THE SPIRIT
We have met the spirit in the preceding sections. But what is the realm of spirit and how can we recognize it? How do we walk by it? We must understand that our spirit is a distinct part of our nature, as viable as our souls and bodies. It is controlled easily by our will. In other words, if we cause our spirit to be focused on God, in time it will connect with His Spirit and you will be aware of it and aware of Him. The spirit works according to laws, just like our human bodies and souls. In the natural plane, if you touch the stove, you will be burned. It is a law. You cannot walk through walls; it is a natural barrier. But the Spirit works by laws also.
Some Spirit laws are applicable also in the natural realm. For instance, if you seek hard and long enough you will find what you want. If you want to be rich, just seek that goal and eventually you will attain it. If you want to be successful in life i.e. the good job, big house, expensive cars, be persistent and you will eventually have these things. Whatever you set your heart on, and persistently pursue, you will find. More important for the Christian if he/she seeks after an understanding of their spirit, and do not give up, they will find it. In the Spirit are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
We all have a human spirit within us but in many it remains unquickened and in a sense asleep. The spirit itself, when recognized through Christ or not, is unlimited. When our spirits are free, they can go anywhere and do anything within or without our imagination. Sometimes spiritual persons feel distant because their spirit is free and not necessarily connected with their bodies at all times. We’ve all heard of out of body experiences and were familiar with the colloquial term “free spirit”. When our spirits are free they can become disconnected with bodies for a moment. Most of us, however, are not aware of our spirits. Therefore we are completely unaware of God, despite how much intellectual prowess we have. The intellect cannot know God.
However, for Christians, and those who desire to walk with God, just being aware of our spirit nature is not an end in itself. The spirit can only be truly effective when it is directed by God. It is through the spirit we can obtain eternal life. Just having an undirected spirit gains nothing as an undirected spirit is open to many things that are not God. A free undirected spirit can easily become deceived as there are many voices (spirits) in the earth. As John said in his Epistle: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets [false spirits] have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world” (1 John 4:1-3).
This is actually a truly effective test for what is of God and what is not. There are many voices and many religions and philosophies. The only test as to their validity is whether the teaching identifies Jesus Christ as the Son of God. As harsh as this seems, this simple test eliminates many of the world’s major religions (the people are not rejected but the religion or philosophy is). It is only through our spirit in connection with the Spirit of God that we can make these distinctions and thereby know the truth. As Jesus pointed out: “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many” (Matthew 24:11). They will mislead those who do not have the spiritual discernment to discern the true from the false.
Our conscience can deceive us as well. Our human conscience is neither Spirit nor God. Many rely on their conscience to dictate what is right or wrong or to lead them in living a “moral” or “righteous” life. The human conscious leads only to dead works whereby we believe we are pleasing God when in fact we are not. Scripture says: “the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, CLEANSE YOUR CONSCIENCE FROM DEAD works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14).
Since we all have a conscience, and we sometimes allow it to rule our moral sense of things, there could be six billion separate consciences (concepts) dictating as many moral values. Moral standards are nothing more than deep-seated opinions that govern our sense of right and wrong. Unless our consciences are sanctified from these dead works (our human moral values mean nothing) and brought into the living works of Jesus Christ, we will not obtain what God wants for us. Our human consciences are a barrier (wall) to knowing God. Only God knows what righteousness is and our doing right or wrong must be according to His standards, not ours. The right thing to do, according to His word, is to have faith in Christ and believe He fulfilled the Law of God for us.
Many Bible scholars apply their entire lives to the study of God’s word by their intellect. However, the mere study of the word by the human mind does not come to know God; the effort is a dead work (John 5:39). The Pharisees of Christ time were the most religious appearing people of the day, similar to some of our ministers of today. Yet Jesus said they were “of their father the devil” (John 8:41-44). A man can write a commentary of the Bible, interrupting what he thinks it means, yet that commentary can be obsolete before the ink is dry. God’s Word is ever changing as it applies to us. It is a living Word meant to be real today, not what someone thought of it yesterday. Since the Word is Spirit, it can only be spiritually discerned. Jesus said: “My words are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). God’s word is spirit and conveys spirit. Human words can only convey ideas or impressions not spirit or life.
Neither do our human emotions lead us to God. Religious movements based on emotional expression were considered to be an expression of the Lord (Pentecostal movements, Quakers etc.). The Spirit has its own set of emotions: love, joy, peace, long suffering etc. It may express itself as dancing in the spirit as David did, or it may be quietly communing with Him. However, to correctly express spiritual emotions has to begin in the spirit, not the soul or body.
In order to come into an awareness of God’s Spirit one must desire it above all else. Jesus said: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-46). One must feel emptiness in this life and want something more. They may have tried different religions or philosophies, but to no lasting avail. A meeting with God is a personal experience; He is your personal Savior.
One method to become aware of Him is to wait on the Lord (Isaiah 40:31 KJV). It is like meditation but meditation involves being passive and letting anything that presents itself into our consciousness. Waiting on the Lord is aggressive; the body is relaxed but the spirit is focused on God. If you do not know how to focus your spirit, use your imagination and express a faith that it will happen. The Spirit can be focused by our will and our faith. This is called the “fervent prayer of listening”. If you are presenting some problem you have in life to the Lord, believe you will receive an answer directly from God and you will. If you do this often enough you will suddenly become aware of a still, small voice in the background of the clutter of your mind that rings of truth and is in fact the voice of the Lord.
Elijah the prophet had such an experience, described in the scriptures. While on Mt. Horeb (Mountain of God) he experienced the following: “And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and STRONG WIND rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an EARTHQUAKE; but the LORD was not in the earthquake; And after the earthquake A FIRE; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him” (1 Kings 19:11-13). We look for God to appear in great and mighty occurrences but many times God is not in the great things. He shows us things of the Spirit with a voice like a whisper.
As you develop this intense listening skill, that voice will become louder and louder until you are aware you are actually hearing from God himself on a regular basis. As this progresses, suddenly the things of the Spirit will become more important to you and you will began to manifest in your daily life what is being revealed to you. Finally, the Spirit will begin to dominate your desires, thinking, actions etc. You will be living by the Spirit, being led by the spirit. He then becomes your priority, your first love. When the Spirit becomes first in your life, everything else you