CONTROLING OUR SPIRIT
Many passages in the Bible speak about the end time. We read in I Timothy 4:1: But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.
In the latter times we are going to be up against deceitful spirits and doctrines of devils. It is easy for a Christian to follow the spirit of this age and be tolerant toward it trying to get a little good out of it, but the rat poison that is really effective is ninety-nine percent pure wheat. That’s the way they kill rats.
Satan gets a hold of the saints by making them tolerant of doctrines, tolerant of the things that are going on in the Christian world.
This deceit that Satan is bringing forth is so great that the Word says if it were possible he would deceive even the very elect. False prophets and false Christ’s shall arise and bring lying signs and wonders (Matthew 24:24). This brings one to a realization that some will fall away from the faith because they will give heed to these deceitful spirits.
According to the words of the Lord, “If any man will do His will” (another translation reads, “willeth to do His will”), “he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself” (John 7:17).
Knowing what is true or false does not come from reasoning it out. It does not come because you consulted a good commentary. The best scholars of the Scripture in Jesus’ day plotted to crucify Him? Don’t forget that the men who were the most learned in the Word of God were the ones who tried to crucify Him. To hold the truth in unrighteousness, to hold it without a dedication to walk in it, can be very dangerous because God turns you over to delusion and you believe a lie. (Romans 1:18), God does it, and the devil takes advantage of it.
In spiritual warfare our best protection is our dedication to walk in what God shows us. A person is in a dangerous position when they are not dedicated to the Lord. To hold any truth and not press into it puts us immediately in some degree of spiritual jeopardy in the warfare. If we really want to be protected and come through victoriously, the first thing to do is to will to do His will.
We need to Let God put it in our heart that we want to do His will more than anything else. Then we will know the teaching, whether it is of God. God can help us with that. When we open the door to His will, then we will see that the answer is right there.
Very closely related to our will to do the will of God is the reign, bridle, harness) that we place on our own spirit. We exercise our spirit and bring the soul and body under. Paul says that he brought his body under subjection; he buffeted it. He brought it under control lest the body should lead him (I Corinthians 9:27).
We must decide who is going to be the master. If the physical dominates us, the result is disaster. If the soul dominates, we are also open to deception. If the flow of God’s Spirit within our spirit dominates, we can keep our soul and body under its influence.
When things get to us, it is because something is wrong in our soul. We have a sick soul, our emotions have been affected, which then affects our spirit too, our spirit no longer takes the ascendancy but is submerged in the soul life of an individual.
Proof of this is found in Proverbs 25:28: Like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit (temper). In other words, he has no defenses. Spiritual defenses come from having our spirit under control.
If you do not have control over your spirit, it leaves you like a city with the walls broken down. That’s a dangerous place to be in spiritual warfare, where you have no walls, no protection. You are like a city that has been broken into and is without walls. Everything has been broken down. The enemy can come in any time he wants.
There are individuals who make an effort to walk with God and say, “Oh, I’m going to get down to business. I am going to pray, read the Word, wait on the Lord.” The devil looks back and laughs at them because all he has to do is push a little button and they will respond in a certain way. Flip, flip, flip, they are out of the race. He knows just how to do it, so we had better build up some defenses for our spirits.
What is it that controls our spirit? The human will. Everything comes into being in our spirit by willing it to be so. It isn’t emotions that control our spirit. You may say, “I’m going to wait on the Lord in undisturbed surroundings. I’ll play some nice soft music, take the phone off the hook, and put the children to bed.” Then you sit down and think about something that happened yesterday and you become angry. It isn’t the circumstances that are going to help you have that good spirit. Some people in this world are never going to control their spirit because they never set their will to do it.
Being spiritual is a soul activity with many people. When they say, “I am going to be spiritual,” they really mean that they are going to be religious or soulish. Being spiritual is another thing. You decide; you set your will to walk with God. It is a matter of your will turning your spirit into God.
Don’t say, “I would, but I am depressed”. We are as happy as we have made up our mind to be, because our spirit has the ability to tune into the joy of the Lord.
The will operates with faith. When we minister to an individual, what is that little secret mechanism that turns on revelation for them? It’s very simple. It’s our will. It is our responsibility to have a word from God, so we have decided we will have a word from God. When we yield our will unto the will of God, when we will to do His will then it happens. We know the truth, and we know what to say.
We must realize that we are one of the most fortunate individuals in this whole universe when our spirit is alive to God, because then God can meet our heart. We can either set our mind on a few little problems, little petty things, or we can set our heart on God and our walk with Him. You can set your will to be spiritual, to walk with God, and to be joyful.
Some people are dispensers of gloom. It is hard to be happy around them. We Try to say something cheerful, and they snap right back. Then what should we do? Put up walls. Say in your heart, “I set my will not to be disturbed by this person.”
We are talking about spiritual warfare where Satan uses agencies. He uses anything that is close to us, but especially people to whom we are open. Satan will come to harass us, and if we have a defense around our spirit we have shut off much of the battle. This does not mean that you shut our heart up to another individual. It doesn’t mean we put a wall up to them. We put a wall up to what they are dishing out.
This is a very practical lesson because it deals with the end time when God will have a people who will defeat principalities and powers. But they will not be successful if they cannot even rule their own spirits. With faith we determine that we are going to control our own spirit, and we will.
Our spirit can acquire things. Our spirit can appropriate. When we put on love that is a thing we do with our spirit. We reach out and take something from God. Is there something lacking in your spirit? Then acquire it from God. Qualities are acquired. We learn in other ways. But with our spirit we appropriate.
There is a big difference between the spirit, the soul, and the body. We want things to change in your spirit. This is where we want the victory. The victory is not won; our spirit appropriates it. Our spirit will appropriate the victory. It takes it. The victory is in Christ. All of this is in Christ. We put on the Lord. Our spirit has an amazing quality that it will absorb whatever we are open to. If we have no walls up against sin, it will absorb sin and become defeated and defiled, it will become weak. If we have no walls in our spirit against certain things, then they come in and we acquire them.
When Moses went up on the mountain, he wanted to see the glory of the Lord and he saw it. When he came down, that glory had so completely saturated him that even his face was shining. People couldn’t look at him. We absorb God! We appropriate Him!
How do we change physically? Our size and shape is determined by the hereditary process, as well as by what you eat, how you take care of yourself, how you exercise. All of these are factors that make us grow physically. If we don’t like our features, we can go to a plastic surgeon, and he will change some of them.
How do we change in our soul? We work at it through the power of positive thinking. That’s the way we reach the soul life. We can learn to control many of our feelings, our reactions, and other areas of our soul, by what we think about.
How do we change in our spirit? – By exposure to God. We open our spirit to the Lord; we have to connect to the Lord with our spirit. We have to get the life of God flowing into our spirit. When we are filled with the Spirit, then we have the strength to keep our soul and body under its control.