Functioning Out Of Your Spirit
I. I (spirit) is the personal
trainer/manager of my soul and body-2 Cor 10:5, 1 Cor 9:27, 1Th4:4
A.
Satan wants to keep your spirit under is to
keep you from doing what the Word says
II.
Engaging the Word of God is the means by which the believer obtains
victory and therefore the enemy wants desperately for you to not agree with
& engage the word
A.
Satan doesn’t care how much of the Word you
know as long as you’re not doing it; he’d rather you not know it, but if you do
he doesn’t want you to do it-Matthew 7:25
B.
If you’re spirit is under you’ll constantly know
what the Word says but apply very little of it b/c you can’t make yourself do
it when you don’t feel like doing it
1. This type of life makes you vulnerable to the storm-Proverbs 25:28
2. When you’re spirit is strong you can make yourself do what you don’t
want to do
C.
The thing that you allow to push you away
from the Word of God is this biggest threat to your success
1. The flesh is always endeavoring to push you away from the Word of God
a. 1 of the biggest threats to believers success is not the devil, but
rather the flesh
b. Matthew 26:41-Willing spirit, weak flesh
c. If feelings and emotions to push you away from the word they are a
threat
2. Whatever endeavors to push you away from the Word of God you have to be
strong enough in your spirit to push back on
III. It’s not supposed to be that
you know what’s right in your head, but your unrenewed nature has taken over and
is dominating your spirit keeping you from engaging the Word of God in your
life. Most believers are pushed away from the Word knowing what the Word says-Romans
7:23-8:5
A.
There’s more to doing what the word says,
than just knowing what it says and doing it; there are plenty of people who
know what it says, but don’t do it, so there must be more to it than that; How
do I perform what I know is right?
1. 8:1-When you know what’s right, but don’t do it there’s potential to
feel guilty
a. To stop doing wrong you need to move past the wrong you’ve done
2. 8:3,4-There’s a way to not yield to the flesh and you have the power to
do it so that you can walk in the spirit and do what the Word says
3. 8:5-To walk in the spirit and do the word that you know you have to
direct your mind to it and when you direct your mind to it, then your body will
follow
a. You don’t do what you know, you do what you direct your mind to
4. Knowledge can be acquired over time, but strength can only obtained
through daily nourishment on the word of God
B.
If through a strong spirit, you direct your
mind to the word and walk in the spirit, you crush every hope the enemy has of
destroying you; you are the house built
on the rock
1. The enemy wants to keep your spirit under b/c if your spirit ever rises
up in the grace of a Champion and begins to rule your mind and body all hope
for him is gone
2. Satan can’t do much with a man who just keeps doing what the Word says
a. That was his biggest problem with Jesus-John 5:19, 8:26
b. John 14:30 (AMP)-Jesus wouldn’t play his game, get in the flesh, get on
his level
1) Satan’s “power” doesn’t function on this floor (walking in the spirit)
2) Yielding to the flesh is like taking the elevator down to his floor to
play his game
IV.
You rule over the body by ruling over the soul and you rule over the
soul with a strong speaking spirit
A.
James 3:2-If you can control your mouth you
can control your mind and your body
1.
Your mouth is connected to your heart/spirit
not your head
a.
Genesis 2:7-Man became a living speaking
spirit like God; the fact that man is a spirit is why he has the ability to
speak
b.
Matthew 12:34-Heart-The
middle or central or inmost part of anything; Denotes the centre of all physical and spiritual life; The center for your physical being is your
heart; the center for your spiritual being is your spirit
c.
2 Cor 4:13-We
believe therefore we speak, not we think therefore we speak
d.
There’s been times when you’ve said something
without thinking and that’s because your words come from whatever you’ve
deposited in your spirit
2.
You control the mouth by getting your spirit
strong on the Word
a.
You control the head with the mouth, not the
mouth with the head
B.
It’s vital that we understand that Satan
preys on the mind on body through the senses
1. He’s always preying on your thoughts, feelings, and senses; Appealing to
the feelings
a. “Boy it sure doesn’t look like it’s working” – “Boy you sure don’t
feel healed” – “If you’re needs are met I can’t see it” – “Doesn’t
that just make you made” – “Would that feel good”
2. He instantly went to the sense realm with Jesus; See something-miss out
on pain-Mt 4
3. Satan preys on the soul with much speaking, endeavoring to wear you
down-Pr 7:21
a. That evil report, those feelings, what the circumstances say are hard on
your flesh and if your spirit isn’t strong you’ll be pulled around by the flesh
and senses
b. The more of your mind and body that becomes trained to the word, the
less the enemy has to work with
V.
You see people in times of great pressure who experience the greatest
victories functioning out of their spirit, controlling the soul and body
A.
When you function out of your spirit you
function above your soul, emotions, desires, will
1.
When you function out of your spirit you act
based on what the word of God says, in spirit of feelings, thoughts, and
circumstances that oppose the word
2.
When you function out of your spirit you do
things in spite of your feelings, not governed by them
3.
It’s clear when a person functions out of
their spirit because they do stuff that is in opposition to what they “feel”
like doing
B.
Psalm 103-David
1.
We can ascertain that he wrote this at a time
where his soul is not doing this already; you don’t have to tell yourself to
bless the Lord if you feel like doing it
a.
This must be a time where his soul is wanting
to be down, but he won’t let it
2.
He’s getting control of his soul and his body
with his words
3.
1 Samuel 30:8-When he encouraged himself he
didn’t just think happy thoughts
C.
Acts 16-Paul & Silas-The spirit
controlling the mind and the mind controlling the body
1.
9-He went to this town because God told him
to
2.
18-He got thrown in prison for casting a
devil out of this woman
3.
23-His body surely didn’t like this
4.
25-Midnight was probably the quietest darkest
time and at those times you can’t just sit there with your thoughts, but by
your spirit you have to control your thoughts
5.
25-They are functioning out of their spirits
above their souls, their emotions, their desires, their feelings; this man once
said I can’t do what I want to do; He grew up
6.
26-Satan can’t keep a man down who won’t give
into the flesh
7.
We always tell these stories, but why was he
able to do this? A strong spirit
D.
The Master, the Champion
1.
Lk 22:41-46-Jesus had feelings that opposed the word, but he wouldn’t
yield to them
a.
Pressure is on his soul, but he controls his
soul with his speaking spirit
b.
Matthew 26:37-44
1)
It’s interesting he said MY soul; he talked
about it as a thing he possessed
2)
He’s praying the same thing for three hours
c.
44-Here’s the champion-With his mind under
extreme pressure he functions out of his spirit and prays more earnestly
(whatever is trying to push you away from the Word/will of God you have to be
strong enough to push back on)
d.
If you’ll put the word in your mouth (pray)
and direct your mind to the word, just like he just did, you won’t fall into
temptation just like he didn’t
1)
That’s why the disciples fell into temptation
2.
Matthew 27, Luke 23:34
a.
They’re mocking him, spitting on him, etc and
you know he’s having feelings
b.
He already told Peter he could call 12
legions of angels down and told Pilate you couldn’t even do this if I didn’t
allow it
c.
He could mess up the whole thing by yielding
to the flesh, but that’s why he is the champion