How you can exercise your own spirit to discern the things of the Spirit
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."
In order to be led by the Spirit, it's imperative that we exercise our spiritual senses to discern the things of the spirit.
Exercising your spiritual senses is tantamount to exercising and/or training your own spirit.
You see, no athlete, however gifted or talented, could compete favourably without the best practices in fitness and mental exercises. In a similar vein, no believer, however religious, could profit from the things of the spirit without exercising his or her spirit.
Why? Because the things of the spirit are not mentally discerned but are spiritually discerned. The natural man cannot understand them: they are foolishness to him (I Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 14:14).
Man is a spirit, he has a soul, and he lives in a body. With his spirit man contact God. With his soul, man contact the intellectual world. With his body, man contact the physical, material world.
God does not communicate with us in our minds. Proverbs 20:27 says "The spirit of man is the candle of Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly." This means that God is going to communicate to our own spirits through the inward witness.
But if our spirits are not trained, we would not be able to discern when the Spirit is leading.
The good news is that we can exercise our spirits by following some scriptural rules. And as we obey our recreated trained-exercised spirits, we will discover we are obeying the Holy Spirit.
Here are five simple scriptural rules to exercise your spirit:
1. Meditating in the Word.
2. Practicing the Word.
3. Giving the Word first place.
4. Praying in tongues
5. Obeying the voice of your recreated spirit.
These five steps will galvanized our spirits to be sturdy in discerning the things of the spirit.
Notwithstanding, we know by experience that exercising the body a day or two never amount to anything in building the muscles, but consistent exercise always invariably does the work. Similarly, practicing those five steps a day or two will only salve your conscience. But if you want to train your spirit, you must consider these steps at every inch of the way daily.
1. Meditating in the Word.
The importance of quiet meditation in the Word cannot be exhausted. When we are in church, the Word is read and taught, but if we do not, at anytime to suit our convenience, meditate in what was read and taught, it would develop wings, go out the other ear, like a bird.
That is what the apostles had to do everytime when Jesus gives a parable in public, they always Invariably ensure to ask him in private the meaning of what he said.
Mark 4:10
"And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable."
The most deeply spiritual people are those who set out time for meditation. No man can develop spiritual wisdom by living anyhow. It is by meditation that we build up our spirits in strength.
Small wonder that, Paul advised the young minister Timothy to give attendance to meditation.
1 Timothy 4:15
"Meditate upon these things; five thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all."
In other words, you cannot profit in the things of the spirit without meditating in the Word.
God told Joshua to meditate in the book of the law and do all that is therein that he may prosper and have success.
2. Practicing the Word.
Practicing the Word simply entails doing what the Word says do. The Word says give, then you give. The Word says forgive, then forgive: I don't care what the offence may be, forgive. The Word says communicate to your pastors, then do it. The Word says, receive the communion, practice it.
3. Giving the Word First place.
Before taking any decision, ask yourself what does the Word say. In proverb the 4th chapter the 20th through the 22nd verses, God told us how we are to attend to his Word.
What we think aboitba thing is immaterial, it is what God says about it that's what count.
4. Praying in tongues.
When we speak in tongues, we communicate directly to God through our spirits.
This process of praying make our spirits receptive to the voice of God (1 Corinthians 14:14).
5. Obeying the voice of your recreated spirit.
When you are born again, you are a new creature. Your spirit have been recreated by the indwelling of the Spirit of God (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 4: 5-7).
When you obey the voice of your own recreated spirit, you're obeying the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:16). Your spirit gets its information from the Holy Spirit and transmit it to your own spirit ( Proverbs 20:27). So your own spirit is a safe guide in spiritual things and in the affairs of life.
Learn to be spirit-conscious, for in so doing you will be led by the Spirit.
For more see my new book "The Leading Force: How you can be led by the Spirit" on Amazon.com
Or send "YES" to ocnovakmichael@gmail.com