The degree to which we are able to make advances in spiritual warfare, is often measured by our ability to perceive things in the spirit as we are praying.
It is not all the time that we are in the spirit, that we are able to hear from the Lord. But spiritual things are often perceived, while we are in the spirit.
The Holy Spirit is responsible for bringing the truth to us, while we are in the spirit. Even though we can still catch a glimpse of spiritual truth, without the help of the Holy Spirit, because our spirit man is redeemed.
Our spirit man is able to recognize the things of the spirit, without necessarily having to rely on the Holy Spirit. That is one of the benefits of being born of the Spirit of God.
We therefore need to be able to differentiate, the voice of our inner man from that of the Holy Spirit, and from the voice of the enemy.
This is very important in spiritual warfare. We must be able to differentiate, what comes to us directly from God, and what comes from our redeemed spirit man.
Just as the Holy Spirit has a voice, the spirit man who lives inside of us does has a voice also
Recognizing the voice of the Holy Spirit.
But the enemy has the ability to speak to us as well, even when we are in the spirit. Our spirit man must therefore be trained, to recognize his voice also.
He is always full of deceptions and lies. We must be able to recognize his deceptions and lies, so that we can be able to deal with them immediately as they come.
Our spirit man must be trained to recognize and to know, what comes from the devil. This is very important in spiritual warfare.
Jesus once said:
“But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.”
Matthew 24:43 NIV
The enemy that we do confront in spiritual warfare, is like a thief who breaks into a house. Our spirit man is the house that he seeks to break into.
He is lurking at every corner, looking for an opportunity to strike at you. You must not entertain his voice at all around you, either to your physical body, your mind or to your senses and feeling.
He knows how to make you imagine many things, in his attempt to deceive and lie to you; especially if your mind is yet to be renewed.
You must give him no breathing space at all. That is why we are to be training our spirit man at all times by praying in other tongues, so as to remain vigilant in the spiritual warfare against him.
The Holy Spirit is our Helper!
The Holy Spirit is never there to do the spiritual warfare for us. He is there to help and support us as we pray.
There are those who think that the Holy Spirit is supposed to be praying for them.
Such ignorance causes them to miss out of the wonderful opportunities, available to them through prayer and intercession.
These are the Spirit filled Christians who normally will just fold their arms, waiting on the Holy Spirit to lead them before they pray.
The problem with this is that nothing actually happens until we initiate a move with our mouth in prayer.
We act by faith as we move and progress in spiritual warfare in this manner.
The Holy Spirit will never involve Himself in situations, that He has not been invited to participate in.
He is like a gentleman, who will never go to where He is not needed or invited.
Just as faith moves God to act on our behalf, our faith in prayer is what makes the Holy Spirit to act on our behalf also.
The most effective way to get Him involved with us, is by praying in the spirit. Every time we do that, He comes along to help us, strengthening us in the inner man as we pray.
The purpose of the Holy Spirit living in the innermost being of our spirit man, among other things is to help us, to guide us and to counsel us as we pray.
It is our spirit man, who is born of the Spirit of God, that does have the task of praying and interceding.
And because we are born of God’s Spirit, our spirit man knows exactly, what to pray for and how to pray.
Jesus said:
“But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.”
John 14:26 AMPC
The Holy Spirit is clearly mentioned here as our Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener and Standby. These are what He does.
He is referred to here as our Intercessor mainly because, He plays that role for us in the spirit world, which is invincible to us in this natural world.
As an Intercessor His job is to reveal to us, what is going on in the spirit realm. He is like our go in between, who brings to us the spiritual truth that affects us, as we are praying into the understanding of our spirit man.
In other words, He reveals the will of God the Father concerning, what we are praying about to us (Romans 8:27).
He knows the will of God for us in all situations and reveals those purposes of God that are hidden to us.
The Holy Spirit knows exactly, what the enemy is planning and doing against us in the spirit realm. His job is to expose the tactics of the enemy to us, so that we can use our faith to do something about it.
He expects us to always use our faith to do something about everything, that He reveals to us.
Without Him playing this role for us, we cannot be effective in prayer.
He is the only personality of the Triune God, who has direct access into heaven, as well as into our lives through our spirit man.
We are the ones who do have to exercise our spiritual authority, in prayer and intercession so as to enforce the will of God on the earth.
But it is easier for us to understand and recognize the voice of our spirit man, than it is for us to pick up the voice of the Holy Spirit as we are praying.
The Bible says:
“For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:11 NIV
Our spirit man knows us better, just as the Holy Spirit knows the things of God better.
Our spirit man (as Christians) knows and can recognize spiritual things, and bring them to our understanding, because his wisdom supersedes any other (Proverbs 18:14).
Our mind or soul cannot match the wisdom that emanates from our redeemed spirit man.
This is why it’s important to learn how to differentiate the voice of your renewed mind from that of your spirit man, and the Holy Spirit.
The more you are edifying yourself in the spirit by praying in other tongues, the more you will be able to do this (1 Corinthians 14:4).
The Holy Spirit often reveals spiritual truth to our spirit man, so that the spirit man can convey them to us in a manner by which we can understand it.
It is therefore not all the time that the Holy Spirit will speak to us directly.
Listening for the inner witness.
During prayer and intercession, we are being led by the inward witness within the spirit man in us, right from under our belly in perceiving spiritual things.
The Holy Spirit testifies to us about, what belongs to us in God’s kingdom as we are praying in other tongues. But we are the ones who will have to take hold of those things by faith.
Our lives as Christians are directed from the inward witness of the spirit man.
That’s why we need to learn how to listen to him (the spirit man). It is the work of the Holy Spirit to train us, in listening to the inward witness of our spirit man as we pray.
Spiritual growth for the spirit man.
The paradox of all of these is that it takes a long time for our spiritual development to get to this level. It takes a longer time for our spirit man, to become sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, than it takes to become sensitive to that of the spirit man inside us.
This is due to the nature of sin and death in us (Romans 8:2-3), with which we often struggle with, as the spirit man within us learns to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Our head (the unrenewed mind) often struggles with our spirit man, because of this nature in us.
The longer it takes us to renew our mind with God’s word, the longer it will take to train our spirit man.
This is never easy for anyone who is constantly relying on the world around him, than on the Holy Spirit or the inward witness.
Jesus as our example spent thirty years of His life on the earth in preparing for His ministry. Spiritual development of the spirit man within us is never easy.
There will always be bumps on the road to our spiritual maturity as Christians.
But our God is always patient and full of long suffering. He will work with you and work in you, to bring you into that stage of spiritual maturity, that you ought to be in doing His perfect will on the earth.
The purpose is for us to be able to perceive His Way in our lives, without the help of the Holy Spirit but by faith, because faith has the ability to perceive spiritual things from afar.
God will always work in us, to develop our spirit man, to the level of spiritual maturity that is required of us to do His work on the earth.
Prayer and intercession are what gets us there. We bloom and glow inside the closet of prayer and intercession. Our spirit man gets empowered as this takes place.
The Apostle Paul once prayed for the Galatians, as they faced bumps on their pathway to spiritual maturity. He told them:
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,”
Galatians 4:19 KJV
Travailing in spiritual birth again is something, that can only be done in the spirit.
We need to note here that, Paul was writing to a body of believers who were born again, but who had been deceived by the enemy. He was praying for them, and he was comparing praying and interceding for them here, with the travailing of a woman in childbearing labor pain.
The goal here in praying and interceding for the Galatians’ spiritual development, was described by Paul as “until Christ be formed in you.”
This ought to be our spiritual goal also, in learning to perceive the leadings of God inside our spirit man. It may take a long time and a lot of travailing in prayer; but you will eventually get there, as long as you are ready to keep learning from the Holy Spirit – who is the Teacher within you.
Great spiritual works in the kingdom of God, blooms and glows into glory from the secret closet of prayer and intercession.
Keep on praying and interceding in the spirit. God is on your side.
You will eventually give birth to something beautiful that will be a blessing to the Body of Christ.
