WAGING WAR (DAILY DEVOTIONALS) DAY 19: STRONG IN SPIRIT One of the reasons why most Christians are not courageous to go forth and scout the lands – the various domains or spheres of influence or areas of work, which God has given us, is because our spirits are weak; we do not have strong spirits. The fear in the affective parts of our being – which the bible refers to as our heart, overwhelms the faith that we have in God’s word of promise in these regards. And this is not how God intends for us to operate: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control” 2 Timothy 1:7 AMP. In fact to be courageous, in a sense, is to have a strong spirit; it is to be strong in spirit! It is to have the spirit of faith that believes God’s word of promise given to us concerning specific situations and circumstances and align our speech to match God’s intent for us as revealed in His promise. “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believed and therefore I spoke, we also believe and therefore speak…” 2 Corinthians 4:13 NKJV. Faith-based courage aligns our speech with the word of God; fear does the very opposite, ties our speech to the facts of our situations and circumstances rather than the truth of God’s word. The truth is, we need more soldiers who are strong in spirit in this fight of faith. This is imperative because weak spirits are contagious. We see this in the bible account recorded in Numbers 13. “But the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. Numbers 13:31-33 NKJV You see, our fight of faith is tied to both what we profess and what we confess (see 1 Titus 6:12). People with weak spirits speak fear; people with strong courageous spirits speak faith! In our Christian walk, it is important to choose our company wisely (see Proverbs 13:20) so as not to be infused with the wrong spirit. To infuse is to fill with, as in this case, the negative emotion of fear. It is also means to introduce something alien to one’s mind. Watch what the people around you are saying; it will tell you what company you are in and by extension, what they can infuse into your spirit. But how does one get to be strong in spirit? How does one get to have a strong spirit? Firstly, we don’t get to be strong in spirit overnight. It is a process; it takes time. “So the child grew and became strong in spirit…” Luke 1:80 NKJV. Luke 2:40 AMP also corroborates this: “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of God was upon Him.” Being strong in spirit is something we have to grow into. Though it is a quality needed for spiritual warfare, it ought to be part of our development. POINT TO PONDER: Faith-based courage aligns our speech with the word of God; fear does the very opposite, ties our speech to the facts of our situations and circumstances rather than the truth of God’s word. People with weak spirits speak fear; people with strong courageous spirits speak faith! SCRIPTURES: 2 Timothy 1:7 AMP: For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. PRAYER POINTS: Oh God, thank You for giving me a spirit of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). As I abide in your word and your words abide in me, I grow stronger and stronger in spirit everyday!
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:17:08 +0000