Your Spirit in the Temple of the Holy Ghost Prov. 20:27  CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

When you get saved, your body becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost.  So, we want to teach about the various aspects of this temple to see what the Holy Spirit is doing in there.  We’ll look at our minds, our eyes, our ears, our flesh, and so forth.  Today we’ll look at our spirit.

Prov 20:27 says, “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly…” – Prov 16:2 says, “the Lord weigheth the spirits” – so if the Lord can “check us out” by our spirits then we can check ourselves out by our spirits, as well – “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?” [1 Cor 2:11]  In other words, much of who you are is a factor of your spirit – understanding the condition of our spirit helps to understand how our spirit affects the work of the Holy Spirit who is in us.

We’ll look at the spirit of man from the time he gets saved and we’ll see some things in his spirit that should develop and some things that he should watch out for.

New Spirit – Rom 7:6 – we should serve God in the newness of spirit – there is a birth of our new spirit by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us [Jn 3:6].  Our spirit is bought and should therefore be for the glory of God [1 Cor 6:19-20].

Renewed Spirit – Eph 4:23 – getting saved is only the beginning of the development of the new spirit within us – our spirit must be renewed by the continual putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new man.

Willing Spirit – Matt 26:41 – as God leads our lives, he is going to put us through things that our flesh isn’t going to want to do – the flesh is always going to be weak and yet the spirit must be willing – if the spirit isn’t willing, then we aren’t going to grow and follow God’s will.

Joyful Spirit – Lk 1:47, 10:21 – this happens when our spirits begin to rejoice in the supernatural things God is doing in our lives – this spirit is what makes a “happy” Christian.

Strong Spirit – Lk 1:80, 2:40 – John and Jesus “waxed strong in spirit” – this indicates that with time, your spirit should get stronger just like the increase of your natural strength – you can’t rush this process [Ecc 7:9 a hasty spirit] – your spirit strengthens in the midst of trials, afflictions, adversity and growing faith.

Healthy Spirit – Prov 18:14 – a saved person should be able to handle his infirmities better than a lost person – we know Jesus, the healer, personally – through prayer and a healthy spirit our recovery from and endurance through an infirmity should be better than lost folks.

Refreshed Spirit – 1 Cor 16:18; 2 Cor 7:13 – fellowship with your saved family and your church family refreshes your spirit – that’s partly why saints who come to church faithfully grow better.

Contrite Spirit – Ps 34:18 – your spirit should remain humble through the work of repentance in your life.

As you grow in your spiritual life, you need to watch out for these things that can adversely affect you.

Defiled Spirit – 2 Cor 7:1 – your spirit becomes filthy [just like the feet of the disciples became filthy] as you pass through this life – you are exposed to defiling influences from within and from without and your spirit must be continually sanctified to remove this filth from your spirit [1 Thes 5:23; Jn 17:17].

Fearful spirit – 2 Tim 1:7 – or a troubled spirit – Gen 41:8 – fear in your spirit needs to be dealt with and removed – we shouldn’t be troubled by unfolding prophecy [2 Thes 2:2] or fearful of personal challenges to our faith.

Wounded Spirit – Prov 18:14 – in your Christian life you are going to get hurt – there’s no way around it – while you cannot prevent wounds to your spirit you can prevent unhealed wounds – it takes time to heal and while you are healing each new bruise hurts and elicits a big reaction – so you need to heal – some people get so hurt that they never heal and their spirit is always wounded – consequently, they live their lives to avoid pain because everything hurts – and often they go from one painful experience to another.

Unclean Spirit – Matt 12:43; Acts 19:16 – this is the work of the devil and just because you are saved doesn’t prevent you from being influenced by unclean spirits – so beware.

There’s one other thing each about men and women.

Fervent Spirit – Acts 18:25; Rom 12:11 – godly men should approach the work of God with zeal and fervency – from time to time we should get stirred up about something [Acts 17:16; 18:5].

Meek and Quiet Spirit – 1 Pet 3:4 – godly women should have a meek and quiet spirit – women do not understand how the lack of either of these annoys and irritates their husbands’ spirit.