Obligations to the Spirit

The believer’s responsibility to his spirit can be summed up in the following way:

(1) Feeding the spirit with the Word of God. The Bible teaches that “man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live” (Deu.8:3, Mat.4:4). In much the same way as the food we eat nourishes our physical bodies, so does the Word of God nourish our spirits. No wonder Job says, “I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.” For this reason, Peter urges the young believer to desire the sincere milk of God’s Word, if he wants to grow (1 Pet.2:2). Taking the thought a bit further, Paul has this to say: “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly…” When our spirits are saturated with the Word of God, growth takes place; we are made strong and are able to overcome temptations. John says, “…I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one,” thus affirming the role that the Word of God plays in making us strong and helping us to overcome temptations. When a man stays off food for a while, he becomes weak, then faints and, ultimately, dies. The same thing happens, in the spirit, to anyone who neglects the Word of God.

(2) Exercising the spirit. Paul encourages us to “exercise” ourselves unto godliness: “for bodily exercise profited little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” (1 Tim.4:7-8). This is confirmed by Hebrews 5:14: “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their SENSES EXERCISED to discern both good and evil” (emphasis ours). We can exercise our spirits in a variety of ways, including praying with the spirit and in the spirit, being involved in other forms of fellowship and training our consciences to guide us. For more information on how to maximise the potentials of the human conscience, watch out for our focus on “How To Be Led By The Holy Spirit.”

(3) Walking in the Spirit. By this we are helped to “mortify” the deeds of the body and are, ultimately, delivered from the lusts of the flesh. Romans 8:12-14 says, “…we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” The implication is that the Spirit will lead you on a path that leads to the mortification of the deeds off the body. This is confirmed by Galatians 5:15: “…Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” The expression “walking in the Spirit” simply means keeping in step with the Holy Spirit.

However, for a better understanding of that expression, we need to consider the implications of the phrase “in the Spirit.” It simply means “being under the influence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.” Being in the Spirit, as used in Galatians 5:25, refers to being born again, being a believer in Christ. But there are other levels of being in the Spirit. For instance, in Revelation 1:10, John says, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day...” implying that he was under the influence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The same John describes yet another level of being in the Spirit in Revelation 4:1-2: “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in Heaven: and the first voice which I heard was…Come up hither…And immediately, I was in the Spirit: and behold a throne was set in Heaven.” To start with, John had been in the Spirit all along, as far back as in Revelation 1, and had received the preceding revelations while in the Spirit.

 Even at the point of hearing the words “Come up hither,” he was in the spirit. What then did he mean by the expression, “Immediately, I was in the spirit”? He was simply telling us that he was instantly transported in the spirit. Ezekiel had a similar experience, during which the Lord transported him, in the spirit, from Babylon to Jerusalem, to see the state of the city and the people (Eze.8:1-4). With this background, we can easily understand the following expressions: praying in the Spirit (praying under the influence and inspiration of the Spirit), singing in the Spirit (singing under the influence and inspiration of the Spirit), and walking in the Spirit (keeping in step with the Spirit, or living and walking under the influence and inspiration of the Spirit). When we live this way, we are delivered from the lusts of the flesh.