When the spirit of discouragement and depression comes to harass the people of the Lord, they can become victims of it almost without realizing how much it is controlled by the spirit realm. If they realized the danger of it, they would rebuke it and not yield to it.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city. Proverbs 16:32. Through the years I have been aware of the deadliness of the unrestrained human spirit. The tools used most often to discourage and to bring despair most effectively are people whose spirits are unrestrained. We have all had problems with that, and we look to the Lord to put a restraint on our spirit, that it be perfected and purified.
No problem in your ministry will be as disastrous as a refusal to place a restraint on your spirit. Sometimes people inherit this problem. I think I did. But I prayed desperately to the Lord and He changed it for me. It is the miracle of my life.
Alexander the Great is remembered as a mighty conqueror. He could conquer great nations, but not his own spirit. During a drunken brawl, he lost his temper and killed one of his best friends. “He that ruleth his own spirit is greater than he that taketh a city.” It is true. Believe it! You could have wisdom to direct men and the ability to lead them with strategy to take a city, yet you would not be as great as a man who rules his own spirit.
How easy it is to react wrongly when a restraint is not on your spirit. Let the Lord give you a very sensitive conscience, a heart that is tender and quick to respond to anything He says and does. If you do not learn to restrain your spirit, you will become grumpy and crabby, a murmurer and complainer, and the blessing will pass you by.
It is important for us to be aware of what takes place in the spirit realm so we know how to fight it. God will help us; the Lord will move in, just as His Word promises. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him (Isaiah 59:19). As Paul affirmed, “We are not ignorant of Satan’s devices,” and we do have our defenses. When we know what the devil has up his sleeve, we are able to counteract it. A great deal of our victory is achieved by a little discernment.
Many a minister is defeated because either he or his wife or his family do not know how to restrain their spirit. The tragedy is that those with an unrestrained spirit are never at fault in their own sight. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes. Proverbs 16:2a. It is strange how we always feel that we are right; we cannot be wrong. If someone tells us otherwise, we resist and argue against it.
I know about the reactions of an unrestrained spirit, for I have experienced them myself. I know I would never be a servant of the Lord today, able to bring a word from God, if I had not faced this long ago and let God deal with my spirit.
Do you want to take Canaan? Then pray a little prayer first, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in the earth of my own heart as it is in heaven.” Believe that the Lord will help you overcome those moments of discouragement and weakness. The Lord told Peter, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). In moments of pressure, all of Peter’s good intentions failed and he was defeated. He that spareth his words hath knowledge; and he that is of a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Proverbs 17:27.
Many times, after you have prayed much and are very encouraged, suddenly a wave of discouragement hits; but then almost immediately you break through. The enemy uses this last weapon to assault you in your spirit; and if your spirit is not restrained and you give way to discouragement or lack of control, he has pushed you off the course. It is almost like a pattern. That little wave of discouragement coming at you is a good indication that within the next day or two you will have your answer.
Individuals react differently to the things that get to their spirits. One man loses his temper, another begins to murmur, another complains, another begins to criticize and judge. Regardless of the manifestation, it is all a part of the same picture: the reaction that comes forth from a spirit that is not under control. If you do not restrain your spirit, the enemy will rule it, for he is ready to move right in. We could compare it to driving a car: if you move out of the driver’s seat and let the car drive itself, you are headed for disaster. It is equally disastrous if you do not rule your own spirit every minute.
No doubt you are asking, “How do I rule my own spirit?” We could ask also, “How do you bridle your tongue?” This is something the Holy Spirit has to do. It is a combination of a surrender to the Lord and an aggressiveness of faith that appropriates. Just the exercise of your own will is not enough; you will still lose out. In your surrender and submissiveness to the Lord, coupled with an aggressiveness with which you are determined that the will of the Lord is going to be done, you simply refuse to react.
A man who lights a match to see if there is any gas in his gas tank will go as far as he can go on one tank of gas—out of this world. That is an example of lack of restraint. However, with proper restraint on the engine, the combustion will send that car down the road mile after mile in a beautiful gentle ride. Likewise, when you are tempted, you must take all the force of your spirit, and instead of allowing Satan to direct it in an unrestrained reaction of exploding, work against yourself.
It is almost a spiritual jujitsu. If you have learned the art of jujitsu, you are prepared in case someone attacks you. As he lunges at you, you simply grab hold of him and use his own strength and weight against him. You exert very little energy, but he lands in the corner stunned, because you directed all of his force to his disadvantage. Apply the same principle spiritually. If you are about to lose your temper, then be angry at your anger. Be rebellious against your rebellion! Insist, “I’ll not have this rebellion any more!” Take the whole force of it and turn it against yourself. A man brings restraint on his spirit by matching the violence coming out of his lack of restraint on his spirit, with a coexisting violence in his spirit, as he determines to do the will of the Lord.
A child of God, by virtue of the divine creative work within him, has a right spirit or a tendency toward a right spirit. A wrong spirit is not natural to the new creation. It is the outgrowth of an unrestrained spirit. When you do not restrain your spirit, it leads to a wrong spirit. When you pray for a right spirit and you seek the Lord to restrain your spirit, you are more than halfway to your goal.
A right spirit is a health and a strength to the body. A wrong spirit is sick and can be dealt with. But an unrestrained spirit is like a cancer that spreads through the whole body. Most of your problems are the result of a lack of restraint on your spirit.