God’s desire is that His people would live pure both inwardly and outwardly. The very best life we could ever live on this earth is the life lived from our re-born spirits. The lowest life we could ever live is from our carnal natures. Now, the soul of man is where his intellect, his emotions, and his will reside. When left to its own devices, it will automatically live according to its own desires and carnal nature. Which really doesn’t end well, because its desires are bent towards selfishness and sin which lead to misery and death. But, if we deliberately exercise our wills to choose to spend quality time encountering God in His Word, and to pray in the Holy Ghost – we empower our spirits to dominate our carnal natures.
So instead of allowing the circumstances in the world around us to control and direct our thoughts and feelings – we choose the truth of God’s Word and His Holy Spirit to do the directing and controlling! Which leads to peace, freedom, victory and life! This process literally cleanses us from the inside out! Our motives, thoughts, words and actions follow after God! Yielding to His control purifies us! This leads to the greatest privilege and promise we could hope for – we get to see Him (Matthew 5:8)! Jesus makes Himself so real to us that we become overwhelmed by His goodness and kindness. He satisfies us so we will never thirst again (John 14:25; John 6:35)!