HOW TO STRENGTHEN YOUR HUMAN SPIRIT
Ladies and Gentlemen,
MERRY CHRISMAS!
During this festive season, may you, your family and friends have the greatest of times thus far. Remember to focus your festivities on the Lord!!! It is so easy, like Martha of old to be so busy about natural things: the cooking, the elaborate serving and visiting with people that you deplete your human spirit.
Mary the sister of Martha, in the Bible story found in Luke 10:38-42, (please read all Scriptures quoted in bulletin), sat at the feet of Jesus while visitors were in the house! She prioritized and focused on the most important Person in the house: Jesus, and she was not going to miss her moment of visitation for the sake of preparing and serving food to Him and his entourage. This may look irresponsible to some people, but Jesus said that she had done the right thing.
Last week, we studied about developing your human spirit by feeding it on the Word of God. We eluded to the fact that your spirit which is renewed day by day is the center of your universe, so to speak and what you do with it will affect every area of your life. It is particularly important to realize that with a strong spirit, you are able to receive from God. It takes faith to receive from God and faith is of the heart. You can know what belongs to you in Christ, such as healing and health, provision and prosperity and not be able to receive it if your spirit is weak. If your spirit can be renewed, (2 Cor. 4:16) it can also be depleted and weakened. You want to guard against a weak spirit even during these holidays because a weak spirit can cause you to be discouraged, disappointed, and fail to pass the tests of life particularly in the area of temptation and worse. Do you know why you hear of some people who keep falling into sin? Into strife and arguments with family members during the holidays? Weak spirit. Do you know why you hear of people who commit adultery and yet they are believers? Weak spirit!
Brethren, don’t allow the natural to overtake your spiritual life. Feed your inner man the Word of God. Meditate on it every day. (Joshua 1:8, Psalms 1:1-3) Take time to worship the Lord and pray in the Spirit. That’s simply being a doer of the Word of God. Doing the Word of God and walking in the spirit is your spiritual exercise. You can feed your spirit the Word but if you don’t exercise, you will still be weak. The more you do the Word of God, the stronger your heart becomes. For example, in a temptation situation, when you resist and walk away, or when you forgive instead of fighting, that’s spiritual exercise. Walking in the spirit instead of in the flesh is spiritual exercise. Practicing the Word is spiritual exercise. The more you feed and exercise, the stronger your inner man becomes.
According to 1 Tim 4:6-9 you can keep yourself nourished or fed with Words of Truth and you can exercise yourself to godliness. 6 If you lay all these instructions before the brethren, you will be a worthy steward and a good minister of Christ Jesus, ever nourishing your own self on the truths of the faith and of the good [Christian] instruction which you have closely followed. 1 Tim. 4:7 Amp.But refuse and avoid irreverent legends (profane and impure and godless fictions, mere grandmothers’ tales) and silly myths, and express your disapproval of them. Train yourself toward godliness (piety), [keeping yourself spiritually fit].
During this season, keep yourself spiritually fit brethren. Don’t end your year in weakness. It’s not just how you began the year, its how you end it. Finishing strong is the activity of winners. Feed your Spirit! Do the Word in this season. Cerebrate and worship Jesus on His birthday with your family. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
