Ephesians overview – 3:14-19, Pauls prayer (inner man: the human spirit), part 19.

The human spirit has the nuance of motivator, or the wind and breath that drives you.

The Holy Spirit within us bears witness to our human spirit, revealing to it what it means to be a child of God. Therefore, made new creatures by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, being immersed into Christ, and having the Holy Spirit within us whose purpose it is to minister to us, we are called to be thinking, reasoning, and conducting ourselves as children of God.

God is patient when conforming us to the image of His Son, from immaturity to maturity, and that patience is to His glory and not ours.

Born into this world in Adam, we were born with a spirit of slavery that eventually produced fear in us. Every one of us learns fear and we cope with it in different, sinful ways. Jesus came to change that.

Rom 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom 8:15-18

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us [now in maturity and in eternity].

The spirit of a son no longer fears, even in the midst of suffering, because the glory of his Father, Brother, and Spirit are revealed to Him, and they far exceed expectations.

2Co 4:16-18

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The Bible describes many manifestations of the human spirit.

"poor in spirit" (Mat 5:3)

"spirit of gentleness" (Gal 6:1)

"of bondage" (Rom 8:15)

"of jealousy" (Num 5:14)

"not of timidity, but of power, love and discipline" (2Ti 1:7)

"of stupor [to hardened Israel]" (Rom 11:8).

The fact that man is by far the highest of God’s earthly creations means that he can be the greatest good or the worst evil. Having an inner spirit that can motivate to wickedness or divine good, he can tenaciously pursue either way. His biggest problem is pride issued forth from independence from God.

There are many more of these descriptions of man’s spirit in the scripture, and we will get to them. But before we do, we will look into our own responsibilities concerning our inner human spirit.

Our responsibilities concerning our own inner, human spirit: rule over it with God’s will and fervently keep it refreshed with God’s will.

In many passages we are warned that the flesh hijacks the spirit of a man who gives in to lust which hijacks the soul giving birth to sin. The entire inner man is overwhelmed by the flesh, but thanks be to God that we are forgiven of all sin. We can confess and leave the flesh back in its grave, moving on in the good that God has given to us.

As we all know, the hijacking of the inner man by the flesh can happen in an instant. That is a testimony to how weak and frail we are spiritually. Yet, as we would like to be strong, our only hope is the grace of God. If and when the flesh overcomes our inner man, we discover, confess, and change over the inner man back to our control, and by that I mean the control of God’s word and will. This we do without regret, for the repentance of God is without regret as Paul states in 2Co 7:10. That ability to change our minds and way, and to do so without regret of the past mistake and sin, is the great force of the grace of God. Understood, this does not lead us to want to “sin all the more.” (Rom 6:1-2)

We also know that sin that is not repented and recovered from can lead to patterns of sin where we begin to lose control of our life, meaning a life that is more often than not void of any spirituality. This happens when the cleansed sinner becomes the fool. Yet still, the grace of God is more than powerful to pull us out from under the flesh’s mastery, but that recovery is more difficult and extended. Hence God constantly warns us to treat sin, all sin, like a plague (virus).

We are called upon to "rule over our own spirit" (Pro 16:32; 25:28). We have freedom to choose the options before us.

Pro 16:32

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,

And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.

Pro 25:28

Like a city that is broken into and without walls

Is a man who has no control over his spirit.