13

Waking your Spirit

Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end will
increase abundantly (Job 8:7).

When Adam walked with God in the Garden of Eden, his

fellowship with God was perfect. Because Adam was in
God and God was in Him, he knew God even as he was
known. He was alive to God in his whole person, which is
his spirit, soul and body. When Adam transgressed the
commandment of God, he was cast out of God. Since he
was severed from the Vine, he died to God in his entire
person, which is his spirit, soul and body. Because Adam
sinned all of his offspring sinned and is born dead to God.
Man is born in sin and shaped in the unrighteousness of
his apostate heart. Unless man turns from the
consequences of the transgression unto Christ he will die
in his sin and will suffer the torments of hell in eternal
separation from God. Separation from God is death.

When man is born again, God places him into the body of
His Son as Adam was in Eden and which is according to
His purpose for the heirs of salvation. Because he is joined
to Christ he is one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). It
means he is one spirit with the Spirit of Christ (Romans
8:9). His spirit is alive to God from that time onward
because of righteousness. The body is dead to God because
of sin and the soul enmity against God for it is not subject
to the law of God, nor indeed can be (Romans 8:10,7).

The basis of a walk with God is to have fellowship with

Him. Man can only relate to God with that part of him that
is alive to Him. That is his spirit, which is one spirit with
Christ. That which is one with God is alive to Him. That
which is not in Him is dead to Him because He alone is the
source of life. A branch, which is severed from the tree, can
never live to bear fruit. You cannot relate to God with your
body because it is dead to Him as a result of sin. You
cannot see God with your natural eyes, hear him with your
natural ears or touch him with your hands or taste or smell
Him with your natural senses. You also cannot relate to
God with your soul, which is enmity with Him since the
carnal mind cannot subject itself to the law of God, nor
indeed can it be. The soul is filled with different feelings
and emotions and the mind is cluttered with fears, doubts
and uncertainty that war constantly against the integrity of
the word of God. If you endure to the end in your faith in
God you have the hope that your whole spirit, soul and
body will be preserved blameless at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

To have fellowship with God we need to relate to Him in

the Spirit because heaven (Spirit realm) is the place of His
dwelling. God will not materialize in the natural realm
where we live in the flesh to have fellowship with us. He
can but He will not. The only way to relate to God is
through His word and the only doorway into the Spirit is
through faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Those
that are justified in the Lord shall live by their faith. The
life that we live in the flesh now we live by faith in the Son
of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.

Perfect faith is from your spirit where the Lord dwells. It is

faith that is worked by love. Anything from your spirit is
from the life-force of Christ in you because your spirit is
one with the Spirit of Christ. You can also have faith from
your soul but that is legalism, which is separated from
Christ in you. It does not matter how sincere you are, any
product from self is tainted with the imperfection of your
fallen nature. It is from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of
good (law or legalism) and evil (lawlessness). Separation
and independence from God is the heart of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil. Good is better than evil but it
is still death because it separated from the life of Christ in
you. How will you know if your faith is from your spirit or
soul? It is a matter of your focus. The motivation of your
spirit is to bring God joy and fulfillment while the soul is
looking for justification through works or compensation or
a reward. The spiritual man knows he needs not to look
further for justification than the cross of Christ. His desire
and motivation is to unceasingly worship God in humility
of heart. Worship is everything you do. Worship is that you
live no longer but Christ lives in you. But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me
trough His grace, to reveal His Son in me… (Galatians 1:5-
6a, emphasis added). Your attitude is that you live no
longer for yourself, but for Him who died for you and rose
again. This is not something you feel but an attitude of
faith. Anything that comes from your spirit is the life-force
of Christ because He is one spirit with you. It is not a
mixture of your spirit with His Spirit otherwise we see a
mixture of fleshly glory with divine glory. God will not
share His glory with nobody.

When Jesus died for us He chopped down the tree of the

knowledge of good (law and legalism) and evil
(transgression of the law) and removed all of it from our
lives. Christ fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law
on our behalf and borne God’s judgment for our
transgression of His law in His body. He redeemed us from
the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. After
begun in the Spirit (by faith) and then revert to the tree of
knowledge of good and evil Christ become of no effect to
us. He removed the tree of knowledge, the evil religious
spirit that promotes independence from God that our
conscience may be cleansed from dead works to serve the
living God. He planted in its place another tree in us, His
Son, Christ in us the hope of glory. Christ in us is the only
hope of glory God has given us and no other hope of glory.
Christ in us is the light of the presence of God in us. We
must come to a deep awareness of His presence in us that
we do not grow weary in doing the will of God for our
lives and do not loose heart. When Christ is manifested in
us, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Through our
own efforts we are heavy laden and often loose heart.

Faith is manifested in your thoughts, words, attitudes,

works and ways. If you are training your spirit to become
aware of Christ in you, you start to experience the
manifestation of His thoughts, words, attitudes, works and
ways in you. The more intimate your relationship with the
Lord the easier it becomes because your spiritual senses
sharpened up in the atmosphere of heaven (Spirit). It is the
will of God while being with your body on earth to walk
with your spirit in heaven. No one has ascended to heaven but
He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man
who is in heaven (John 3:13, emphasis added). Jesus told
Nicodemus that He is on earth and in heaven at the same
time. This is not so outrageous; it is just the reality of
somebody that is walking by faith, which is walking in the
Spirit. If you walk in the Spirit, Christ is revealed in you
and the blood of Jesus washes you from all
unrighteousness.

Through faith you present your body, which is dead to

God because of sin, as being alive from the dead and the
members of your body though dead, as instruments of
righteousness to God. Through faith you present your
body alive and holy and acceptable to God. Your body of
death sins by nature but by faith you present its members
as instruments of righteousness to God. Fallen man must
present him to the Lord in faith as if he has attained in
Christ to resurrection life and perfection in hope for the
redemption of the whole man. Therefore, by faith you
should live your life on earth as if you are in heaven. Your
faith is the substance of your hope that your body will be
made alive to God when the Spirit of God that raised Jesus
from the dead will give life to your mortal body through
His Spirit that indwells you (Romans 8:11). Faith changes
things in the books of God. Though you may not have
attained to the resurrection from the dead and is not made
perfect yet, faith is the evidence that God sees the
resurrection life and perfection of His Son in you, which is
your hope of glory. Our hope is to be alive to God in spirit,
soul and body in our Lord Jesus Christ. When God looks
at man He sees man as he thinks in his heart he is, for so
He sees him (Proverbs 23:7). Moreover, what you think in
your heart, good or evil, you have already committed
(Matthew 5:28). This is how faith works.

Enoch (without the law) and Elijah (under the law) are
living proof that since the transgression man could attain
to resurrection life and perfection, before the appointed
time, if he or she believed God for it. They were aware that
the provision in Christ was already established since the
foundation of the earth (Revelation 13:8). The Spirit of
Christ who was in them testified beforehand of the
sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow (1
Peter 1:11). They did not consider their bodies of death,
which were dead toward God because of sin, but they did
not waver at the promise through unbelief, but was
strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. They were
fully convinced that God that gives life to the dead was
able to perform His promise and that was accounted to
them as righteousness. As a result of their constant faith
they received the testimony they pleased God. Their faith
elevated them to a level of blamelessness before God and
the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead, whom
indwells them made their mortal bodies alive toward God.
Then God took them.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, as it is

dead toward God because of sin. Flesh and blood cannot
see the kingdom of God. Peter, James and John witnessed
when Jesus was transfigured and Moses and Elijah
appeared to them, talking to Jesus. This all happened in
the realm of Spirit. The three disciples could not witness
the transfiguration experience of Jesus with their natural
senses in their bodies. They saw it with their spiritual
senses in a vision. Now as they came down from the mountain,
Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until
the Son of Man is risen from the dead” (Matthew 17:9,
emphasis added). At the last trumpet the dead in Christ
will be raised incorruptible and the living mortals in Christ
will put on immortality. However, Enoch and Elijah is
living proof that we can live the future today and before
the appointed time attain to the resurrection from the
dead. Faith defies the dimensions of time and space that
you may live with God in the dimension of timeless and
illimitable eternity, which is the realm of Spirit.

Paul refers to an experience he had when he was caught up

into the third heavens. I know a man in Christ who fourteen
years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or whether out
of the body I do not know, God knows – such a one was caught
up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2, emphasis added).
Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God or be
caught up into heaven because of the body of sin. Likewise
corruption does not inherit incorruption (1 Corinthians
15:50). If Paul knew this why did he think that it was
possible for his mortal body to be caught up into the third
heavens? He knew that when he was presenting his body
as alive to God that his faith was the substance of his hope
of immortality and perfection, which was evidence in the
unseen reality of the Spirit, and God was the witness.
Though he has not attained to the resurrection from the
dead or been perfected at the time, in God’s books his faith
procured the substance of immortality and perfection. I
believe this was the basis for his statement.

You also present your mind that is enmity against God a

living sacrifice as if it is alive to God by bringing every
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, in hope
that all disobedience will be punished when your
obedience is fulfilled. You do it by meditating only on
things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good
report, virtues and praiseworthy that you may be renewed
in the spirit of your mind.

When you came to Christ you are born into the family of
God, a little baby in Christ. You need to train that part of
you, your spirit, which is alive to God to become aware of
the indwelling Christ in your life and of the presence of the
Holy Spirit. Awareness has nothing to do with feeling but
it is rather a strengthening of your faith. Feeling has to do
with the realm of the soul where your self and ego dwell
and faith in God belongs to the realm of heaven or the
Spirit. Your spirit is that part of you that is aware of God
and of the realm of Spirit because it dwells with Christ in
the realm of Spirit. Your spirit is like an underdeveloped
muscle in your body that can hardly function and needs
much exercise because your life is dominated by your soul
and the desires of your body.

The objective of spiritual exercises is that you may live by

the faith of your spirit and become aware of God
constantly. Like any new exercises it develops gradually. If
you are faithful and persevere, your relationship with God
can develop into the boundlessness of God that Enoch and
Elijah experienced.
Through faith Enoch and Elijah have not seen death but
received a witness that they were pleasing to God before
they were taken. Their faith demanded that in their world
of reality they were alive to God, spirit, soul and body and
in their world the spirit and natural realms have become
one. Their faith brought substance to a world where
heaven and earth is united in the one world of Christ. In
their world the will of God has being done on earth as it is
in heaven. As far as they were concerned the New
Jerusalem has come down and heaven and earth has
become one. They had so much life in them that God had
to take them.

It starts with spending time in prayer, the word of God and

waiting on the Lord. These are important spiritual
activities that stimulate a hunger and thirst after
righteousness so that we may grow up into the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. As a holy priesthood we should
be filled with the Spirit and the word of God. This starts
out with a focus on the Lord that we may gradually grow
up in Him to know Him according to His power that is
working in us.

If you can have a fresh beginning every day to start your

day right it will take care of your walk with God. To go
over to action, set your alarm for fifteen minutes earlier in
the morning. As soon as you wake up read four of five
verses which you have selected the previous night to
prevent you from paging through your Bible and wasting
time. Visualize the scene of the passage and meditate on it
for a few minutes. Read it again, but this time loud. Then
you pray and open your heart to the Lord. You pray, “Lord
I open my heart to you that you may lead me today. Draw
me and I will run after you.” This will take you the same
time that you spend in the shower. So you have taken a
spiritual shower and were cleansed by the washing of the
water of the Word. Now you will not going to your
working place or school with self-condemnation thinking
that you neglected your walk with God.

You also need to have breakfast. The Word you read is also
a spiritual breakfast. The word that you have read is a
lamp to your feet and a light to your path. He who keeps
instruction is in the way of life.

At least your spirit is awake to God now and God can start
working a hunger after Him in your life. You also need
your lunch. You can put your Bible in with your lunch. It is
just as necessary to sustain your spirit as your body so you
take something with you to work or school to sustain your
spirit. During your lunch hour you can read the same
scriptures that you have read this morning since we tend
to forget easily what we have read. Read through it once.
Visualize the scene of the passage and meditate on it for
about five minutes. Then pray while you open your heart
to the Lord giving Him thanks for the food.

It is better to feed your spirit before feeding your body.

Food makes you slightly heavy and it gives you a sense of
satisfaction that may spoil your spiritual appetite. That is
why one should not have a large meal before going to
church. This is a simple key to start your day walking with
the Lord.

Another key to open your spirit is worshiping the Lord. It

is good to worship the Lord but do not let these things
become a ritual. Worshiping is not only singing and
praising. You can worship by declaring your love to Him
and your dependency on Him. To declare the truth to Him
is also the same as declaring His glory, which is
worshiping Him. If you do not know what to tell Him take
a short Psalm, like Psalm 150, and read it to Him. He
delights in your praises. He knew you often ran out of
words as I often do.

You can worship the Lord throughout the day by just

declaring you love to Him. You can tell Him before solving
a problem or entering into your meeting, “Lord I trust you
because I know you are the fountain of wisdom.” This is
beautiful worship to Him. The Lord inhabits the praises of
His people.

The sincerity or the intensity of your spirit is important to

the Lord. To be intense is not synonymous with noise.
With an intensity of heart and sorrowful spirit Hannah
prayed without making a sound for a male child in so
much that Eli, the high priest, thought that she was drunk.

You may think that you cannot read Bible or pray at work
or at school with everybody around. Well there is always
an opportunity during your lunch period. You can always
start meditating on the word when being in the toilet or
taking a tea break. You can at anytime take five seconds
declaring your love to the Lord. You can also pray in the
Spirit at times without anybody noticing it. You will be
more successful in your profession if you acknowledge the
Lord in all your ways and not lean on your own
understanding. Whatever you do, do not neglect your job
but do it as unto the Lord. That is also worshiping the
Lord.

There was a time in my life when I was not serving the

Lord. I made a comeback about a year later. I could not
start where I left off. I had to take it slowly to condition my
mind, body (I use to pray between 3 and 9 hours a day)
and spirit again.
The same thing applies when you want to drastically
change your walk with God. If you start out to drastically
you may loose interest because the battle in the mind is
fierce. However if you have previously prayed for hours it
will be easier. You only need to use your imagination of
how you have done it before and relive your prayer or
waiting on the Lord life. The more you relive it the easier it
is to start flowing in true prayer and waiting on the Lord
again.

Use your imagination to start with this spiritual isometrics.

The objective of our spiritual exercises is to conform to the
image of the Son of God, to the glory of the Father.

The Son of God was servant of all. When you read the
gospels imagine the scenery where He was moving and
how He was ministering. Observe what He was saying and
how he was ministering faith, hope and compassion in the
spirit of meekness and lowliness to the sick and the
oppressed.

Now imagine that vision again but you are walking with
Jesus this time. Ask the Holy Spirit to anoint your
imagination. Imagine you feel what He feels and you see
what He sees. With Him you tell the guy His sins are
forgiven and with Him you perform the healing or cast out
the demon. With Him you smile and impart love and give
hope and faith to the outcast. With Him you are the
servant of the Father. You minister with Him unto the
needy and let that person feel he is blessed without
drawing attention to you. The anointing will make room
for you before kings but you will remain the servant of the
Lord.
Now imagine you being at home. Always ask the Holy
Spirit to anoint your imagination. Imagine Christ within
you the hope of glory. You start picking up all papers in
the house. You take the broom and sweep the floor. You
can also imagine yourself being at work. You are preparing
the management reports for the board meeting. You doing
it with joy for you are the servant of the Lord. You present
the month-end figures to the board. Let them feel good
because in serving the Lord you have become servant of
all. The next step is to do according to the imagination of
your heart. It is called faith.

You may say this is ridiculous. Well, ask great athletes if

they use their imagination before an event. I use to run a
marathon many times in my imagination, before the actual
event. I could feel how relaxed my arms and shoulders are
and how strong I am reaching the 20 mile mark. The
spiritual is not first but the natural, and afterward the
spiritual. The natural is just a shadow of the things of the
spirit. It is better to utilize your imagination in a
constructive way then to fantasize about Alice in
Wonderland.

Why using the imagination? O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac

and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of
the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart
unto thee (1 Chronicles 29:18, KJV, emphasis added). The
Hebrew word for imagination, yêster, means to fashion or
frame things or form a concept or perception in the
imagination of the heart. Set your mind on the things
above, not on things on the earth.

So the first thing in the morning I will take a modest step

as a self-starter. It is still part of the conditioning process,
which is a seed sown for something much bigger in the
future. I will read just a few verses, then a little
visualization and meditation on the word and then a little
prayer.
You will sense something exciting is happening in your
spirit because you have started out to walk with the Lord.
Probably before the end of the day you will be back
looking for something more from the Lord because you
have done something to activate your spiritual appetite.
Every morning you will start putting something in motion.

It is very important to start with a thought in the

conscience mind that opens the spirit. You start a little
meditation that reaches out to the Lord. Through
repetition meditating on a promise or prophecy becomes
an attitude. Attitudes are situated both in the subconscious
as well as the conscious mind. By constant repetition the
meditation of your heart becomes an attitude. You want to
walk with the Lord manifesting His faith, hope and love.
You want to come to a place where you daily conform
more into His image and likeness. You start reaching out to
know Him more. You will start reacting according to the
imagination of your heart, which is one of faith. You have
the promises of God in the Scripture and you have
prophecy. Meditate on these things and give yourself
entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.
By constant repetition, taking heed to yourself and the
doctrine, you will continue in them. Those thoughts will
become attitudes. By continuing to walk with God you will
save yourself and some that is around you (1 Timothy 4:15-
16).

To allow Christ to live His live through you is ruling and

reigning with Him. With Christ you rule from the realm of
Spirit and make it manifest on earth. Father, Thy kingdom
come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Why should we do this? We are in the army of God, and

like any army, when we are not engaged in actual combat,
we will be training for it. Those who are the best-trained
are those who were will inevitably do the best when action
is called for. Christians, who are praying more, study the
word more, waiting on the Lord more come to know Him
better than the passive. The Captain of our salvation will
promote the faithful but the unfaithful will loose even
what they have.