God wants us to come into that place of relationship and responsibility into which Adam would have matured if he had not sinned.
For that to happen, we have to build our spirit. If we are not strong in spirit, we will not be able to overcome and dethrone the soul.
We were created to be spirit, soul and body, with the spirit taking the lead. But because our spirit was dead to God, our soul has become accustomed to having its own way. When we are born again and our spirit comes alive, that has to change. The soul must submit to the spirit, but it will not do so willingly.
There are a number of things we can do to build our spirit.
1. Make sure we give God first place, first love, first priority.
2. Pray and sing in tongues.
3. Wait on the Lord and be still.
4. Meditate on the Word of God.
5. Praise and adoration, soaking in the presence of God.
6. Come to God and ask Him to build our spirit. Often we do not have because we do not ask (James 4:2).
7. Confess and call things into being. Call forth our spirit. Speak it out.
8. Persevere. You don’t build your spirit in a day.
If you want to get fit and have muscles in the natural, you have to go to the gym and train, week after week, until you build muscles. It is the same with your spirit. Your spirit grows stronger through exercise; spiritual exercises train and equip your spirit to connect with God, to flow in revelation, and to rule in your life. You have to persevere.
If we give up on exercise, it is usually because we don’t enjoy the discipline. Discipline itself is not very pleasant.
But if we want a strong spirit, we have to be willing to do whatever it takes to train it. We have to spend a lot of time training our spirit, hours, every day, training our spirit to discern the words of God, to flow, and to build up our spiritual senses.
It starts with a desire, it takes discipline, and then it becomes a delight.