WEEK 8
TOPIC: The Nature of Man (Part 4) – Cultivating The Human Spirit (Contd).
TEXT: Ephesians 3:14-16.
We have started looking at how to train the human spirit. We shall examine more of them in this lesson.
- Listen to anointed messages: Every preaching is not anointed. Anointed messages are preachings and teachings that are accurate with the word and are done under the power of the Holy Spirit. Listening always to such messages builds divine strength into your spirit man. This happens in church meetings, audio and video formats, etc. Make a practice of surrounding your environment with anointed messages because your environment affects your spiritual development. Listen! Many preachings and teachings in churches today are nothing but mere philosophy, sociology, academics, etc. They don’t reach the human spirit at all, they only appeal to human intellect. That’s why there is no divine confirmation from God on those messages. Church is not secular school, you can go enroll in schools and learn those things, fine. But in church, the word is what God gave us to minister to man’s spirit. Therefore constantly listen to anointed messages to grow your spirit strong.
- Do the Word you know: Jesus said if you obey and do His word, you will get to know Him more (John 8:31-32). It doesn’t matter how much you think you know the word, you aren’t going to grow spiritually if you don’t do it. It is in the doing that real spiritual exercise comes in. You may ask, “I don’t know everything yet in the word”. The answer is do/practice the one you know and you start doing the ones you know first, that’s how it works. James tells us that we deceive ourselves when we don’t practice the word (James 1:21-22). That is we put our spirit in a condition of deception. Therefore, learn to practice the word you know in your daily affairs and your spirit will be exercised and developed quickly. You may not e perfect as you start out doing the word, but as you move on, your inner man will keep getting stronger.
- Do not violate your conscience: Your conscience is the voice of your human spirit. It is the beacon of truth in your personality. When you violate it, your spirit is programmed to gravitate towards the light of God’s will. No matter the issue of concern, your conscience which is the voice of your spirit will attest to the will of God on the matter and prompt you inwardly about it. When you ignore this prompting and go ahead deliberately to do otherwise, your spirit will grow weaker and the light within it will grow dim until the will of God is lost to you. Listen, many times we don’t miss God through ignorance, we miss Him through deliberate violation of our conscience because the truth is in our conscience. If you must build your spirit strong, learn to align with your conscience when faced with different opinions.
Note: You may miss God sincerely by doing what you thought was God’s will. That’s no problem because God has a way of redirecting us to His will in situations like that. But when His will is clear to you through the prompting of our conscience and you deliberately ignore it to do otherwise, maybe because of men’s opinion, and then you give people the impression that you are doing God’s will, you will never know His will because you have violated your conscience.
- Relate properly with spiritual authorities: Spiritual authorities refers to any man or structure that God has divinely places over you in Christ for your leading. The Bible says we should obey them that have rule over us because they watch over our souls (Heb. 13:17). God does lead us through divinely placed authority and structures per time. The more you respond to them properly, the more your human spirit gets matured and stronger. Listen; every time you respond in obedience to a divinely placed spiritual authority over you as he himself acts in line with God, it programs your spirit for accuracy in life. For example, if an usher, acting under the authority of the pastor asks you to sit in a particular place and you refuse and have your way against the usher’s directives, you program your human spirit in spiritual depravity without knowing. The day the Lord will speak to you directly, you will not also hear because your self will towards spiritual authority has destroyed the capacity of your spirit to respond to God. When there is a divinely placed spiritual authority over you and you know they are in line with God in their actions and walk, learn to respond to them in obedience and your human spirit will develop strongly in God.
- Pray in tongues often (1 Cor. 14:1-3): Praying in tongues is very vital to building your human spirit in Christ.The Bible says this kind of prayer edifies (builds and strengthens) your spirit man. In Jude vs 20, we are instructed to build up ourselves in our most holy faith and we do so by praying in the Holy Ghost (tongues). Praying in tongues doesn’t give you faith, for faith comes by hearing the word (Rom. 10:17), but praying in tongues helps your spirit to be exercise and strengthened so it can operate the faith of God you have stored in it through meditation. Many believers have great faith but are not able to operate it because their spirit, which helps you operate your faith, is weak. This is what praying in tongues helps you do; to exercise your spirit and get it alert to operate the faith you have. Therefore praying in tongues often helps you to train your spirit for a glorious walk in the earth.
Points to note
- You may not know everything in the word yet, but do the ones you know and more will be unveiled to you.
- Always pay attention to your conscience so your spirit will be strengthened in God’s will.
- Your relationship with spiritual authority and structures can strengthen or weaken your spirit.
- Praying in tongues often helps exercise your spirit so it can operate the faith it has received through the word.
Prayers/Dedications
Father, I declare that I am strengthened by your spirit in my inner man. I am growing stronger in your will and walking in your glory as my spirit gets trained in you in Jesus’ Name.
Questions for meditation
- Many preachings and teachings in churches do not touch the spirit of the people. Why?
- What do we mean by the term ‘violating your conscience’?
- How does praying in tongues relate to your faith?