Laws of spiritual life
3/19/95
I. Importance of Spiritual life
A. Flesh vs. spirit
1. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16, KJV).
a. Flesh includes the natural part of man apart from God.
b. Soul--mind,will, emotion
c. Flesh--reproduction, hunger, self-preservation
2. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7, KJV).
B. 1 Cor. 2:9-3:2
1. 2:9, what God has prepared for us is not received outwardly or discovered in our natural minds. So he who desires to know and commune with god can rely upon his own intellect and mind
2. 2:10, God reveals. It is a gift of revelation, not an exercise of the flesh. The next two verses tell us HOW God reveals things to us.
a. The Holy Spirit alone knows the things of God and gives us revelation by HS (must be born again). Verse 11 tells us that it is in our spirit that we can understand the things of God.
1) It is very important that our spirit be quickened by the HS. Those not experiencing the new birth cannot perceive the things of the kingdom (John 3).
3. 2:13, Paul seeks not just to inform with his words, but to IMPART truth to anothers spirit, not just give information to the minds of others.
a. We need to ask God to give us utterance, not just try to explain or argue truths with natural arguments,
4. 2:14, The NATURAL man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God.
a. natural, HEB. is psuche or soulical. In other words, a man who is governed by the soul realm cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God.
b. These soulish people are those who have not received the life of the Spirit of God in their spirits and have only natural endowment because they are dead to God.
c. A regenerated man, if he attempts to communicate with God using his mind and observation (like the unsaved) instead of exercising his renewed spirit is powerless to perceive the realities of God. HE THINKS THE THINGS OF GOD ARE FOLLY!
d. They are spiritually discerned. The HS repeatedly stresses the fact that man’s spirit is the place of communion with God. The mind is very importatn, but must keep soulish facilities in secondary importance to spirits.
5. 2:15, a spiritual man is one whose spirit dominates and who has a highly sensitive intuition. The quiet voice of the spirit is undisturbed by emotion, mind and will of the soul, but actually assisted by it.
a. Spiritual man can judge because he leans on intuition of the Holy Spirit.
6. 2:16, But we…indicates we are different from people governed by the soul. We who have been regenerated posses the mind of Christ and need to listen
7. 3:1-3, Though all christians posses a regenerated spirit, not all Christians are spiritual. Many are still fleshly!
a. just as a man’s senses are not born with a matured awareness, so a believer’s intuition is not born highly sensitive.
b. Eph 1:17, we need to pray for increased revelation, discernment and intuition.
c. Too often we do not wait on the Lord for his wisdom and revelation because we are so preoccupied with our natural life…our lives are too dominated by the 3 desires of the body or soul.
II. Laws of spiritual life.
A. WEIGHTS
1. These are employed by the enemy to harass and deprive of joy and lightness and to disable one’s spirit from cooperating with the Holy Spirit. If we do not recognize the source of this heaviness and meaning of the oppression, we cannot instantly deal with it and restore our spirit to normalcy
a. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (Hebrews 12:1, KJV).
2. A believer may be puzzled over it, interpreting it as something natural and allow his spirit to be suppressed. When one is then to do the work of God, he i powerless to accomplish God’s work because he has this weight. The consciousness of the spirit gets dull and the believer is unaware that the source is satanic OR he may be aware and not resist the attack.
1) Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
3. With this load, the christian is bound to suffer defeat. A free spirit is the basis for victory. When our spirit is oppressed, we lose discernment and miss God’s true guidance and spiritual progress halts.
a. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. (Psalms 51:12, KJV).
4. Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
b. One must deal with oppression of spirit immediately. We must exercize our will and spirit against it. Resist in prayer and utter words againt it.
c. Deal with the cause of oppression -- you must discern the cause behind the work, where did you fail to cooperate with God in a particular manner to let a heavy weight come on you?
B. Blockage of the Spirit.
1. Genesis 26--Isaac had to unstop the wells
2. Our spirit requires the woul and body for expression, just as electricity requires wire and switch for light. Therefore the enemy will often act against believers soul and body…confust the mind, disturb emotions, make will weary and powerless, make body overly tired and temporarliy lazy.
3. One must resist these symptoms or our spirit will be blocked in and a believer loses his aliveness.
a. he seems bashful, tries to hide, seldome undertakes anything publicly, withdraws to back. One may think that he is discovering a part of himself w/o realizing his spirit is blocked.
b. he has no interest in reading the Bible, not word in prayer. past work and experience seems meaningless.
4. You need to find the cause and exerciae you will against the enemy by audibly uttering words against the enemy by proclaiming victory of the cross and the defeat of the enemy.
5. Pray aloud and exerciae your spirit to run the blockage to reach outside of the blockage it is in.
C. Poisoned Spirit
1. 1 Sam. 1:15, sorrowful spirit = Heb, stern, stiff, hard, fierce, stubborn.
2. Prov. 18:14, (NIV) crushed or wounded (KJV)
a. This often happens in children that are abused, unloved, etc.
3. It is extremely hazardous to accept w/o objection or question every sorrow that comes as our own natural feelings. Never accept any thought or feeling lightly if you want to walk in the spirit.
4. Sometimes Satan provokes us to harden our spirit…become stiff, unyeilding, narrow, etc. God cannot work with such a spirit.
a. Hannah confessed that she had a hard spirit. The years of abuse had caused her eto harden her spirit, but in the presence of God, she broke and poured out her heart before God.
b. This is shown by abandining love towards men, no longer being sympathetic, tenderharted, or generous.
c. UNFORGIVENESS poisons one’s spirt. This is too common among God’s children who harbor bitterness become fautlfinding. Real spiritual progress cannot progress.
5. Someone poisoned often becomes narrow and confining. These people separate themselves by drawing a line of demarcation. If one is blind to the concept of the church as a body he will be devoted to his "small ever decreasing circle" Thus proving that his spirit has already shrunken.
a. If our spirit is open we embrace all of God’s children. If we cannot, we’ve been poisoned.
6. Pride can poison our spirits
a. Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18, KJV).
b. This is an attitude of self-importance, self-conceit. (Fighting for the right to play the organ at church)
7. These poisons will turn into the sins and works of the flesh (Gal 5:19,20)
a. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, (Galatians 5:19, KJV).
b. Luke 9:54,55--we must know what kind of spirit we are. We often do not see that our spirit has fallen prey to the enemy. An erring spirit is often manifested through or words or the TONE of our words.
c. How do we speak. Or words may be true enough, but behind it lurks a spirit of criticism, condemnation, jealousy, wrath, etc. Sin is not just an action, but an attitude of heart.
d. when we notice our words have turned harsh, STOP. Instantly oppose the enemy and say, "I am willing to speak with a pure spirit and submit only the the HS." If we are reluctant to say, "I am wrong" our spirit remains engulfed in its sin.
D. Sinking of the Spirit
1. Turning in on oneself and having our focus onself instead of others will soon find they are engulfed in soulishness and our spirit will ink below the realm of the soul.
a. Characterized by a focus on feelings, and sensations of the soul and body.
b. soul surrounds the spirit and reduces it to servitude.
2. We must therefore learn how to keep our spirit continuously outgoing and NOT let it stagnate.
a. praying in the spirit is one way to keep our spirit strengthened (Jude 20)
3. The moment we turn in, the power of the HS stops.
E. Burdens of the Spirit
1. These originate from God in His desire to manifest His will to the believer. It is different from a weight in that a weight oppresses and handicaps, whereas a burden is a call to work, pray, preach, share, or act in some way. It has a purpose, with a reason and for spiritual profit.
a. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:30, KJV).
b. Freedom in prayer is never lost with a burden, it is with a weight.
c. Isa 14:28, 15:1--prophets received a burden.
2. A burden is only lightened as we fulfil the burden through obedience.
a. Eg. burden to pray for the lady at the nursing home.
b. Too often we have a burden to pray and cease to pray before the burden lifts and we have prayed thorugh.
F. Ebbing of the Spirit
1. God’s life and power can recede like a tide goes out.
a. A soulish person thinks spirituallife is in high tide when he feels the presence of God, when he doesn’t it is at low tide.
2. Spiritual life can recede and gradually decline after one is filled w/ H.S. The difference between spiritual decine and solish is that spiritual life declines very slowly and gradual.
3. Gradually loses joy, peace, power and day by day grows weaker, Bible reading becomes meaningless and rarely is his heart touched by any message or special verse, prayer is dreary and dry, witnessing is forced and reluctant, not overflowing.
4. God’s life does not ebb and flow like a tide.
a. John 7:38, it is rivers of living water
b. james 1;17, no variation or sahdow due to change.
5. If we become aware of spiritual life waning. IT IS UNNECESSARY! and abnormal. You can be filled with the life of God uninterruptedly.
a. The fountain of life is within, we need to let it flow out and overwhelm our soul.
6. This ebb is usually created becasue of ignorance (Hosea 4;6), ON HOW TO COOPERATE WITH GOD IN FULFILLING HIS CONDITIONS FOR A CONTINUAL FLOW.
G. IRRESPPONSIBILITY OF THE SPIRIT
1. Man’s spirit has the responsibility to cooperate with the HS.
a. The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly. (Proverbs 20:27, KJV).
b. Our spirit is like an electric light bulb, when in contact with electricity it shines, when unplugged it is dark.
2. Prov. 14:32--spirits of the prophets subject to the prophets. We choose what we allow our spirits to do.
3. 1 Thess. 5:19, Do not quench the Spirit
H. Aiding the spirit by the mind
1. 1 Cor. 14:14,15--pray with my mind and pray with my spirit.
a. Prayingn with the mind can activate the spirit.
2. There are times when it seems as if our spirit is asleep and unresponsive in spiritual things. We then use our mind to aid our spirit by doing what we know in our mind to do.
NOTE: This sermon was one I preached a number of years ago and I am indebted to a variety of speakers and authors, as well as the Holy Spirit, however, actual reference books, messages, that have been so helpful throughout all my life and in putting together this message has been lost other than what is noted.
