Recently the Holy Spirit
dropped that question in my spirit. When you open the spigot of your inner
resources, what's on tap? Do you automatically draw from your soul--your mind
and your emotions--or do you draw from a deeper strength, that which is in your
spirit?
If it's your own
soul that's on tap, then you only have the strength of self at your disposal,
at best. At worst, you have all the weakness of self that pours into the
situation.
On the other
hand, if it's your spirit that's on tap, whenever you reach for inner
resources, you will tap into the character and mind of Christ, the power of the
Holy Spirit and the nature and heart of the Father.
However, simply
being born again does not automatically ensure that when you draw on your inner
resources, you will draw from your spirit. Many Christians never learn to
bypass their soul and go directly to their spirit. That is something that is
learned through the use of your will.
Envision your will as the valve, its your will that determines where the water
comes from--perhaps not unlike the valve in a faucet. The valve determines
whether the water comes from the main supply or from the hot water supply. In
this case, the valve (your will) determines that it will bypass the usual input
coming from your own intellect or emotions and open the flow from your spirit
instead. Since your will is, in effect, a muscle, it strengthens or weakens
with use or lack of use. In other words, the more you choose to bypass your
soulish input, the easier it will get to receive input from your spirit.
So, when faced
with a need for inner resources to meet the demands of your life, what's on tap?
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