Spirit Poisoning.

What in us is of God?  What in us is of Satan? What in us is of self? What in us is of spirit?

The person we are - those closest to us can reveal that to us, couldn't they? Ask the person closest to you what kind of person you are and see what they say. Tell them to be honest, that you don't want any sugar-coated answer simply given to stroke your ego. After they give you their answer then ask yourself if you believe what they've told you. Do you think you're worse than what they've told you, or better, or did they hit the nail right on the head? 

Can you, right this moment, admit to yourself what kind of person you are?

Regardless of what our reply is- if it is erring on the side of believing you are wonderful, a danger lurks there; as well as believing you are the worst of the worst unable to belong to Christ. What the Bible tells us we as people in general are is…

Rom_3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

Rom_5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned

1Ti_1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

We are all sinners in need of salvation.

Because we are all sinners we are in need of constant forgiveness as sin insinuates itself within our lives causing us to be contrary to God's will.

If you strive to belong to God, Satan and all his spiritual forces will war against you.  Recognizing Satan attacking us is so important and something that isn't talked about enough.  People may think you want to use Satan so you can excuse yourself from blame, and maybe that's true for some people but not for all. We can't blame Satan for our choosing to let sin be conceived in us. We can blame Satan for tempting us towards sin. When Satan attacks we can recognize that attacking for what it is and seek forgiveness when we succumb to the goading of the enemy.

Let's read more on this and what Watchmen Nee's comprehension is as He brings us his insight from studying God's word.  Let US look to God's word for the truth! All through Christ Jesus our LORD and SAVIOR now and forever! AMEN.

The Spiritual Man- by Watchman Nee (Excerpt)

(3) Poisoning of the Spirit

Our spirit can be poisoned by the evil spirit. This poison is the flaming dart of the enemy, aimed directly at our spirit. Into it he shoots sorrow, grief, anguish, woe or heartbreak to cause us to have a “sorrowful spirit” (1 Sam. 1.15 ASV): and a “broken spirit who can bear?” (Prov. 18.14)

 It is exceedingly hazardous for anyone to accept without objection or question every sorrow which comes upon him and take for granted that these are naturally his own feelings. He has not yet examined the source nor put up any resistance. Let us remember to never accept any thought or feeling lightly. If we wish to walk after the spirit we must be watchful in all points, searching especially the source of every notion and sensation. Sometimes Satan provokes us to harden our spirit. It can become stiff, unyielding, narrow and selfish. Such a spirit cannot work with God nor can it do His will. And so a believer will abandon his love towards men; he will shed every delicate, sympathetic, tenderhearted feeling towards others. Since he has lost the generosity of the Lord and has drawn a circle around himself, how can the Holy Spirit ever use him mightily?

Frequently the enemy entices Christians to harbor an unforgiving spirit—a very common symptom indeed among God’s children. Perhaps the fall of spiritual Christians can be traced chiefly to this very cause. Such bitterness and fault-finding and enmity inflict a severe blow upon spiritual life. If believers fail to see that such an attitude is distinctly from the enemy and not from themselves, they shall never be emancipated from the spirit of hatred.

At still other times Satan induces the spirit of God’s people to become narrow and confined. He seduces these Christians into separating themselves from others by drawing lines of demarcation. If anyone is blind to the concept of the church as a body he will be devoted to his “small circle,” proving that his spirit is already shrunken. The spiritual person, however, does not consider the things of God as his own but loves the whole church in his heart. If one’s spirit is open, the river of life overflows; should his spirit shrink, he hinders God’s work and lessens his own usefulness. A spirit that is not large enough to embrace all the children of God has been poisoned already.

Often Satan injects pride into the believer’s spirit, evoking in him an attitude of self-importance and of self-conceit. He causes him to esteem himself a very outstanding person, one who is indispensable in God’s work. Such a spirit constitutes one of the major reasons for the fall of believers: “pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16.18).

The evil spirit infects the believer’s spirit with these and other venoms. If these poisons are not opposed instantly they soon become “the works of the flesh” (Gal. 5.19). At first these are only poisons from Satan, but they can be transformed into sins of the flesh if the Christian accepts them, even unconsciously, rather than resists them. If the venom in the spirit is not dealt with it shall immediately become the sin of the spirit, a sin severer than any other. James and John thunderously asked: “Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them? . . . And he said, you do not know what manner of spirit you are of” (Luke 9.54,55 marginal). It is most essential that we know of what kind of spirit we are.

We often do not perceive that our spirit is prey to the instigation of the enemy.

Everything is wrong if it is wrong. From the experience of these two disciples we observe that an erring spirit can manifest itself easily through spoken words. Even so, the words uttered may not reveal nearly as much as the tone assumed. Sometimes the words are correct but the tone is wrong. To assure victory we need to watch even the sound of our speech.

Immediately the evil spirit touches our spirit, our voice loses its softness.

A harsh, hard, and shrill utterance does not spring from the Holy Spirit; it simply exhibits the fact that the one who speaks has been poisoned already by Satan.

How do we usually speak? Are we able to refer to others without any tinge of condemnation? Our words may in fact be true but lurking behind those words of truth could be the spirit of criticism, condemnation, wrath, or jealousy. Whereas we should speak the truth in love. If our spirit is pure and gentle, then are we able to voice the truth.

Now should the spirit of condemning be within us, we most assuredly have sinned. Sin is not only an action; it is also a condition.

What is hidden behind things is what matters the most.

How many times we sin while doing something for God or men, for darkly hidden away is an unfaithful, unwilling, or grudging spirit.

We must keep our spirit sweet and soft. It must be pure and clean. Do we consider an erring spirit as sin? Do we know when the enemy has attacked our spirit—when our spirit is poisoned? Suppose we do know, are we humble enough to eliminate such sin? The moment we notice our voice has turned harsh, we must stop instantly. With not the slightest hesitation we should turn to ourselves and say, “I am willing to speak with a pure spirit; I am willing to oppose the enemy.” If we are reluctant to say to our brethren, “I am wrong,” then our spirit remains engulfed in its sin.

God’s children ought to learn how to guard their spirit from being goaded by the enemy. They should know also how to preserve it in sweetness and tenderness. In ordinary times the Lord’s people should early take the shield of faith which quenches all the flaming darts of the evil one. This implies that we should swiftly exercise living faith to look for God’s protection and to withstand the enemy’s attack. Faith is our shield, not our extractor: faith is a weapon for quenching the flaming darts, not for pulling them out afterwards. But should anyone be hit by a flaming dart, he at once must eliminate the cause of the dart. He should maintain an attitude of resistance, immediately denying whatever comes from Satan and praying for cleansing.'