We had earlier on established the fact that, we are born again by the Spirit of God.
It is the Holy Spirit Who brings the conviction of sin to the spirit man inside of us, while leading us to be born again.
Jesus told Nicodemus:
“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”
John 3:6 NIV
It is insanity for anyone to believe that he can reap apples by sowing orange seed.
In the same manner it is insanity to be calling yourself a Christian when you know that you’re not living by the standard of God’s word.
You need to hear and receive God’s word by faith into your heart before you can be born of the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit will never lead you in your brain or head, in order to lead you in making this kind of decision.
But He will lead you always from the inner man of your spirit, through an intuition or inner witness.
As the scripture says:
“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
Romans 8:16 NKJV
This inner witness is also often referred to as the inner conscience.
The spirit man inside of you does know many things, which your brain does not know.
And such things are often revealed to your spirit man, in the form of an intuition or an inner witness.
We had also established last week the fact that, the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of our spirit man.
He leads us, guides us, strengthens us and directs our spirit man; from His place of residence inside of our spirit man.
He does this as we are continually renewing the mind with the Word of God.
The renewal of mind is important for the spiritual development, of a born-again believer in Christ Jesus.
In the same manner as the spirit man inside of him, needs the Word of God for spiritual food to grow up spiritually, he also needs God’s word for the renewal of his mind.
The Apostle Paul told the Church in Rome:
“And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs] but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].”
Romans 12:2 AMP
However, in reality it is the prayer life of that believer, and his ability to live by faith, that causes him to grow faster in the Lord, so as to be able to perceive spiritual truth.
Feed your spirit man.
A major problem of many born again, and Holy Spirit filled believers today, is that they spend so much time and resources, to educate the mind with the things of this world.
They often do this to the detriment of their spirit man. They thereafter become more and more worldly educated; to the extent that some had actually become “spiritual illiterates”, even though they are saved.
They have become spiritual illiterates, concerning the things of God; and in particular concerning His written Word, the Holy Scriptures.
Their spirit man is not being fed on a regular basis; therefore, their spiritual eye of understanding has been blurred.
This explains why their ability to perceive spiritual truth, through the conscience or an inner intuition is weak. They just find it hard to grasp spiritual truth, so as to apply it into their personal way of life to make spiritual advancement.
The mind of men often feeds off senses – what it feels or sees. The brain of man is never designed by God, to see or perceive invisible things.
The things of the spirit are invisible to the human senses. You cannot see them coming or see them happening with the naked eyes. These are things that can only be perceived, by the heart or the spirit of man.
This is why the spirit of man needs to feed off God’s Word, just as the mind feeds off our senses, even while being renewed with the Word of God.
God’s Word helps our spirit man to perceive the spiritual truth of God. We are able to perceive good and evil in this way, so as to make the right choices of life.
The Holy Spirit lives inside of your spirit man, to give you spiritual education into the things of God.
And just as a student at school learns, by communicating with the teacher on a regular basis. We were created by God to commune and fellowship, with the Holy Spirit in like manner.
He teaches our spirit man, the things that we do not know. He opens our spiritual eye of understanding, into perceiving the things of God.
The easiest way for us to communicate with the Holy Spirit, therefore, is by speaking in other tongues on a regular basis:
“For one who speaks in an unknown tongue does not speak to people but to God; for no one understands him or catches his meaning, but by the Spirit he speaks mysteries [secret truths, hidden things].”
1 Corinthians 14:2 AMP
But unfortunately, many are too accustomed to this world’s system, to the extent that the world is now leading, teaching and educating them; instead of the Holy Spirit who lives inside of their spirit man.
They have stopped to pray in the Holy Spirit, as their spirit man has started getting education, and information from the world’s system, which they are embracing more than what the Holy Spirit is revealing to them.
Inner witness and spiritual perception.
King Solomon wrote in advising his son, on how to listen to the voice, coming from his spirit man as an inner witness. He wrote:
“My son, pay attention to my words— incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to their whole body. Guard your heart diligently, for from it flow the springs of life.”
Proverbs 4:20-23 TLV
Solomon was teaching his son here about spiritual perception. He advised him to keep godly advice at heart (inside the heart), and not to be distracted away from them.
Solomon’s son was to be paying particular attention to what’s inside his heart, in order to get the solutions to every life’s problem.
Those solutions come like a flow from the heart or the spirit man, in the form of an intuition or inner witness.
We need to see the similarity in Proverbs 4:23 and Romans 8:16 where Paul wrote that:
“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
Romans 8:16 NKJV
Paul in Romans 8:16 is refering to our inner conscience, testifying to our spirit man that we belong to God.
It is from the same inner conscience, that every solution to all spiritual problems flows from.
Solomon and Paul are here in agreement, concerning the inner witness of the spirit man.
Why did Solomon not advise his son to keep his words in mind or in the head?
This is because the head, memory or the mind is not where spiritual truths are stored inside of us.
Spiritual truths are meant for the heart of man. Faith and truth come from the heart:
“For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Romans 10:10 NKJV
King Solomon then went further to point out to his son, why it is important to guard his heart. The heart or the spirit of man is where the solution to all spiritual problems flows from.
Those gentle spiritual nudges from the heart or the spirit inside of us, are the flows or issues of life in us.
They come from the spirit inside of us, leading us and guiding us, in making the wise decisions of life, based on the quality of the Word of God stored up in our heart.
We don’t need anyone to tell us, that we belong to God. Our spirit man testifies always to us about this. The Apostle John wrote:
“If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.”
1 John 3:20-22 NIV
But many do not often perceive those spiritual nudges, because they are not paying attention to them, as they come flowing from their hearts.
The reason for this is that, they are not inclining their hearts to the Word of God in their spirit man.
Others do often perceive those spiritual nudges, but they had already chosen to just ignore them.
They will rather incline their spiritual ear to their feelings. They ignore those spiritual nudges, because they make no human sense to them.
They don’t understand that spiritual truth from God, are not meant to make any human sense to us at all. They are meant to be followed and obeyed.
It’s only those who are living and walking in the Spirit, who can grasp this spiritual truth.
When we get too comfortable with the world around us, rather than with the spirit man inside of us; the tendency is there for us to start leaning towards what consumes our time most.
This is why many will often yield to those desires or voices of the world around them, rather than to the voice of their inner man.
But the more you are paying attention to those nudges from the spirit man inside of you, the lesser you will be influenced by the voices of this world, in making godly and wise decisions in life.
For example, there are many believers struggling with financial debts today, because they are listening more to the voices of the world around them; rather than to be listening to the inner witness on their spirit man.
Many are sick and living unhealthy lifestyle, because they are listening to the voice of their flesh, rather than that inner witness in their spirit man.
Christian homes are being broken daily for the same reason, and the list goes on and on.
But rather than go through all of these, we do have the spirit man inside of us, to always speak to us and guide us in the form of an intuition.
Therefore, it is very important for us to learn, how to be lead and guided from the inner man.
Love and faith with spiritual perception.
As born-again Christians, we must understand that we don’t necessarily need to be in the spirit, before our inner man leads us in knowing or perceiving spiritual truths.
The scripture 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. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.”
1 Corinthians 2:11-12 NIV
The spirit man inside of you knows you more, than the mind or the flesh knows you.
This is if you’ve already gotten your spirit man redeemed and transformed by the Spirit of God and separated from the spirit of this world.
It therefore becomes part of your lifestyle, to follow the things of God, and shun the evils of this world.
This means that your thought patterns have already been transformed, by the Holy Spirit living inside of your spirit man.
Therefore, you do not only have the ability to perceive spiritual truth around you; but you also have the ability to express the love of God, towards people around you.
We are able to do this, in exercising our spiritual authority in all situations, because as the Apostle Paul said:
“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:5 NIV
Our spirit man now has the capacity to love, just as God loves us. We are able to act just as Jesus acted while on earth.
God’s love inside of our spirit man makes this possible, from that moment when we got born again.
When we are being led to perceive spiritual truth, we are led from our spirit man on the inner man.
We therefore need to be paying attention, to the intuition from the inside of us, to lead and guide our spiritual life.
We must understand that spiritual perception has nothing to do at all with our feelings, senses or the state of the mind.
The spirit man inside of us actually is the one, who opens us up as we pray.
We begin therefore to see and perceive things, which cannot be seen with our natural eyes.
This becomes much easier for us, when we are living a lifestyle of faith, instead of what we see going on in the natural world.
Prayer changes things in the spiritual realm, before they are manifested in the natural.
And if you are not living by faith, you will be unable to see or perceive spiritual things as you are praying.
Paul explained this to the Galatians, whom he had been travailing in prayer for. He said:
“Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.””
Galatians 3:11 NIV
The human lifestyle in this natural world, is based on the law of sin and death; but the lifestyle in the spiritual realm is based on the righteousness which comes through faith.
The Spirit of Christ Jesus living inside of your spirit man, has made you free from the law of sin and death (see Romans 8:1-4).
Faith in God is now your ticket into the spirit realm.
Grow daily with spiritual perception.
Now, let’s go back to the advice of Jude again concerning this:
“But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.”
Jude 1:20-21 NIV
We need to pay particular attention here, to what he advised us to do, for the development of our spirit man. He is advising us to build upon our faith on the inner man.
Faith is of the heart or of the spirit man. It is in the most sacred place inside of you – the heart. He is telling us to build up on our most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit.
Faith is of the heart, and therefore sacred and holy to the Lord.
We need to understand that before, we can even begin to pray in the Holy Spirit or be led by the Holy Spirit into prayer; faith must already be present in the heart.
If we do not have faith in the heart already, we cannot pray effectively. We cannot build on what we do not have.
He is telling us to build upon our faith inside of the heart, by praying in the Holy Spirit.
But thanks be to God, because the measure of faith that, we need to build upon had been given to us, when we got born again (Romans 12:3).
In other words, you must let the Holy Spirit guide you, as you are praying in other tongues. You need to let Him strengthen your spirit man, as your faith works in the love of God, to manifest the mercy or grace of the Lord; in leading you into spiritual truth that brings eternal life.
Paul continued in his advice by saying:
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”
Romans 8:5-8 NIV
The works of the flesh in us are put to death, as we build on our holy faith by praying in the Spirit.
The flesh often hinders the spirit man inside us, from hearing the voice from inside of the heart.
When the flesh becomes weak, our spirit man becomes stronger and more sensitive, as we are praying in this manner, so that we can listen to hear through the inner witness.
When you’re walking by faith and not by sight, your spirit man is energized to please God.
Your right standing before God is revealed through your walk of faith.
The ability to see and perceive spiritual things, becomes imputed to us as we are walking before God by faith.
It takes a lifestyle of faith to perceive spiritual things. Our faith and love walk before God, therefore empowers us into the spirit realm, as we engage in spiritual warfare.
As we keep on burning in the fire of faith and love, in our full devotion towards Jesus at the heart; the Spirit of Jesus begins to speak to our spirit man.
He not only speaks to us, but He begins also to speak with us in a very intimate way. We begin to have fellowship with His Spirit inside of our spirit.
Jesus begins to talk to us, as He reveals Himself to us through the scriptures, even as we are praying in the spirit.
This is the moment that your spiritual development begins to grow deeper and higher with Him as you pray.
A lot of Christians miss out of this moment, because they just love to go around spiritual things in circles, as they fellowship with Jesus.
You’ll never grow up or ever be able to develop your spirit man, so as to perceive the things of God around you in this way.
You’ll need to be bluntly honest with spiritual things, as you walk by faith.
This is key to your ability to perceive spiritual truth and to be able to separate it from the lie of the enemy.
Spiritual things can be a lie (of the evil one), or the truth (of the Spirit of God) who lives inside of your spirit.
When we are devoted in fellowship with Jesus, He ignites the fire of His love in us for the gospel. This is the moment of truth and reality in the Christian life.
Jesus and spiritual perception.
For example, most of the healing miracles of Jesus took place, because of the power of spiritual perception in His inner man.
But when He had to minister deliverance to people, the gifts of the Holy Spirit were always there to lead and guide Him.
We were created in the image of God, because our Heavenly Father wants us, to be able to use our spirit man in maximizing the potentials, that were imputed to us at creation.
Our spirit man is enlightened by God’s Spirit, for us to recognize Him living on the inside of us.
The Bible says of Jesus (as an example) in healing a paralyzed man:
“Just then some people brought a paraplegic man to him, lying on a sleeping mat. When Jesus perceived the strong faith within their hearts, he said to the paralyzed man, “My son, be encouraged, for your sins have been forgiven.”
These words prompted some of the religious scholars to think, “Why, that’s nothing but blasphemy!”
Jesus supernaturally perceived their thoughts, and said to them, “Why do you carry such evil in your hearts?”
Matthew 9:2 -4 TPT
In other words, Jesus in healing this man, perceived that he had faith to be healed. How was Jesus able to see or perceive faith in this man?
He had (as the Son of man) trained His spirit on the inner man to do this.
Jesus identified faith in the man through an intuition on the inner man. A witness on His inner man revealed faith in this man to Him.
As believers in Christ, we do have the same ability as was in Jesus, to perceive faith in people while we minister to them.
We were born again into the kingdom of God, to do even more than Jesus did on earth (John 14:12).
Spiritual perception in God’s will.
A second example is Rebekah’s reaction to seeing her husband from afar for the first time.
The Bible described what Rebekah did when she perceived her husband (Isaac), as she saw him for the very first time:
“Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” “He is my master,” the servant answered. So, she took her veil and covered herself.”
Genesis 24:62-65 NIV
Rebekah was brought up in the same way as Isaac to perceive spiritual truth. They both had spiritual things in common. Even though they grew up in different places, but they were spiritually connected.
There are a lot of single ladies in the body of Christ today, who have not trained their spirit man as Rebekah did, in perceiving the men that God brings across their pathway on a daily basis.
And because their power of perception is in their feelings, and in what they can see physically, they are missing out of their blessing.
A Pastor’s wife once shared her testimony about how she met her husband. She perceived him first in her spirit man, even when she was not yet saved. Her unsaved spirit man had a witness on the inner man, that they were meant for one another.
She therefore did everything that she could to get his attention, at that time with no response from him.
But the moment that she got born again and filled in the Holy Spirit, the man started seeing things in her that he never saw before.
The lady had wasted two years of her life, trying to get the man’s attention, even though she was not born again in those two years.
There are many single ladies today, who goes to church, and are in this particular situation.
When you get born of the Spirit of God, the blessings of God will always follow you (Deuteronomy 28:1-15).
In the same manner when you’re training your inner man to perceive things going on around you, healing and deliverance comes as your spirit man begins to see them coming.
Faith is activated in the spirit of a believer in Christ Jesus, as he perceives the move of God.
Perceiving the move of God.
There are times when I had witnessed Holy Spirit filled believers, rejected the intuition or witness from their inner man to lay hands on the sick.
They often reject the leads from their spirit man, because those intuitions do not make sense to their unrenewed mind.
The truth is that spiritual truths are never meant to make sense at all, because they are only meant for the spirit man to perceive.
This is how some often miss out of the blessing of God, because their spirit man has not been well trained, to perceive these leadings from their inner man.
Elihu once said during the trial of Job:
“For I am full of words, and the spirit within me compels me;”
Job 32:18 NIV
Elihu was apparently trying to perceive the reason for the troubles of Job.
He was full of words based on what had been deposited in his heart all of his life (see Job 32:10), so the spirit man inside of him compelled him to speak.
As he spoke we can see that, he was not being led by the Holy Spirit, but out of a witness on the inner man.
Yes, unsaved people can perceive spiritual truths also; but in most cases they often reject them (see Romans 1:18-22).
At the end of his statement, Elihu’s perception of Job’s situation was wrong.
This was because he had not trained his spirit man to be able to perceive deeper into the things of God.
The Holy Spirit was not in their innermost being in those days. But in most cases they had learnt to perceive God through the manifestation of His goodness and loving kindness around them.
This explains why Elihu judged Job, based upon the predicaments of his life; and not based on the truth from God Almighty.
In the same way Laban was able to perceive the hand of God on his household because of Jacob. The scripture says:
“But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, stay with me; for I have learned [from the omens in divination and by experience] that the LORD has blessed me because of you.””
GENESIS 30:27 AMP
Since the Holy Spirit was not living in their innermost being, as He lives in us today; these men and women in the Old Testament had learnt to perceive the move of God, by looking for the omens around them.
Their spirit man learnt to recognize and perceive the goodness and loving kindness of God. But God often spoke to them and with them, through angelic visitations and dreams.
Thank God for the ability to have the Holy Spirit living inside us today. We have something more powerful than what they had at that time.
It is easier for us today to perceive the move of God in our lives, by listening and hearing our spirit on the inner man.
There are believers in Christ who had often missed the leads from their spirit man.
Elihu missed it, because even though he was perceiving something, his spirit man had not been trained as much as is required.
But Laban at a later time in history never missed it. He knew that he was blessed because of Jacob.
Can you perceive the goodness and loving kindness of God around you, by paying careful attention to your inner witness as you are praying in other tongues?
You need to be able to perceive spiritual truth daily from God and thank Him for His many blessings around your life.
God is a good God.
