To exercise our spirit is to discern our spirit from our soul, to live the normal church life and overcome any degradation by pursuing Christ with those who call on the Lord, and to pray, approaching God in a personal and confiding manner for God’s interests to be carried out on the earth. Amen, we want to be those who exercise their spirit day by day, even moment by moment!
We need to be those who live in the reality of God’s eternal economy for its fulfilment by building up a habit of exercising our spirit, that is, a habit of fanning our spirit into flame.
God has an economy, a household administration, according to which He wants to dispense Himself into His chosen people so that He may obtain the Body of Christ, the corporate expression of Christ on the earth.
How does God accomplish His economy? It is by means of the Divine Spirit and the human spirit being mingled together and us living in our spirit.
The only way we can touch God’s economy and cooperate with God’s economy is by means of our mingled spirit.
God’s original intention has a blueprint, according to which man is the centre of the entire universe and the center of man is his spirit (Zech. 12:1).
God stretched forth the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him.
When God gains man with his spirit open to God, He can carry out what is in His heart, His eternal economy.
However, due to the fall and the degradation of the church, the matter of our human spirit has been overlooked and neglected; it was also quite misunderstood and misinterpreted.
We need to realize that we are a vessel to contain God, and our spirit is the organ and receptacle for us to receive God, enjoy God, partake of God, and worship God.
Our central government and the most prominent part of our being should be our spirit; only when we’re ruled and controlled by our spirit are we spiritual men.
We need to realize that we have the key to receiving the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity and flowing God out to others for their enjoyment of Christ: it is a matter of exercising our spirit, fanning our spirit into flame!
We need to fan into flame the gift of God given to us, which is our spirit; our spirit is our God-given gift, and we need to fan it into flame and live in our spirit.
To exercise our spirit implies forcing; we need to remind ourselves and even force ourselves to exercise our spirit.
To exercise our spirit we must deal with our mind, emotion, and will, so that our spirit may come out and flow in a pure way, not being tainted by our unrestrained emotions, wandering mind, and unsubmissive will.
Also, to exercise our spirit is to learn to do all things in Christ and to set our mind on our spirit. There are many ways that we can exercise our spirit; we need to learn to fan our spirit into flame day by day!
To Exercise our Spirit is to Discern our Spirit from our Soul and Live in our Spirit
If we realize that we are made of three parts – body, soul, and spirit – we will realize that, in order for us to exercise our spirit, we need to discern our spirit from our soul.
Many Christians today think we only have a body and a soul, and they confuse the spirit with the soul.
But the Bible clearly tells us in 1 Thes. 5:23 that we have a body, a soul, and a spirit.
For us to exercise our spirit, we need to discern our spirit from our soul.
Heb. 4:12 indicates that the living word of God is operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of the soul and spirit, able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
So many times what we think is not something that comes from our spirit.
Our thoughts are deceiving.
When we exercise our spirit, however, there is a discernment that our thoughts are evil, for behind our thoughts there’s an evil intention.
We need to come to the Lord in His word and pray and read the Word so that the Word becomes living and operative in us for us to discern our spirit from our soul.
The enemy’s strategy is to mix our spirit with our soul. In today’s world and especially in today’s Christianity the spirit and the soul are mixed so much.
There is something in every Christian group that is so good, so scriptural, and so spiritual; however, there are many other things from the evil one, something of the man’s effort and opinions, and lots of practices that are not found in God’s word. Oh, Lord!
When the soul is mixed with the spirit, when we do not discern our spirit from our soul, the spirit loses and the soul wins.
Not only out there is the soul mixed with the spirit; even in our daily living, in our personal life, in our family life, and in the church life, our soul is mixed with our spirit, and there doesn’t seem to be a dividing.
We are complicated human beings, for we have a body, a soul, and a spirit, and we also have the divine life of God in our spirit.
We should learn to turn to our spirit and discern our spirit from our soul, and we should follow our spirit and walk in all things according to our spirit.
When we walk according to the Spirit by the exercise of our spirit, the righteous requirements of God are fulfilled in us (Rom. 8:4).
But so many times we may put on a certain behaviour and living when we’re with others, trying to be better and not speak things we should not speak, but when we’re with our spouse, we may speak freely about this or that situation or this or that brother in the church life.
When we’re by ourselves and when we’re with the saints, we need to exercise our spirit and learn to discern our spirit from our soul.
We should not speak or do things that are not from our spirit. We should not go somewhere or contact someone unless we are in our spirit.
So many times our mind is like a wild horse: in a matter of seconds, it travels around the world in its thinking.
Our mind is very talkative, and if we don’t learn to set our mind on our spirit, we will wander in our imagination all over the globe and think about so many things.
We need to learn to direct our mind to the spirit. When we do this, we will sing to the Lord, we will praise Him, and we will speak Him forth. Amen!
We should not let our mind, emotions, and will run wild but rather, we should exercise our spirit by coming to the Lord’s word to pray over it so that the thoughts and intentions of our heart may be discerned.
May we learn to set our mind on our spirit again and again until, by default, our mind will be set on the spirit.
![For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers. Rom. 1:9 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. Rom. 8:4 Do not be slothful in zeal, [but] be burning in spirit, serving the Lord. Rom. 12:11](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/For-God-is-my-witness-whom-I-serve-in-my-spirit-in-the-gospel-of-His-Son-how-unceasingly-I-make-mention-of-you-always-in-my-prayers-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers. Rom. 1:9 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. Rom. 8:4 Do not be slothful in zeal, [but] be burning in spirit, serving the Lord. Rom. 12:11")
We need to build up a habit to direct our mind to our spirit.
The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace (Rom. 8:6).
When we sense death, when we have a sense of uneasiness and emptiness, we should turn to our spirit by calling on the name of the Lord and pray-reading His word.
We should always be on the alert to discern and deny anything that is not of the spirit but of the soul, the self (Matt. 16:25; cf. Luke 9:25).
And we should not be quick to react or say something; though some things require our attention, it is good to wait a little before reacting.
It is a good practice to wait on the Lord and contact Him, pray, and call on His name, and then speak something or go somewhere.
There’s a battle in our being not only between the flesh and the spirit but even more, between our spirit and our soul.
Our soul is stuck to our spirit, and our spirit is hidden within our soul as marrow is hidden within the bones and joints. Oh, Lord.
We need the piercing word of God, the living and operating word of God, to speak to us and cause us to discern our spirit and our soul.
Whatever we are, whatever we have, and whatever we do must be in spirit; everything that God is to us is in our spirit (Rom. 2:28-29; 1:9; 8:4; 12:11).
Lord Jesus, we choose to set our mind on our spirit to enjoy You as our life and peace. Amen, Lord, we come to You in Your word. May Your word be living and operative in us. May Your word be like a sharp two-edged sword in our being to pierce even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow. Oh, Lord, shine in us and within us through Your living word. May we be able to discern our spirit from our soul. May we be able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Save us from living in our soul. Save us from having our soul and our spirit mixed in our daily life. Make us spiritual persons, those who live in their spirit to live Christ and express Him. Amen, Lord, we want to direct our mind to our spirit. We praise You, Lord, for being our life in our spirit. We turn to You right now. We take You as our life. Live in us today. Be expressed through us as we live according to the Spirit by the exercise of our spirit.
To Exercise our Spirit is to Pursue Christ with the Saints and Approach God in Prayer for the Interests of God
2 Tim. 2:22 is a wonderful verse telling us about our corporate pursuit of the Lord through the exercise of our spirit.
For us to exercise our spirit, that is, to fan our God-given spirit into flame, we need to live the normal church life and overcome the degradation of the church by pursuing Christ together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Personally, we call on the Lord, thus fanning our spirit into flame. Corporately, we pursue Christ together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Though there is degradation in the church today, we need to overcome the degradation of the church by calling on the Lord and by pursuing Him together with those who call on Him.
Furthermore, we need to be wary of the inward lusts within ourselves; we need to avoid corruption and flee the inward lusts not only by ourselves but even more, together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Amen!
Instead of giving in to the lusts and allowing degradation to spread in our being or in the church, we need to pursue Christ as righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
We need to call on the name of the Lord in our prayer and praise to Him; as the Lord’s seekers, we must be His callers, and we must pursue Christ together with those who call on the Lord. Amen!
Our heart must be pure in seeking the Lord, and we need to pursue Him with those who call on Him out of a pure heart.
Thank the Lord for our companions in the church life with whom we can pursue Christ!
To exercise our spirit, to fan our God-given spirit into flame, is to pray, to approach God in a personal and confiding manner, for the interests of God (1:6-8; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 2:1-3, 8; 1 Kings 8:48; Jude 19-21).
When we pray for God’s interest, we fan our spirit into flame.
![I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men; On behalf of kings and all who are in high position, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of our Savior God. 1 Tim. 2:1-3 And [if] they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who have carried them captive, and they pray to You toward their land that You have given to their fathers, the city that You have chosen, and the house that I have built for Your name. 1 Kings 8:48](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/I-exhort-therefore-first-of-all-that-petitions-prayers-intercessions-thanksgivings-be-made-on-behalf-of-all-men-1-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men; On behalf of kings and all who are in high position, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and gravity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of our Savior God. 1 Tim. 2:1-3 And [if] they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who have carried them captive, and they pray to You toward their land that You have given to their fathers, the city that You have chosen, and the house that I have built for Your name. 1 Kings 8:48")
We need to be like Daniel, who approached God day by day, even three times a day, concerning the return of his people from captivity.
In 1 Kings 8:48 Solomon asked God that, if His people are scattered among the nations due to their disobedience toward God and they repent and return to God, setting their face and prayers toward God’s house and His city, He would listen to them.
God listens to our prayers when we pray for His Holy Land, signifying the all-inclusive Christ as our God-allotted portion, for His holy city signifying the kingdom of God in Christ, and His holy temple, signifying the church as God’s house on the earth.
On the one hand, we need to exercise our spirit and discern our spirit from our soul; on the other hand, we need to approach God in a personal and confiding manner for His interests on the earth.
God’s interests are Christ, the kingdom of God, and the house of God, as the goal of God’s eternal economy.
We need to pursue Christ together with the saints and, even more, we need to pray one with the Lord and one with the saints for His kingdom to come, for the church to be built up, and for Christ to become the enjoyment and experience of all the saints.
Even when we pray for some persons or situations, we don’t aim our prayers at that person or that situation but at God’s interest for that person.
May our prayers be aimed at Christ, the kingdom of God, and the house of God, so that His interest on the earth may be carried out.
Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit to live the normal church life today. We fan our God-given gift into flame to overcome the church’s degradation. We want to pursue Christ with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Amen, Lord, we want to pursue Christ as righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who love the Lord and seek Him out of a pure heart. Oh Lord Jesus, we call on Your name today. We want to be with those who call You. We want to pursue You together, flee the youthful lusts, and overcome the degradation in the church. Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to come to You in a personal and confiding manner to pray for Your interests. May Your kingdom come. May Your will be done. May the church be built up to become the kingdom of God on the earth. Amen, Lord, build up Your church, the Body of Christ! May our prayers take Christ, the kingdom of God, and the house of God as their focus!
Read this article in the Romanian language – citiți acest articol în limba română la următorul link, Discernem duhul de sufletul nostru, Îl urmărim pe Domnul și ne rugăm pentru interesele lui Dumnezeu.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, vol. 2, “The Spirit with Our Spirit,” chs. 6-8, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Being a Vessel unto Honor, a Fully Equipped Man of God, by being Empowered in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus to Fully Accomplish our Ministry in the Unique Ministry of God’s Economy (2024 April ITERO), week 1, Living in the Reality of God’s Eternal Economy for Its Fulfillment by Building Up a Habit of Exercising Our Spirit, Fanning Our God-given Spirit into Flame.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Learning to discern our spirit from our soul, a portion from, The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
– What Is the Difference between the Soul and the Spirit? More via, Bibles for Europe.
– The Spirit of Man, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– Discerning the Spirit from the Soul, via, ICS.
– The three parts of the spirit – conscience, fellowship, intuition – a portion from, The Economy of God, Chapter 6.
– What is it to Exercise Our Spirit? More via, The Hearing of Faith.
– Quenching the Flaming Darts of the Enemy, via, Shepherding Words.
– Discerning the spirit from the soul and entering into the Holy of Holies, a portion from, The Spirit in the Epistles, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
– What Is the Difference Between the Soul and Spirit? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– The True Nature of Our Relationship with the Lord Jesus, more via, Bibles for America blog.
– The key to experiencing Christ – our human spirit, a portion from, The Key to Experiencing Christ–the Human Spirit, Chapter 1. - Hymns on this topic:
– By the cross discern the spirit, / Put the soul to death alway; / Bear the cross, deny the self-life, / Walk in spirit day by day. / By the cross discern the spirit, / Through the living Word of God, / Separating soul from spirit, / That the right path may be trod. (Hymns #748 stanzas 1-2)
– The spirit we must seek to know, / Discerning spirit from the soul, / And live within this holiest place, / To worship God and reach His goal. / The soul we ever must forsake, / Press on, God’s rest to enter in, / That Christ we may possess in full / And all God’s plan fulfill therein. (Hymns #747 stanzas 6-7)
– Praying always in the spirit, / Never by our human thought! / Fellowship with God the Spirit / Only thus to us is brought. / Praying always in the spirit, / Thus expressing God’s desire; / Staying with the Lord in spirit, / We’ll be wholly set afire. (Hymns #780 stanzas 2-3)
About aGodMan
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, vol. 2, “The Spirit with Our Spirit,” pp. 186-187
For us to exercise our spirit, to fan our God-given gift into flame, we need to discern our spirit from our soul.
We should always be on the alert to discern and deny anything that is not of the spirit but of the soul, the self.
May we learn to set our mind on our spirit again and again until we live and walk and do all things according to the sense of life and peace in our spirit.
Ameeen!!!🥰🙏🙏🙏
a valuable reading this morning. Not only do we have to build the habit of setting our mind on the spirit and discerning from the flesh and mix up of the soul, we have to take time and not do things too quickly.
In this way time helps us to walk in the spirit.
Within us there is a struggle between 3 parties: there’s a battle between the spirit and the flesh, and even more between the spirit and the soul.
What to do? We must build up the habit of fanning our mingled spirit into flame and fixing our thoughts on the spirit.
We need to be on the alert to discern anything that’s not of the spirit by learning not to do things too fast or say things too quickly.
May we unceasingly call on the name of Jesus so that we might follow our spirit and walk in all things according to our spirit…
Praise the Lord! 🙌😃🙋🏼
https://youtu.be/5o7RYX2n1H4?si=hRk0YsSzHAYwMQVY
We must learn to discern our spirit from our soul through the living and operative word of God to discern the thoughts and intentions of our heart, and we must learn to set our mind on the spirit.
This must become a habit in us, so that as we fan our spirit into flame we do not let our mind wander but instead sing, praise and speak forth the Lord!
07/27/24 Living in the Reality of God’s Eternal Economy for Its Fulfillment by Building Up a Habit of Exercising Our Spirit, Fanning Our God-given Spirit into Flame (Week 1, Day 6)
Romans 8:6-7 says, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Because the mind set on the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, for neither can it be.” Of the three parts of our soul, our mind is the leading part.
Whatever the mind thinks, the emotion and the will would follow. This is why Romans 8;6-7 tell us that we need to set our mind, that is, to lead our mind, into our mingled spirit, which issues into life and peace. Or else, if our mind is set on the flesh, we experience death, that is, deafness in our spirit.
According to Romans chapter 7, there are two spontaneous laws that exist in an unbeliever’s being:
1.) the law of good ~ in the mind (Rom 7: 21, 23), which spontaneously influences him to do good according to the law of God, but is weak to overcome the law of sin and of death.
2.) the law of sin and of death ~ in the flesh (Rom 7:5), which influences him to spontaneously to commit sin which issues into deadness.
Then, according to Romans chapter 8, there is a third law that is installed into the believer’s regenerated spirit:
3.) the law of the Spirit of life ~ in our spirit (Rom 8:2), which is the most powerful among the three laws within the believer’s tripartite being and could spontaneously overcome the law of sin and of death in the flesh.
Without exerting any effort, the law of sin and of death normally governs our soul to spontaneously commit sin and things contrary to God. Because of this situation, Paul declares in Roman 7:24, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” By ourselves we are hopeless.
Eventually, in Romans 8:2, Paul continues to say, “For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” Although, the law of the Spirit of life has already been installed in our regenerated spirit, we still need to exercise (to force ourselves) to set our mind into our mingled spirit on order to activate the law of the Spirit of life in order to overcome the self and and the flesh, that is, the natural goodness in our soul and the lusts and deadness in our flesh.
Another way to exercise our spirit is to discern our spirit from the soul. The Scriptures tell us that the Lord is in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). Thus, it is very important for us to discern our spirit and to realize that our spirit is different from our soul, heart, mind, emotion, and will. We may be clear that our spirit and our body are different, but we must also be clear that our spirit is different from the other inward parts of our being.
The mind, emotion, and will, which are all parts of the heart, are also the three parts that make up the soul, that is, the natural life, the self. These three parts are not parts of the spirit. Thus, if we desire to know the Lord and to follow Him, we should not endeavor to do so according to our mind, emotion, or will. If we are following our mind, emotion, or will, this indicates that we are not following the Lord, because the Lord is not in these parts but in our spirit.
Oftentimes, we think so much that we quench our spirit. At other times, we do things that are against the Lord because we are so strong in our will. Moreover, we often find ourselves under the influence of our emotion, and this causes us to go against the Lord. The self overuses the functions of the soul such that the Lord cannot have His way into our mind, emotion, and will.
This shows us that if we want to follow the Lord, we must deny our mind, emotion, and will, which are parts of the soul. This does not mean that we make ourselves a dumb or a fool, but we need to fellowship with the Lord in our mingled spirit on what we think or how we feel so that He will have the final expression in our soul. Only then will the Lord have His way from within our spirit into our soul in order to dispense His unsearchable riches into our inner being so that He may accomplish His divine dispensing in us, through us, and among us.
[Excerpt from HWMR-Wk. 1 Day 6]
To set our mind on the flesh is death. To set our mind on the spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:6
For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
We have to learn to fan our spirit into flame and to control our mind. Do not let the mind be set on the flesh, but direct it to be set on the spirit. This habit has to be built up in us. To set our mind on the flesh is death. To set our mind on the spirit is life and peace
Our Christian walk is a very fine walk. If we are going to walk according to our spirit, we must learn not to do things too fast or to say things too quickly. It is safe to wait awhile. To wait in this way helps us to walk according to our spirit. Within us there is a battle between the spirit and the soul…. If something is not of the spirit, we do not want to say it or do it. This is to use, to exercise, our spirit. 💚 (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Spirit with Our Spirit,” pp. 186-187)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Spirit with Our Spirit,” chs. 6-8
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdeALwXwn78
Rumble:
https://rumble.com/v58q71v-to-exercise-our-spirit-is-to-discern-our-spirit-from-our-soul.html
It is very good and useful for us to be laboring on this topic: the discerning of the soul from the spirit. It is a most difficult subject but certainly worthwhile. This is what I have learned after reading these latest posts and comments:
It took some convincing, but I see now that yes, there is a forced stop necessary in our behavior to affect our spirit’s dominance over our soul.
Our soul is necessary. Without it we would be zombies. God did not create zombies. Like a garden, we are each different and useful parts of the whole.
God can express Himself through each of us perfectly. Only together, through Him, are we complete. That is why this understanding is so crucial. When we default to our soul, we effect the whole Body, His Body.
Oh Lord. I, we need your help to live by our Spirit. Help us all dear Savior, to continuously turn to you, to give You always the first and best place in our thoughts, our words, our actions, our intentions and the reactions of our heart. Be the good habit in us. We can not do it without You, no matter how often we try. Let us realize this is entirely your work and turn it over to you, day by day, even moment by moment. Thank you Lord. You are able.
in His love…