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FUNCTION OF OUR SPIRIT AND HOW DO WE WORSHIP GOD IN THE SPIRIT

INTRODUCTION

Within man’s spirit there are three functions: Conscience, Fellowship and Intuition. CONSCIENCE enables man to know what God justifies and what He condemns (Romans 9:1…I am speaking the truth; I belong to Christ and I do not lie. My conscience, ruled by the Holy Spirit, also assures me that I am not lying); FELLOWSHIP, that man may contact God, worship God commune with God (John 4:24…God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.; Eph. 6:18a…Do all this in prayer, asking for God’s help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads.; Romans 1:9…God is my witness that what I say is true—the God whom I serve with all my heart by preaching the Good News about his Son. God knows that I remember you.); and INTUITION, gives man a direct sense of God and a direct knowledge from God (Mark 2:8…At once Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, “Why do you think such things?; 1 Cor. 2:11… It is only our own spirit within us that knows all about us; in the same way, only God’s Spirit knows all about God).

1. CONSCIENCE

The conscience is probably the most familiar to us. It’s the part of our spirit that gives us the sense of right and wrong. It also condemns certain things and justifies other things. Before man fell, the function of the conscience was not yet activated. Man only needed to enjoy fellowship with God. But due to his sin in eating the fruit from tree of the knowledge of good and evil, man’s conscience was activated to know right and wrong. Feeling condemned for his disobedience to God’s command, man covered himself and hid from the presence of the Lord. Genesis 3:7 says, “As soon as they had eaten it, they were given understanding and realized that they were naked; so, they sewed fig leaves together and covered themselves.” By comparing Romans 8:16 with Romans 9:1 we can see that the conscience is part of our spirit. In Romans 8:16 Paul said, “God’s Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God’s children.” Then in Romans 9:1 he said, “I am speaking the truth; I belong to Christ and I do not lie. My conscience, ruled by the Holy Spirit, also assures me that I am not lying.”  Now let’s apply the function of the conscience to our own experience. When our heart has been opened to the Lord by loving Him, we will also become keen in our conscience. We may sense that we are wrong in certain things–sins, failures, wrong attitudes toward others, and so on. In this way our conscience functions to bother us. When this happens, we need to confess those things, such that our conscience becomes peaceful and able to enjoy fellowship with the Lord.

2. FELLOWSHIP

Fellowship refers to our communion with God, our contact with Him in our spirit which is our true worship to Him. But, due to the fall, man’s spirit became deadened, losing its function to fellowship with God. “In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins.” (Eph. 2:1) Thankfully, through God’s salvation in Christ, the way has again been opened for us to come to God to fellowship with Him. “We have, then, my friends, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus. He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain—that is, through his own body. We have a great priest in charge of the house of God. So, let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water.” (Heb. 10:19-22) “God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.” Since worship is to fellowship with God and such worship must be in our spirit, we can see from this verse that fellowship is a function of our spirit. (John 4:24) “Do all this in prayer, asking for God’s help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads.”  Since genuine prayer is also to fellowship with God and such prayer must be in our spirit, this also confirms that fellowship is a function of our spirit. (Eph. 6:18a) However, to enjoy this genuine fellowship with the Lord, first we need to deal with any condemnation on our conscience by confessing the sins and obstacles between us and God and receiving the cleansing of the Lord’s precious blood. “But if we live in the light—just as he is in the light—then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.” (1 John 1:7-9)

3. INTUITION

Intuition refers to our direct sense of God or knowledge from Him. This direct sense in our spirit is beyond the mere reasoning of our mind. It is the sense, or consciousness of the divine life in our spirit. Mark 2:8 and 1 Corinthians 2:11 confirm that intuition is a function of our spirit. Mark 2:8 points to this function of intuition by saying, “At once Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, ‘Why do you think such things’?” 1 Corinthians 2:11  confirms this by saying, “It is only our own spirit within us that knows all about us; in the same way, only God’s Spirit knows all about God.” So, when we’re enjoying fellowship with God by means of the cleansing blood, we can realize the function of the third part of our spirit—intuition.

4. WORSHIP GOD IN THE SPIRIT

Calling on the Lord, praying short prayers with our spirit, pray-reading the word, and confessing our sins is an excellent start to a life in union with Christ. In such a way, we will enjoy His presence much more. 1 Cor. 12:3 says, “I want you to know that no one who is led by God’s Spirit can say “A curse on Jesus!” and no one can confess “Jesus is Lord,” without being guided by the Holy Spirit.”

1. Call on the Lord and speak to Him from deep within- By calling on the Lord’s name we exercise our deepest part—our spirit to contact the Lord Himself. Calling brings us to the dining table of our spirit—the place where we can feed on the One who is the Bread of Life.  John 6:48 says, “I am the bread of life”; and 2 Tim. 4:22 says “The Lord be with your spirit. God’s grace be with you all.”  We must pray with our spirit if we’re going to contact the Lord who is of the same substance. Eph. 6:17-18 says, “And accept salvation as a helmet, and the word of God as the sword which the Spirit gives you. Do all this in prayer, asking for God’s help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads. For this reason, keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God’s people.” John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”
2. Read a few Bible verses- Two or three verses—sometimes even a part of a verse—may be more than adequate for one spiritual meal. For example, certain golden verses like John 3:16 might provide spiritual food for more than one meal. This verse says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.”
3. With our eyes still on the word, take a short phrase, and repeat it back to the Lord: For example, using John 3:16, we might say, “For God so loved the world…O God, You really love this sinful world!”
4. Try saying “Amen!” to the Word of God- Amen is our agreement with God’s sure words. It means firm, steadfast, and trustworthy. It’s also a name for Christ (Rev. 3:14….“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: “This is the message from the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the origin of all that God has created.”). He Himself is “the Amen,” the fulfilment of all the promises of God to us (2 Cor. 1:20… for it is he who is the “Yes” to all of God’s promises. This is why through Jesus Christ our “Amen” is said to the glory of God. So, it’s another way to touch Him in His Word.
5. We may want to read certain words with emphasis- For example, we might be inspired to say, “SO loved…Oh Lord, You SO loved the world! How much You loved the world!”
6. We may be touched to personalize our pray-reading- Continuing the example, we might say, “Oh God, since You loved the world, that means You loved ME! Oh Your love reaches even ME!”
7. We might be touched to confess our sins to the Lord- Being convicted by the Word, we might confess, “Lord, You loved me so much, but I confess, I don’t really love You; I love other things more than You. Forgive me Lord.”
8. We might be inspired to thank the Lord for whatever He touches us with- We might say, “Thank you God. Though I didn’t love You, You loved me so much that You gave Your only Son to die for me.”
9. We might also want to declare something to the Lord- Then we might read, “That everyone who believes into Him. Lord, I’m included in “everyone.” Lord, I believe into You!”
10. We might spontaneously feel led to petition or intercede for someone the Lord has placed on our heart- The word we are reading may touch us concerning the need of someone we know. We might say, “Lord, my friend Samir Stephan has not yet believed into You. Cause him to believe into You so that he too may have Your eternal life.”
11. We might sing the Word with our own tune or one we can remember- Colossians 3:16 says, “Christ’s message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts.”
12. We might want to praise the Lord according to what we’ve seen in the verses- We might continue by praying, “Might have eternal life! Oh Father, praise You for Your eternal life. Praise You that You give this life to everyone who believes into Your Son, Jesus Christ. Father, I believe in Him. Praise You I have eternal life!”

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