this, I wondered to myself, Why would God want to separate or divide me on the inside?

When I asked Him, it became so clear; He uses the Word to help us see what needs to be changed! I heard the Lord say to me, “If you can see it, you can be it!” He wants us to know the truth. He wants the eyes of our heart to be open! He wants us to see where we are believing a lie. The Holy Spirit will show you what you need to see and help you every step of the way!

Ephesians 1:18 says, “The eyes of your understanding [heart] being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”

The Greek word for division in Hebrews 4:12 is the word merismos, which literally means “to divide or to separate.” This is not something that you or anyone else could ever do!

Only the Word of God can separate your inner self. The results will bring healing to your entire being. Psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapy can’t do this and neither can religion! Only God through the Word of God can do this.

I’m not against counseling at all; in fact, I have been a counselor for many people over the years, with biblical counseling and with marriage counseling; but I’m telling you, one Holy Spirit moment—one Word from God—is better than a lifetime of counseling. This is why God is referred to as the Wonderful Counselor by the ancient prophet Isaiah:

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

A Good Work

Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

You can be confident about this process going on in your heart. This grace—this gospel— transformed your human spirit and now as your soul is learning how to submit, your heart (your inner self) is going to be complete, and you will live life and give life as God always intended.

Again, the reason the Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword is so that it can divide between soul and spirit, between joints and marrow (body) and between thoughts and intentions of the heart (inner self).

One reason we often miss things on the inside that need to be dealt with is because we can’t see it yet. In fact, we don’t even know it is there until the Lord reveals it.

Another reason is that sometimes we do know it’s there, but we aren’t sure how to deal with it. We can’t quite get a grasp of it. We know something’s not right, but we only know in part! That is when the Word of God does for us what we can’t do for ourselves.

It is vital that you know and value that the Word is a Person! That Person is Jesus! The Word became flesh; He became a human being. We find our life in His! The printed scriptures came about because of the Living Word, Jesus. All scripture was given by inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16).

Read what John 1:1-4 says:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

In Psalm 119:105, the psalmist David describes how the Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

Remember what the Lord told me—we can’t be it until we can see it! We must see with the eyes of our heart. We see it in the Spirit first and then we see it in the physical.

This is the power of our spiritual imagination! When God shows us a picture, we see it from the inside out.

Why Would God Want to Separate or Divide Me?

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does (James 1:21-25).

The Word of God is so alive and powerful that it will divide us so we can see where we are divided. Then we can see what needs to be submitted, what needs to be dealt with and replaced, and what needs to be healed. Once we see, we can be, and then we can do.

I jokingly tell people that American singer Frank Sinatra almost had it right. He sang, “do-be-dobedo” but it should have been, “be-do bedobe.” Instead of doing if my way, how about if we do it God’s way!

Many times when we start to get into the Word, we begin seeing things about our soul that we don’t like. We see things that are contrary to the ways of God. Suddenly we feel like we aren’t nearly as cool as we thought we were!!

This is a really good thing, even though it doesn’t feel good in the moment. The Word is dividing between spirit and soul. This is the merismos process of division.

The Word of God will show you where you already are divided and will cut off (from your heart) anything that is not part of who you really are in the spirit (Hebrews 4:12). Whatever is not conformed to the image of Christ, whatever is hindering you, will be cut off. God wants to help you, not hinder you.

Notice that the Word is what can divide between soul and spirit, as well as joints and marrow and the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Only the Word can do this! Remember, it is alive, and it is powerful.

The Holy Spirit loves you and will use the Word of God to show you where you are divided, so you will become whole in that area. Being divided will always cause you to be unstable in that area.

Did you know that the Holy Spirit is jealous over you? James 4:5 says, “Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’”? The New International Version says it this way, “Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?”

The Spirit of God is proactive in your life and does not want you to be a friend of the world. He doesn’t want you to be conformed to the ways of sinful culture. He is jealous over you to be transformed into the image of Christ.

Colossians 1:15 says that Christ “is the image of the invisible God.”

In Genesis we learn that we were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), and when we were born again, our spirit became recreated in the image of Christ (Romans 8:9).

The Holy Spirit is passionate about helping us be conformed to the image of Christ in every part of our life, not just our spirit.