Since this article is about saving the “soul”, let me start with a definition of the soul. I think Noah Webster offered a great definition that is in harmony with biblical text.
The spiritual, rational and immortal substance in man, which distinguishes him from brutes; that part of man which enables him to think and reason, and which renders him a subject of moral government. (Webster Dictionary 1828)
The soul is the mechanism which directs our compass, and our lives are governed by our compass, so then it is vital that our soul is set to the values and standards of the one who created all things. The Lord accomplishes this by filling our soul with His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the light of truth comes in and supplants the darkness of lies and vain imaginations. This calibrates our compass to the will of GOD and changes the course of our lives.
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. (Proverb 16:6 KJV)
Mercy and Truth came to us in bodily form in the person of YESHUA the Christ. To accept Christ as your Savior is to surrender your soul to Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. YESHUA taught that His word is spirit and life. As you receive His word into your soul, His life begins to fill you and transform you. You are regenerated by the quickening life of Christ. This life is given to us by the power of the Holy Spirit which Christ sent into the earth after His ascension. The Holy Spirit is also referred to in scripture as the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Christ.
The Spirit of Truth will challenge your beliefs and ideologies. If you are not humble as an obedient child, then you will resist and fight against the truth to have it your way. This is why we have to abandon the foolishness of pride in the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord acknowledges the superiority of the knowledge and wisdom of GOD to that of any other. The fear of the Lord causes us to bow our souls to GOD in worship. In the posture of worship, we become obedient children and receive the favor of GOD. The favor of GOD draws us to His kingdom and clears the path before us.
We wean our souls from its independent and selfish ways by taking up the cross each day and yielding to the Holy Spirit. We eventually become as David in Psalm 131.
1 My heart is not proud, O LORD,
my eyes are not haughty.
I do not aspire to great things
2 Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with his mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
(Psalm 131:1-2NKJV)
YESHUA gave instruction in the book of Luke chapter 9, verse 23-24, that if any man desired to come after Him, then he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Him. He went on to say that those who desired to keep their life would lose it, but those who would reject their life for His sake would save it. In this passage, Christ is speaking about the life of the soul, the “psuche”. The Greek word “psuche” is translated in this passage to life. “Psyche” is the English version of “psuche” and is the root word in the term “psychology”. We are to take up our cross and follow Christ to “Golgotha” the place of the skull. The book of John chapter 19 tells us that Christ was crucified at a location known as the place of the skull. We know that the head or skull is understood to be the house of the mind, therefore at the place of the skull we must crucify our mind that we might receive the mind of Christ in preparation to live resurrection life.
The mind is the heart of our being because it is what you think about a person that determines if you will love them or hate them. It is what you think about something that determines if you will treasure it and keep it or despise it and discard it.
20 And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” (Mark 7:20-23 NKJV)
To facilitate the working of salvation, we must apply the cross to the workings of our mind as the Apostle Paul says, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” That’s weaning the soul from carnal life to spiritual life, from the understanding of man to the knowledge of GOD (2 Corinthians 10:5).
I encounter far too many people today that confess to be following Christ while they are still being governed by their own reasoning and intellect failing to apply the cross at the place of the skull. Remember that the justified are those who live by faith, which means obedience to the word of GOD regardless of what you might think or feel about it. What good parent excepts obedience from a child based on what the child feels or thinks about their command? None. Even so, our Heavenly Father with exceedingly more knowledge and authority expects us to behave ourselves as obedient children that we might inherit His promises. To save your soul, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding, and in all your ways acknowledge Him that He might direct your path into the Kingdom of GOD.
“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 16:3 NKJV)
theinscribedheart 
Amen!