HOW DO YOU EMPOWER YOUR SPIRIT MAN TO RESPOND TO TEMPTATION?
By Debby Osa
I went for evangelism with a sister one day, and we bumped into a tailoring shop. The owner welcomed us and began to ask many questions. We later found out that he was a Christian – and he wanted to know if we were merely preaching church or really knew what we were talking about. The meeting turned from evangelism to a time of fellowship.
Just before we left, he asked “Why do many Christians repeatedly fall into sin nowadays or struggle with certain bad habits – even when they don’t want to?” Even though he smiled as he asked, I could sense a sort of desperation and frustration behind the question.
When I began to answer, I could see light dawning in his eyes, and he began to nod.
You see, you don’t prepare for battle in the day of battle. You prepare for battle before the battle. That’s the mistake many Christians make.
Let me explain with questions.
Do you read your Bible daily? Do you pray daily? Do you feed your mind and spirit with the Word of God daily? Do you ask for divine help daily? Do you deliberately build up yourself daily?
How do you expect your spirit man to be strong when you haven’t fed it? At most, you give it a few morsels on Sunday morning – then you go out and you are bombarded with carefully-orchestrated demonic temptations.
You weaken your spirit and strengthen your flesh by filling your senses with carnal food – then you wonder why your flesh easily fails in the time of temptation.
If you want to be victorious in the time of temptations, you have to build up yourself in prayer and the Word before the day of temptation.
I know, most Christians will say, “I read my Bible, I pray, I fellowship with the brethren – but I still fall. Why?!”
Simple. How do you do these things?
Again, let me explain.
For spiritual exercises to be effective against Satan and the flesh, they must be done in three ways:
(1) DELIBERATELY: Nothing good comes by chance. Success in any field is intentional, including the Christian journey. If you want to become “successful” or victorious as a Christian, your walk with God and spiritual-growth exercises must be intentional.
Don’t read the Bible when you feel like it. Don’t pray when you have the time. Don’t fellowship when it’s convenient. Deliberately create the time to read the Word, pray and fellowship. With the help of the Holy Spirit, deliberately create a schedule for your daily quiet time as well as a Bible-reading plan. Set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals (yes, you heard me) and follow through with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Stop leaving your spiritual growth to chance. Don’t be haphazard and “wait to see what happens.” Be Deliberate.
(2) CONSISTENTLY: This, I feel, is the most important part of your Christian walk.
Kenneth Copeland shared a story of how his wife asked God how she could operate more fully and powerfully in the Spirit, and the Lord responded with a statement Brother Copeland never forgot: “In consistency lies the power.”
Every successful athlete understands the power of consistency. They train in the rain, in the snow, and in the sweltering heat. They don’t skip exercises or practice just because they “don’t feel like it”, or are “too tired/upset/or depressed.” They just show up every time – and channel their emotions into their workouts.
You must show up to read the Word and pray daily – even when you don’t feel like it. You cannot be inconsistent with spiritual exercises and expect to be powerful. In fact, a “newbie” Christian who consistently prays and studies the Word for just 30 minutes daily will experience more growth, power and victory than a “mature” Christian who reads five chapters today, none for the next four days, thirteen chapters on the 7th day – then none for two weeks.
Yes, we know “life happens”, but when you’re determined to grow, you happen to life. Remember, “In consistency like the power.”
(3) MASSIVELY: Here, I’m talking about volume, volume, volume. That is, how much feeding do you give your spirit man?
See, even if you read the Word and pray everyday, deliberately and consistently, you can still be floored by temptation. Why? It is the volume of power generated inside you that will make you able to withstand the attacks of the enemy.
Let me explain further.
So you are deliberate and consistent with 30 minutes of prayer and the Word. Good…but you spend three hours on social media, two hours on Netflix, and one hour watching cable television. Dearly Beloved, how can you daily load your flesh and carnal senses with junk for 7 hours, spend only 30 minutes in the presence of God, and expect to be powerful – even if you do it consistently and deliberately?! Come on. The amount of word and prayer-generated power inside you determine the level of victory you can get.
And, please, don’t tell me you don’t have the time to load up massively. You do. Get up an hour earlier or sleep an hour later. Swap your social media, Netflix and cable time for prayer and fellowship and the Word. Plug in your headphones or earpieces on the go – and pump up your spirit man with messages and worship. Use traffic time to read, meditate or listen to the Bible – instead of scrolling through your phone. Build up yourself by praying in the Spirit as you drive or move around. Confess continually under your breath as you sit at your desk.
Trust me, if you ask Him, the Holy Spirit is more than willing to show you how to maximize your time, circumstances and environment to build up spiritual power.
When you do this consciously, deliberately, consistently and massively, temptation will have nothing on you when it comes.