In a prophetic reference to the Lord Jesus in Isaiah 50:4, we read, "Morning by morning, He (the Father) wakens Me and opens My understanding to His will." That was Jesus' habit. He listened to His Father's voice from early morning and throughout the day, and did exactly what His Father told Him to do. He did not have discussions with men, to decide on what to do, but had prayer-meetings with His Father. Soulish Christians plan through discussions with men. Spiritual Christians wait to hear from God.

Jesus gave high priority to prayer in His life. He would often slip away into the wilderness and pray (Luke 5:16). Once He spent a whole night in prayer to know the Father's will concerning the choice of the twelve disciples (Luke 6:12, 13). The soulish Christian considers time spent in waiting on God, as wasted time, and prays only to ease his conscience. Prayer is not a desperate necessity in his life, because he is confident of himself. The spiritual man, however is dependent on God perpetually for everything, and is thus driven, out of sheer necessity, to prayer.

Jesus lived by His Father (John 6:57). To Jesus, God's Word was more important than food (Matthew 4:4). He had to receive it many times a day, straight from the Father. Having received it, He obeyed it. Obedience too was more important than His daily food (John 4:34). Jesus, lived in dependence on the Father. His attitude throughout the day was, "Speak, Father, I am listening."

Consider His chasing the money-changers out of the temple. There must have been many occasions when Jesus was in the temple with the money-changers there, when He did not chase them out. He did so, only when led to do so by His Father. The soulish Christian would rather chase out the money-changers perpetually or never at all. He who is led by God however, knows when, where and how to act.

There were many good things that Jesus could have been done, that He never did, because they were outside the scope of His Father's will for Him. He was always busy doing the very best things. And those were enough. He had not come to earth to do good things, but to do the will of His Father.

"Did you not know that I had to be in the things of My Father," He asked Joseph and Mary, at the age of twelve (Luke 2:49 - YLT). Those were the only things that He was interested in accomplishing. When He came to the end of 33½ years on earth, He could say, with real satisfaction, "Father, I have done everything YOU told Me to do" (John 17:4).

He had not travelled around the world, He had not written any book, His followers were few, there were still many unmet needs in many parts of the world, etc., etc. But He had finished the work that the Father had appointed for Him. That, and that alone, matters ultimately.

Jesus was a servant of the Lord Jehovah. And "the most important thing about a servant is that he does just what his master tells him to" (1 Corinthians 4:2- TLB). He spent His life listening to His Father, and thus accomplished all His Father's will, without exhaustion or frustrated 'busyness.' He put His own human interests to death. He was not soulish. He was spiritual.