A Strong Spirit
Foundation Statement: One of the main reasons
why believers are dominated by the flesh is because they feed it and exercise
it and as they do the flesh becomes strong. Meanwhile they starve their spirit and
don’t exercise it and as they do it becomes weak. When it comes down to doing what the
flesh wants versus what the spirit wants whoever is stronger (the spirit or
flesh) will dominate the other. – Proverbs 18:14
I.
His spirit isn’t strong
enough to rise up and take control of his body and soul (Romans 7:14-23)
A. 14-Carnal-He’s fleshy and
governed by his unrenewed nature
1.
14-AMP-Sin’s
controlling him through his unrenewed soul that has
trained his body
B. 15-20-His spirit isn’t
strong enough to rise up and take control of his soul and body
1.
He
can’t do the things he (his spirit) wants to do
C. 21-The part of him that
wants to do right is his spirit
D. 22-When you spirit gets
fed the word of God it delights
E. 23-His flesh is
dominating is spirit and he can’t do the things his spirit wants and his mind
knows is right
1.
His
spirit isn’t strong enough to break out of that captivity and dominate his body
and soul
II. To dominate the flesh you’re spirit is going to have to be
stronger than it. If your unrenewed mind and poorly trained body are stronger than
your spirit they’ll dominate it.
A. Your inner man can be
strong or it can be weak even though he’s born again and created in God’s image
1.
Ephesians
3:14-If you can be strengthened in the inner man, then you can be weak in the
inner man
2.
Luke
1:80, 2:40,52-If Jesus grew strong in spirit you can be weak in spirit
3.
2
Corinthians 4:16-The inward man is grown up, newly strengthened
4.
1
Corinthians 16:13, Ephesians 6:10 – Be strong in spirit; Weak bodies and
souls are the results of a weak spirit
5.
Our
spirits need to be strong so it can dominate the soul and body
a. Spirits get weak when
they are not properly nourished
B. A weak spirit won’t be
able to dominate the flesh. If
we’re going to dominate the flesh and live a life ruled by our spirits then our
spirit has to be strong (Ezekiel 16:28-30)
1.
They
had a weak spirit and that’s why they kept giving into the flesh
2.
Evidence
that your spirit is weak is that you keep doing these things and giving into
the flesh
3.
Evidence
that your spirit is strong is that you’re not giving into the flesh, but you’re
telling it no
III. You develop a strong spirit by
A. The proper diet
1.
To
have a strong spirit it must be nourished up on the words of faith. (1 Timothy
4:6)
a. If words of faith nourish
you up, then refuse irreverent legends and godless fictions will make your
spirit weak
b. Words of faith will keep
you nourished spiritually. Words of
compromise, words of fear, words of unbelief, godless fictions, will keep you
weak spiritually.
2.
Like
food is strength and nourishment to your body the word of God is strength and
nourishment to your spirit (1 Peter 2:2, Hebrews 5:12-14).
a. It’s your spirit that’s
desiring and growing by that Word; your unrenewed
soul doesn’t desire that word it fights it
1)
Your
spirit grows, your soul is renovated
2)
Your
soul is developed/renovated based on the nourishment of your spirit
b. Jeremiah ate the words of
God and they were joy and strength unto his heart/spirit (Jeremiah 15:16)
1)
Nehemiah
8:10 – Joy is strength
c. Paul said he delights in
the law of God in his spirit (Romans 7:22)
1)
The
word of God was joy and strength to his spirit
d. You go a few days without
the word and your spirit gets weak and you’ll be giving into the flesh.
3.
You
eat words as you hear them with your ears (Job 34:3)
4.
Spiritually
you are what you eat (Proverbs 4:23, 23:7, 3 John 2)
a. If you keep your spirit
nourished up on the words of God it will tell your mind what to think and your
body what to do. Your mind will
think and your body will do in line with the words that strengthened your
spirit. You’ll live a character life which is a life that’s protected, prosperous, and
powerful.
b. 2 Timothy 2:16-Those
types of words will lead to a weak spirit that won’t be able to dominate the
flesh and you’ll be walking in ungodliness constantly giving into the
flesh. You’ll be out of character,
protection, prosperity, and power.
1)
1
Timothy 4:6-The words of God will lead to godliness
B. The proper exercise
1.
You
exercise and train your spirit (1 Timothy 4:7)
a. Exercise – Train,
practice, exercise vigorously
b. You exercise by
practicing, training in, and doing what you heard
c. People who just eat
without exercise can eventually become obese
2.
For
exercise to be effective and strength to be developed there has to be
resistance/pressure to what you’re doing
a. You start a faith project
(do what the word says, work on something) to go against the resistance
necessary to develop
1)
It’s
important that you’re exercising your faith and using your faith all the time
to find the resistance necessary to develop
2)
I
don’t weight for pressure to show up to exercise, I go in search of pressure
b. People who don’t do what
they heard from the heard are never encountering the pressure and resistance
necessary to develop.
1)
It’s
when I begin to do that word that I heard that I’ll encounter pressure (the unrenewed mind and poorly trained body won’t want to do
what the word says) necessary to develop
3.
Suffering
the flesh not getting its way will strengthen your spirit (1 Pet 5:10)
a. The suffering of doing
what the word says when your unrenewed mind and
poorly trained body don’t won’t to will make you strong spiritually
1)
Your
spirit is putting pressure on the pressure of your flesh
b. In exercise you’re doing
what the spirit wants and not what the flesh wants and you have the ability to
do that because your spirit has strength from being fed properly
1)
If
your spirit is not fed properly you want be effective in your exercise
4.
When
you encounter the pressure of resistance and you put pressure on that
resistance you’ll get stronger
a. Over time the same amount
of resistance will feel like nothing to you because you’ve gotten stronger
1)
If
you are caving in under pressure you’ll never develop
b. Over time your mind gets
renewed and your body gets retrained they don’t put as much pressure on you;
not only that but your spirit gets stronger
C. The proper amount of rest
(Hebrews 4:10-11)
1.
Your
own works (doing things that neither God nor the Holy Spirit told you do) will
make you weak and drain you spiritually
a. When you get outside of
what God told you to do and into your own works you’re not resting and without
rest you’ll be weak
b. It’s YOUR OWN WORKS that
make you weak spiritually
1)
Be
led of the spirit and do what he tells you to do because that’s where your rest
is
2)
Sin
and disobedience are your own works and they’ll make you weak spiritually
2.
You
enter into rest by love and faith and miss out on rest by fear and unbelief
(Hebrews 4:3)
a. Unbelief and fear are you
own works and they’ll lead to a weak spirit; God told you to fear not and
believe only (2 Corinthians 4:16 AMP)
b. You rest by fearing not
and believing only and your spirit strong
1)
When
you don’t have a care in the world and you’re trusting God that’s the resting
lifestyle of love and faith
D. Too many believers try to
live victorious lives while being weak spiritually and they can’t do it
1.
People
feel like things are such a struggle in their lives is because their spirits
are weak