We would much rather
believe that we do not have any spiritual work to do- than to comprehend the
truth- that we have a part to play in our walk with Christ.
You accept Christ as
your Savior and then… what happens after your initial acceptance? How do you
incorporate your new life in Christ with your everyday life? How do you take
Jesus with you into the work place, into school, into your family life?
We have a new life,
a spirit life- our Savior told us that we must be born again of water and
Spirit. Born anew in baptism and the Holy Spirit, our spirit life is awakened
and we need to comprehend its existence, not as something of fantasy and
fiction but of reality. We’re going to continue studying the word of God and
the book- The Spiritual Man- hoping and praying God grants us only His truth!
'(8) Conditions of
the Spirit Let us summarize.
A believer should
know every law of the spirit if he desires to live by it.
If he is not
vigilant and loses the cooperation of his spirit with God, then he
unquestionably has fallen. To discern the particular condition of his inner man
is one of the most central laws pertaining to the spirit. All which we have
discussed in the chapter are included in this law.
A child of God ought
to know what is and what is not the normal condition for his spirit. Since it
should have authority over man’s soul and body, occupying the highest position
in him and possessing the greatest power, the Christian needs to know if such
is the situation in him or not.
He should also
recognize whether his spirit, if it has lost its normalcy, did so through war
or environment.
The conditions of
the spirit may be classified generally into four types:
(a) The spirit is
oppressed and is therefore in decline.
(b) The spirit is
under compulsion and so is forced into inordinate activity.
(c) The spirit is
defiled (2 Cor. 7.1) since it has yielded ground to sin.
(d) The spirit is
quiet and firm because it occupies its rightful position.
2Co 7:1 Having
therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of
God.
A Christian should
know at least these four different conditions and also understand how to deal
with each one if necessary.
Often a person’s
spirit sinks and is “pushed aside” through his own carelessness as to the
enemy’s assault. During that time he seems to have forfeited his heavenly
position together with its brightness and victory and subsequently feels cold
and withered. Due to sadness in his spirit or to any one of a number of other
reasons, his inner man is cast down and is denied the joy of floating above.
When the spirit is oppressed in this fashion it drops below its normal level.
At other times it may be coerced into running wild. A person can be so
stimulated by his soul that his spirit falls under compulsion and is thereby
denied its tranquility. Because of his pursuit of creaturely activities he may
develop an “unruly spirit.” Too much laughter as well as many other actions may
produce an unmanageable spirit. Protracted war with the enemy can provoke the
spirit to become overly active. The saint may find his spirit overstretched to
the point where it is powerless to stop. Or the enemy may inject strange joy or
other feelings into him to entice his inner man to move beyond the acceptable
and right counsel of his mind or will. Whenever anyone is incompetent to guard
his spirit, then is he open inevitably to defeat. The spirit on other occasions
neither sinks too low nor is elevated too high but is simply defiled. The
defilement may be due to its attitude of hardness or unyieldedness; or to sins
like pride, jealousy and others; or to the mixing in with the spirit of such
soulical functions as natural affection, feeling, thought, and so on.
The spirit needs to
be purified from its every defilement (2 Cor. 7.1; 1 John 1.9).
2Co 7:1 Having
therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of
God.
1Jn 1:9 If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If a Christian
wishes to walk after the spirit he has to discern exactly what condition his
own is in, whether it is quietly occupying its proper place, has fallen too
low, is risen too high, or is simply defiled. He must learn, if required, how
to uplift his oppressed spirit so that it measures up to the standard of the
Holy Spirit, how to exercise his will to prevent his spirit from becoming
overly active or to restore it to its normalcy if it is too active, and how to
cleanse his defiled spirit that it may work together with God once again.'
The Spiritual Man by
Watchman Nee
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