Caring For Your Spirit Series

Intro

We have been talking about the human spirit. Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers that they would be strengthened in the inner man (Eph. 3:16). It was said of both John the Baptist and Jesus that they became “strong in spirit.”i God wants our spirit to be strong. As we learned in previous studies, a Christian’s spirit is to be strong and lead the soul and body—not the other way around. Romans 12:11 exhorts Christians to be “fervent in spirit.”

The question we are seeking to answer in this message is HOW: How do we maintain a fervent spirit. How do we nurture our spirit so that we are “strong in spirit”? The answer is represented by the acronym POW: prayer, obedience, and word. These three essentials will keep your spirit strong. Each one requires further explanation.

I. PRAYER must be a priority in our lives if we are to stay strong in spirit.

Ongoing COMMUNION with the Lord is perhaps the most important aspect of our prayer life. First Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to “pray without ceasing.” Practice God’s presence.ii Throughout each day commune with the Lord in your heart. God is omnipresent, but people do not always live with an awareness of his presence. Wake up in the morning with Jesus on your mind. Go to sleep each night thanking him for his grace that day. And during the day partner with him in all your activities. Consciously dwell in his presence. I do not do that perfectly, but I seek that kind of communion with the Lord. Frank Laubach celebrated the value of living life moment by moment with a focus on God. He said, “Oh, this thing of keeping in constant touch with God, of making him the object of my thought and the companion of my conversations, is the most amazing thing I ever ran across.”iii

Jesus tells us in John 15:4: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” The key to fruitfulness is this abiding in Christ. What does that mean? The Greek word translated abide is meno. It is translated dwell in Acts 28:30. It is translated continue in 1 Timothy 2:15. The branch continually draws its life from the vine. “The daily inflowing of the life sap of the Holy Spirit,” wrote Andrew Murray, “is his [the Christian’s] only power to bring forth fruit.”iv The life of a Christian is to be one of connection and dependence on the flow of God’s life into his spirit through communion with God. This is our source of strength and vitality.

Another form of prayer that strengthens our spirit is praying in TONGUES. In 1 Corinthians 14:4 we are told, “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself.” The NLT says, “A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally in the Lord.” It is a mystery that we cannot fully explain, but when we receive the inspired word of God as it is given and exercise ourselves in this activity by faith, our spirit is empowered by the Holy Spirit. I cannot explain how this happens, but I can report to you that 1 Corinthians 14:4 is true.

In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul is not discounting tongues as invaluable. He is simply directing its use.

For the edification of the church, people must understand what is being said. But for personal

edification, God has provided this mysterious avenue of building up one’s spirit. It is a powerful

preparation for ministry to others.v Paul said in verse 15, “I will pray with the spirit, and I will

also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the

understanding.” In that context, praying with the spirit means praying in tongues. In fact, Paul

said in verse 18 that he prayed in tongues more than any of them. If we want to be strong in

spirit, we should not neglect praying in tongues.

Additionally, exercise your spirit in INTERCESSION for others. Romans 8:26-27 addresses this

form of prayer: “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we

should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings

which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit

is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

Sometimes intercession for others comes in the form of deep groanings in our spirit that are not

uttered in words. At other times we can express our intercession in words. But even in those

times, we do not just pray from our mind alone. We learn to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit