Walking In The Spirit - Part 2
I. Valuing the strong spirit
A.
Matthew 7:6-If you do not see the value of a
strong spirit you’ll never invest the time and energy to develop one; What you
do not see as valuable of you will neglect
B.
Make the connection between the condition of
your spirit and the quality of your life
C.
You have to be willing to invest the time &
energy necessary to obtain this strong spirit
1. If you lack hunger for it the intense effort required to obtain it will
always be missing therefore we got to stir up your hunger for a strong
spirit-Proverbs 16:26
II. A strong spirit will enable
you to walk in the spirit
A.
Gal 5:16, Jn
6:63-Walking in the spirit is a way thinking & acting that is in line with
God’s Word; walking in the flesh is a way of thinking & acting that’s in
opposition to the Word
B.
Results of yielding to the flesh/walking in
the flesh
1. When you yield to the flesh you open yourself to the curse Jesus
redeemed you from
2. The moment you walk in the flesh you become accessible to the enemy
3. If you get in the flesh and get in disagreement with the Word of God,
you are not in faith and if you are not in faith, then you can’t experience
victory-1 John 5:4
C.
Once a person gets saved that’s done, Satan’s
goal then becomes to keep them thinking and acting the way they did before they
got saved (in opposition to the Word) b/c that is the walk of the flesh where
he as access to their lives
1. One of the Satan’s primary goals is to keep you thinking, acting, and talking
in away that opposes the Word of God, which is walking in the flesh
a. He can’t do much with a man who won’t think and act outside of the Word
2. A person who gets born again, but continues to walk in the flesh, their
spirit will be saved, but their lives will be void of any fruit and in turn
they’ll be an asset to the Kingdom of darkness; that’s the best witness for the
Kingdom of darkness-John 6:63
a. He wants to keep you operating out of your flesh and not your spirit
III. If your spirit is weak, you
will give into the flesh & if you give into the flesh you cannot win
A.
When you get saved your spirit is new, but
the mind & body are the same-Gal 5:16-24
1. There is now a part of you that doesn’t want to sin and it’s your
spirit; When the mind and the body do something that’s not in line with the
Word your spirit doesn’t like it
a. 17-The flesh is the part of you that has yet to be influenced by God
b. 17-The flesh’s (unrenewed nature) desires oppose the desires of your
spirit
2. The Holy Spirit communicates revelation to your spirit and then you are
to take what He gave you and renew your mind to it and get your body to act in
line with it
a. God won’t override the will of your flesh, but your spirit can
3. 21-The flesh will keep you from God’s best
4. 24-We are to destroy the power of the flesh
B.
The enemy wants to keep your spirit in
bondage to your flesh-Romans 7:14
1. 14-He was governed by the part of him that had not been renewed/the
flesh
2. 17,20-21-He credits his actions not to his spirit, but to the governing
principle of sin that remains in his mind and body-1 John 5:18
a. This sin (old way of doing) is still operating in his mind and body all
the while his spirit has been made new and that’s the part of him that wants to
do what’s right
b. 18(AMP)-We see his spirit lacking the strength necessary to rise up and
make his mind and body do what they don’t want to do
c. 23-There’s a law in his body b/c it was in his mind and it’s attacking
what he knows is right in his mind and bringing his spirit into captivity
3. 18-How to perform/to walk in the spirit he doesn’t know
a. 14-16-He knows what’s right and wrong but he’s not directing his mind to
what he knows is right by his spirit-Romans 8:5
1) You can know something, but if you don’t direct your mind to it by your
spirit, then your body won’t follow; Wherever the mind goes the body goes
2) You don’t do what you know, you do what you direct your mind to
b. You can’t control/direct that mind with a weak spirit
C.
How it works---Example
1. If those two govern our life defeat is inevitable
2. My spirit is supposed to get it from the Holy Spirit and then tell my
mind and body what to do; that’s the spiritual hierarchy
3. Satan preys on the those two (the flesh) targeting your senses and your
feelings
a. If Satan can get hold of your mind and body he can bring your spirit
into captivity
4. It’s the job of my spirit to bring these two into subjection-Proverbs
18:14
a. 2 Cor 10:3-5-It’s your spirit’s job to bring
the mind into subjection to the word
1) 3,4-I’m fighting with my spirit, my weapons are spiritual and mighty
2) 5-With my spirit I force my thoughts into subjection to God’s Word
3) The process of renewing the mind; cast down wrong thought, think right
one
b. 1 Corinthians 9:27-I, spirit, bring my body into subjection to the Word
of God
5. Ezekiel 16:30-Evidence that your spirit is weak is that you keep giving
into the flesh
a. Evidence that your spirit is weak is that those to keep getting their
way
D.
Proverbs 16:32-He that rules his spirit is
better than he that takes a city
1. Spirit-Agitation, temper, anger, impatience, disposition (as troubled, bitter,
discontented), uncontrollable impulse, (as seat of emotion), desire, sorrow,
trouble, the will
2. We’re trying to take a city, a nation and can’t even control our minds
and bodies
IV. Matthew 4:1-10-Callings are
missed, assignments are not completed, and battles are lost as a result of
people giving into the flesh
A.
Satan’s trying to get him in the flesh and
act in a way that opposes God’s Word so that He can have access to his life
1. Jesus won’t allow his mind to think outside of the Word or His body to
act in disagreement to the Word
B.
A strong spirit, The Champion Spirit, will
enable us to walk in the spirit and not be governed by the desires of the flesh
and in turn experience victory in our lives