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  Where Jesus is Lord

The development   of the soul and spirit  is  essential for a full life.   

STRENGTH FOR THE INNER MAN EPH. 3:14-21  

The sorcerer’s sin- In Acts 8:18-19 when Simon the sorcerer saw the power that Peter and John had he offered money to buy spiritual power.  He saw that the believers had power in their lives that he did not have.  The question to ask yourself is, “How much would someone give for the spiritual power you have in your life. Or would they not see any power?” Do you have the power of God in your life or are you living in defeat?  

The Lord Jesus Christ said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem , and in all Judea and in Samaria , and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Have you a life of a powerful witness for Christ? Jesus said, “If any one thirst let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me , as the scriptures has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the  Spirit, whom believing in Him would receive; or the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7;37-39). Have the living waters become stagnant because of your neglect, your sin?  Have you put a barrier to stop them form flowing?

What is the need in the church today, what is the need of each believer today?  It is for power of the Spirit and knowledge of the Word.  It is power to live out what we are called to be.  It is power to suffer, to serve, to witness, and to live.  It is power on the inside of us, in the inner man to direct our mind, reinforce our will, to guard the secret springs of life, the motives that control, to save us from unpredictable moods.  Inside each believer is the need for more power, and knowledge.  You cannot go on living in defeat, crawling like a worm instead of flying like an eagle.  You cannot stay living down in the world and flesh giving the devil victory over you.  When he attacks, you need the power of the Spirit and Word of God to defeat him.  You need more strength, more confidence.  You need to know you are seated with Christ in the place of victory, in a place of authority.   

WHY PRAY FOR ENABLEMENT?  

Vs 14 “For this cause”- what cause?  “That they may enter into more truth.”  He wanted them to understand the new economy in which they live, to experience the riches of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. After viewing the great truths of chapters one and two, he bowed the knee in prayer, requesting that the church may know the wonderful realities that believers have.  The spiritual posture in prayer is to bow the heart in submission, reverence and passion, it can be profitable to bow your head and body also before God.

1. He prayed to the Father in Christ name, just as Jesus taught us to pray (Jn. 16:23 ).
2. We pray to the Father to help us understand the great plan of God for the ages, we pray for the church, for our daily living needs, for guidance, for knowledge and power to live in and walk in the Spirit.
3. Paul wanted God to open their eyes and let them know what was theirs in Christ Jesus.
4. He wanted them to have “The Spirit of wisdom and revelation and knowledge” (Eph. 1:16 -17).
5. He prayed “that the eyes of your understanding (heart and mind) being enlightened.” In order for us to understand spiritual truths our spiritual eyes must be opened (Eph. 1:18 ).
6. He desires to see the intense dynamic power of God in them (Eph.1:19). 

The first prayer was for enlightenment, the second was for enablement. If we were to receive what Paul prayed for in our lives, we would be people filled with Gods word and the Spirit, then this world would know that Jesus was alive.  

THE REALITY AND RESOURCES OF THE INNER MAN  

There are two powerful truths in this prayer, the reality and the resources.

1. a)       Body. The reality of the inner man is the key to understanding the Christian life (Vs 16).  You are a spiritual being.  The believer’s problem is we do not have any problem relating to the physical man but we do have in relation to the spiritual man.  We see the body, wash it, feed it, we exercise it, we care for it.  We feed its appetites.  We do not have a problem in understanding that we are a body, but we often forget we have a spiritual inner man, we pray for our body but neglect prayer for our inner man. We pray for our physical needs and give attention to them but we must also pray for our spiritual needs and give attention to them. 

b)                  Soul. You are also a soul, you can understand that also.  There are a least six areas in your soul, mentality, emotions, will, conscience, self consciousness and a fallen sin nature. They are invisible but this is the real you. We know what it is to reason, we know how it is to feel, we now what it is to sin.  We are far more than being physical beings with physical appetites, far more than being soulish beings with reason and feelings, we are spiritual beings.

c)                  Spirit. The spirit has become alive at the new birth and that is where God dwells and controls from.  That is why we had to be born again spiritually, so that He could come in and dwell there(John 3:38 ).  It is the will of God that your spirit be controlled by the Holy Spirit.  This in turn should bring your soul and your body under the Spirits control, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies that you should obey its lusts and do not present your members as instruments (Rom. 6:12 -14). The Spirits presence comes into you at salvation (Rom.8:9) but His power, His resources, His enablement is your requirement to live the Christian life on a daily basis.  You need to be filled as often as necessary, evryday.  As you read the book of Acts the importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church is evident for there are 59 references to the Spirit in the book, or on fourth of the references found in the New Testament.

In Romans 1-7 The Holy Spirit is only mention once, in chapter 8 He is mention 20 times, showing the necessity of victory through the Spirit and not through the new man. In Vs 2-4 The Spirit frees us from sin and death, vs. 4 He enables us to fulfil God’s law, vs. 5-13 He changes or nature and strengthens us for victory, vs. 14-16 He confirms our adoption, vs. 17-30 He guarantees ultimate victory.  

THE GREAT FAMILY OF GOD VS 15  

God has a great family, people he has adopted to himself from all nations and all peoples.  Sadly some people think their little group are the only ones God is using or dealing with.  Some other believe their church is the only one God is using.  Others think it is their denomination or movement or mission.  The local church or denomination is too small a concept.  God saved people before we were even born or our church existed, even before the church began He had believers in the Old Testament.  They are in His family; He will save people on earth after the church is taken into heaven.  He has great intelligences called angels; they are also in his family.  We need to have a wider fuller vision of the family of God. This is the Fatherhood of God; all things have their origin in Him.  We are not promoting universalism i.e. -the fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man- but simply referring to believers from each era in history. God is the Father and Creator of all men but the Saviour only unto those who believe.  

PAULS PETITIONS VS 16-19  

He is praying for believers who already had the Spirit.  He is praying according to the riches of Gods glory which are limitless and available. There are four requests, like parts of a telescope, one request leads to another.

1.      He prays for strength or power (energy and vitality and power to the humble) or enablement for the Christian to live in this old world vs. 16.

2.      He prays for their faith that it may lay hold or take hold of the great truth of Christ taking up residence in them vs. 17.  He is in believers but is he at home in our hearts cleansed from sin.  Is every door of our lives open for Him to come in and fellowship with us?

3.      After apprehending, taking hold of the great truth and experience.  He prays that they may know the dimensions of Gods love a) it vastness, b) its botany “rooted”, c) its architecture “grounded.”  Vs 17-18.

4.      The fourth request is all bursting fourth in all consuming fervour of knowing the love of Christ and that the divine nature of God will fill all vacuums in our lives.  Not the love for Christ but know the love of Christ.  This means the Holy Spirit is our fullness and that the measure of fullness is God Himself (Eph. 4:11 -16, 5:18 ).  

Someone has said, “If God took the Holy Spirit out of the world. Most of what Christians are doing would go right on, and nobody would know the difference.  The beauty of the power of the Spirit is you don’t have to work it up but that God makes the power available to the inner man.  You don’t work it up by music, singing or some other system.  It is a work of Gods grace.  The spirit is dead in the unbeliever (Eph.2:1) but becomes alive and animated when Christ comes in to dwell within by His Spirit. 

The inner man can see (Ps.119:18), hear (Matt. 13:9), taste (Ps. 34:8), feel (Acts 17; 27) and he must be exercised (1 Tim. 4:7-8). He also must be cleansed (Ps. 51:7) and fed (Matt. 4:4).  The outer man is perishing but the inner man is renewed spiritually (2 Cor. 4:16 -18).  The outer man becomes weaker with age the inner man or spiritual person, becomes stronger with age.  Where do you put the emphasis, the body, the soul, the mind and academics, the emotions and feelings, we must feel good or it is no good we wrongly believe, or do we put the emphasis on the inner man?  The disaster in the church today is that we are controlled buy our bodies, our appetites, what the flesh wants, what we feel like, our emotions and experiences and not in the Spirit.  We are controlled by our mind and emotions and not by the Holy Spirit in the inner man.  

Paul is saying he wants them to have their body, soul and spirit under the control of the Holy Spirit.  This is the capacity to know God, to love Him, to worship and serve Him.  This is what Adam and Eve lost the day they sinned and it had a death effect on their bodies as time went on.  When you sin, the Holy Spirit is not controlling your inner man, your soul and your body.  You do not present your body as a living sacrifice to Him.  It is important that you pray to be strengthened in the inner man don’t neglect him.  Your body is important; it is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  You’re Mind and emotions are important.  God shows you two things you are supposed to do with them.  Present your body and renew your mind ( Rom. 12:1-2).  God wants you to bring your body and soul under the Spirits control.  He wants you to know His power and provision.  Our great problem is that most of us forget the most important area of our lives- the inner man.  How much time do you spend in looking after your body, washing and grooming you hair, having a bath or shower, putting on your make up, shopping for cloths.  One of these days it will be all gone but the inner man will be there. How much time do you spend on the inner man, feeding him good spiritual food, washing from sin, nurturing and making sure he is growing, caring for him? The body demands attention and we give it attention.  The soul demands attention and we feed it.  But do we give attention to the inner man? It is God’s will that He fills, energises and controls your spirit in order to fellowship with you body, soul and spirit.  Are you taking care of your spirit?  If you did not take care of your body others would know it, you would be dirty, smelly, and your clothing would be a mess.  You can also tell if a person does not take care of their spirit, it will be very, very obvious. Gal. 6:7 “Don’t deceive yourself, (this is a spiritual law) “feed or sow the wrong thing to the flesh reaps corruption.”   Feed the spirit the Word of God, it will bring life, help you grow spiritually.  Starve that bad habit, stop feeding it, it will get weaker as you starve it.  Feed your spirit rubbish and it will get weak, feed it truth and it will become strong.  You will want to worship the Lord and serve Him.  Do not spend so much time on or money on your body and soul at the expense of your spirit.  We live from the outside in instead of from the inside out.  Let us pray for strength in the inner man.  

The Resources of the Inner Man Eph.3:16  

It is not doing the best you can with what you have; this is a poor concept of what is available to you.  It is according to the riches of His glory.  He is the wealthiest person in the universe do not scrimp by spiritually, do not crawl in defeat, live in the heavenlies.  The fullness of God is His glory, out of His great essence we are to stop drawing from our riches, our resources and draw form His riches. 

A key word, “according to” not “out of” it is an unlimited supply.  God’s wealth in glory is our bank, a divine bank.

“Strengthened” this is ruling power, power to rule. It is the mark of every Christian who submits himself to Gods Word and Gods Spirit. It is available to al not just some so called special class of  Christians.

“Might” this is inherent power. By means of His Spirit in our spirit.  The Holy Spirit will energise, revitalise and give power to committed and obedient Christians. The
Christian life can only be lived in the power of the Spirit.  Only the Holy Spirit can supply power for living, for growth for full maturity of the believer.  Are you living on the wrong side of Pentecost?  Do you need to be strengthened with might in the inner man?  Do you need to surrender your power, your strength, your thinking, your own resources, and your own plan?  Not every believer is controlled, strengthened, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that’s why so many believers live in defeat.

Rom.8: 2. The law of the Spirit makes us free.

Vs 4. The Spirit of God fulfils His righteousness in us.

Vs 6. "To be spiritually minded is life (fullness and animation of the spirit) and peace."

Vs 8.The Spirit gives us the right of belonging to God.

Vs 11. The Spirit quickens (makes alive) our mortal body, her and now.

Vs 14. The Spirit of God leads the sons of God  

THREE THINGS THAT WILL HAPPEN  

1. Decreasing of the frequency of sin, “Walk in the spirit and you will not fulfil the desires of the flesh.” How do I have less and less sin in my life?  Walking in the Spirit.  Walking is a continuous action, or an habitual lifestyle.  It implies progress. Yes you will be tempted every day but you will be strengthened every day. Gal. 5:16
2. An increase of spiritual fruit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Against such there is no law” (Gal.5:22-23). You will produce more and more fruit in your life, as you let Him take control, He produces the fruit of the Spirit, and it is His.  You will have godly attitudes and the fruit will be evident in your life.
3. You will live form the inside out. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Gal. 5:25).  If you live in the sphere of the Spirit you will be spiritual, if you live in the sphere of the flesh you will produce fleshy fruit. Your mental health is directly related to the Holy Spirit, you will have a healthier mind, healthier thoughts, and healthier habits.  If the spirit of man controls you tit will be the opposite.  Your physically health is affected if you do not submit your body to the Holy Spirit.  That does not mean you will never be ill but that generally speaking you will have a better quality of health.  You cannot separate your mental health and physical health from tour spiritual health. 

Children's Ministries