Transcription
The greatest tragedy in the life of many believers is not that God has withheld his power. The tragedy is that his power has been placed within them. Yet they continue to live as though it were far away.
Many are waiting for God to do something he already accomplished in Christ. Many are asking heaven for authority while heaven is waiting for them to exercise the authority already given. Many are seeking victory while carrying victory within their recreated spirit. The problem is not a lack of provision. The problem is a lack of spiritual dominion.
Before Adam fell, there was perfect order. His spirit ruled his entire being. His mind functioned under the leadership of his spirit. His body obeyed the direction of his spirit. The senses were never intended to sit on the throne. They were created to serve. They were designed to contact the physical world. They were never designed to determine reality. Adam did not live from the outside inward. He lived from the inside outward. His spirit was united with God. His spirit received life from God. His spirit interpreted reality through fellowship with God. Everything flowed from that divine union. There was no confusion. There was no conflict. There was no struggle for dominance. The spirit ruled. The senses served. That was God's original design.
Then sin entered the human race. Everything changed. The moment Adam fell, spiritual death entered his being. The connection between God and man was broken. The spirit lost its place of dominion. The senses seized the throne. Man began living according to what he could see, what he could hear, what he could touch, what he could taste, and what he could feel. From that moment forward, humanity became sense governed. The visible world became the highest authority. The report of the senses became the final word. The unseen realities of God faded from human understanding. Fear entered, doubt entered, weakness entered, bondage entered. Man became a prisoner of outward circumstances and generation after generation has lived under that same condition.
People believe only what the senses confirm. People trust what they can measure. People trust what they can observe. People trust what they can calculate. And anything beyond the senses is often treated as uncertain. Yet the greatest realities in existence cannot be discovered through the senses. The love of God cannot be measured by a machine. The life of God cannot be seen through natural eyesight. Faith cannot be weighed. Righteousness cannot be photographed. The kingdom of God cannot be examined under a microscope. Spiritual realities exist above the realm of the senses. That is why fallen man struggles to understand them. The senses were never designed to lead man into spiritual truth. Only the spirit can do that.
Now comes the glorious message of redemption. Jesus did not merely come to forgive sins. He came to restore man. He came to restore what Adam lost. He came to restore fellowship with God. He came to restore spiritual life. He came to restore the dominion of the human spirit.
When you were born again, something miraculous happened. Your spirit was recreated. The life of God entered your inner being. The nature of God was imparted to your spirit. You became a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old passed away. The new came into existence. You did not merely receive a new religion. You received a new nature. You did not merely receive new beliefs. You received new life. You became united with Christ. The spirit of God came to dwell within you. The greatest miracle was not around you. The greatest miracle happened within you. The recreated spirit became the dwelling place of God.
Think about that truth. The creator of the universe chose your spirit as his home. The one who spoke galaxies into existence now lives within the believer. The one who holds creation together by his power now lives within the believer. The one who defeated death now lives within the believer. What tremendous possibilities exist with than the recreated spirit? Yet many believers never discover them. They possess spiritual wealth but live as spiritual beggars. They possess authority but live in defeat. They possess dominion but live under bondage.
Why? Because redemption restored the spirit legally, but development must happen practically. A baby may possess life yet life must grow. A child may possess potential. Yet potential must be developed. Likewise, the recreated spirit possesses God's life. But that spirit must be trained. It must be strengthened. It must be developed. Many believers have strong bodies. Many believers have educated minds. Many believers have developed emotions. But their spirit remains weak because it has received little attention. The inner man cannot become strong through neglect. The spirit grows through fellowship with God. The spirit grows through meditation in the word. The spirit grows through obedience. The spirit grows through confession of truth. The spirit grows through spiritual exercise. Just as physical muscles become stronger through use, the spirit becomes stronger through spiritual activity.
This brings us to one of the greatest battles in the Christian life. The battle between sense knowledge and revelation knowledge. Sense knowledge comes through the five senses. It gathers information from the natural world. It has value. It serves a purpose, but it is limited. The senses can only report what exists in the natural realm. The senses cannot reveal God's promises. The senses cannot reveal spiritual realities. The senses cannot reveal your identity in Christ. The senses cannot reveal redemption. The senses cannot reveal righteousness. Only revelation knowledge can do that.
Revelation knowledge comes from God through his word. It comes through spiritual illumination. It comes through divine truth. It comes through the Holy Spirit opening the eyes of the heart. Revelation knowledge stands above sense knowledge. Not because the senses are evil, but because God is greater than the senses. The senses report facts. The word reveals truth. Facts may change. Truth never changes. Facts may shift tomorrow. Truth remains eternal. A medical report may contain facts. A financial statement may contain facts. Circumstances may contain facts. But God's word contains truth and truth has authority over facts.
This is why the renewed mind is essential. Romans tells us not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Transformation does not begin outwardly. Transformation begins inwardly. The mind must learn to think in agreement with God's word. The mind must stop taking its orders from the senses. The mind must become aligned with the recreated spirit. The mind must learn to recognize the authority of revelation knowledge.
Every day the believer has a choice. Will the senses be the highest authority? Or will God's word be the highest authority? That choice determines spiritual growth. That choice determines spiritual strength. That choice determines whether the spirit will dominate or whether the senses will dominate.
Imagine two voices speaking at the same time. One voice comes from the circumstances, the other comes from God's word. One says defeat, the other says victory, one says weakness, the other says strength, one says fear, the other says faith, one says impossibility, the other says all things are possible with God. The voice you honor becomes the voice that influences your life. This is why feeding on the word is not optional. It is necessary. The spirit feeds on truth. The spirit grows through revelation. The spirit develops through meditation. When the word becomes more real than circumstances, faith begins to rise when the promises become more real than feelings. Confidence begins to rise when God's report becomes greater than the report of the senses. The spirit begins to take its rightful place.
A powerful question must be asked. What has more authority in your life? What you see or what God has spoken, what you feel or what God has promised. What circumstances declare or what redemption has provided? The answer reveals who occupies the throne.
God never intended the senses to rule. He never intended circumstances to dominate his children. He never intended fear to govern the believer. He intended the recreated spirit to lead. He intended revelation knowledge to guide. He intended his word to govern every area of life. The believer who discovers this truth begins to walk differently. He stops measuring reality by circumstances alone. He begins measuring reality through God's word. He stops allowing fear to interpret life. He allows faith to interpret life. He stops living from the outside inward. He begins living from the inside outward. And when the transition begins, the entire Christian life changes. Because the spirit is slowly returning to its place of dominion. The spirit is beginning to rule again. The senses are beginning to lose their authority. The believer is beginning to discover the life God intended from the beginning.
But understanding this truth is only the beginning. The spirit must be trained. The spirit must be developed. The spirit must become strong enough to dominate every contrary report. The spirit was never intended to remain weak. The spirit was never intended to remain silent. The spirit was never intended to live under the authority of circumstances. God restored spiritual life through the new birth so the believer could walk in dominion once again. Yet dominion is not developed automatically. It must be cultivated. It must be strengthened. It must be exercised. A king may possess authority, but if he never takes his place on the throne, others will govern in his absence. The same is true spiritually. Many believers possess authority in Christ, yet their senses continue ruling because their spirit has never been trained to lead.
The first step toward spiritual dominion is learning to establish revelation knowledge above sense knowledge every day. This requires deliberate action. It requires consistent attention. It requires a decision to place God's word above every conflicting report. The world trains people to trust what they can see. The spirit trains believers to trust what God has spoken. These two systems constantly oppose one another. One depends upon outward evidence. The other depends upon divine truth. One changes with circumstances. The other remains unshaken forever. The believer must decide which system will govern his life.
This is where confession becomes essential. Many people misunderstand confession. They think confession is merely repeating positive statements. They think confession is a religious exercise. But biblical confession is far deeper. Confession is agreeing with God. Confession is declaring what heaven has already established. Confession is bringing the lips into agreement with redemption. When God's word fills the heart and flows through the mouth, something powerful happens. Faith rises. Confidence grows. The spirit becomes strengthened. The inner man begins to dominate the mind and emotions. Words carry tremendous influence. Proverbs teaches that life and death are in the power of the tongue. Everyday people build realities through their words. Some build fear, some build defeat, some build doubt, some build faith, some build victory. The believer who continually speaks God's word is reinforcing revelation knowledge within his spirit. He is strengthening the voice of faith. He is training himself to agree with God's report rather than the report of circumstances. This is why confession must become a daily practice, not as empty repetition, but as heartfelt agreement with divine truth.
The believer must speak what God says about him. He must say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus." He must say, "Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world." He must say, "My God supplies all my need according to his riches in glory." He must say, "I have been delivered from the authority of darkness." He must say, "I am a new creation in Christ." These are not wishes. These are realities established through redemption. The more they are spoken with faith, the deeper they become rooted within the spirit. Soon they move beyond information. They become conviction. And conviction possesses greater strength than emotion. Feelings fluctuate. Convictions endure.
This leads to another crucial principle. The spirit grows stronger whenever it acts upon God's word. Faith is never strengthened through passive agreement alone. Faith grows through action. Every promise requires a response. Every revelation requires obedience. Many believers wait for circumstances to change before they act. But faith acts because God's word is already true. Faith does not wait for visible evidence. Faith moves upon divine evidence. Abraham understood this principle. His circumstances contradicted God's promise. His body contradicted God's promise. Everything visible contradicted God's promise. Yet he chose to honor God's word above what he could see. That is why he became the father of faith. He trusted revelation knowledge above sense knowledge. He treated God's promise as greater than natural evidence.
The same principle operates today. The believer who develops spiritual dominion learns to act upon God's word before circumstances appear favorable. He prays because God's word is true. He believes because God's word is true. He obeys because God's word is true. He stands because God's word is true. Not because circumstances have improved, but because heaven has already spoken. This is where many victories are won. Not in dramatic moments, but in ordinary daily decisions. Every time the believer chooses the word over fear, the spirit grows stronger every time he chooses faith over doubt. The spirit grows stronger every time he chooses obedience over hesitation. The spirit grows stronger. Little by little, the inner man develops authority. Little by little, the senses lose their dominance. Little by little, the believer becomes spiritually immature.
Yet there is another practice that cannot be ignored. Meditation. Modern life is filled with noise. People rush from one activity to another. Their minds are crowded with information. Their attention is constantly divided. Their thoughts are pulled in countless directions. Yet spiritual development requires quiet attention to God's word. Meditation is the process of allowing truth to sink deeply into the spirit. It is more than reading. It is more than studying. It is more than gathering information. Meditation allows revelation to become reality. A verse read quickly may inform the mind. A verse meditated upon nourishes the spirit. The believer must learn to spend time alone with God's word. He must slow down. He must reflect upon truth. He must allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate scripture. As this happens, revelation knowledge grows. Faith grows, confidence grows, spiritual sensitivity grows. The spirit becomes increasingly dominant. A believer whose spirit is fed daily will not remain weak. A believer whose spirit is fed daily will not remain unstable. A believer whose spirit is fed daily develops inward strength that circumstances cannot easily shake. The storms of life may still come but they no longer possess the same authority. The believer begins to stand upon something greater than circumstances. He stands upon revelation.
This brings us to one of the most neglected truths in the church, righteousness consciousness. Many believers are trapped by sin consciousness. They constantly focus on failures. They constantly focus on weaknesses. They constantly focus on shortcomings. They approach God as though they were outsiders hoping for acceptance. They live with an inward sense of unworthiness. This weakens faith. This weakens prayer. This weakens spiritual authority because a person who feels unworthy struggles to stand boldly upon God's promises. The enemy understands this. That is why condemnation remains one of his greatest weapons. Condemnation seeks to silence the believer. Condemnation seeks to weaken confidence. Condemnation seeks to make God's children feel distant from their father.
Yet redemption provides a different reality. The believer has been made righteous, not through personal achievement, not through religious effort, not through human performance, but through union with Christ. Second Corinthians declares that we have been made the righteousness of God. Again, think about that truth. Not trying to become righteous, made righteous, not hoping to earn acceptance, already accepted in Christ, not striving for standing, already given standing. When this truth becomes real within the spirit, everything changes. Prayer becomes bold. Faith becomes stronger. Worship becomes deeper. The believer approaches God with confidence. Not confidence in himself, but confidence in what Christ accomplished. Righteousness consciousness causes the spirit to stand upright. It removes hesitation. It removes fear. It removes the constant burden of self- condemnation. The believer begins to live as one who belongs in the father's presence. Because he does, he begins to stand upon God's promises with confidence. because he has a right to do so through Christ, the more deeply righteousness becomes established in the spirit. The more authority the believer exercises in daily life.
Now all the pieces begin working together. The mind is renewed through the word. The mouth agrees with the word. Actions are based upon the word. Meditation feeds the spirit with the word. righteousness consciousness establishes confidence in the word. Together these practices strengthen the recreated spirit. Together these practices restore spiritual dominion. Together these practices train the believer to live from the inside outward. This is how God's original design begins operating again. The spirit takes its rightful place. The soul comes into harmony. The body comes under proper authority. Life begins flowing from the inside outward rather than from the outside inward. Fear loses influence. Doubt loses influence. Circumstances lose influence not because they disappear but because they no longer occupy the throne. The throne belongs to the spirit united with God's word.
Imagine the transformation that occurs when the believer reaches this place. A negative report arrives. Yet faith remains steady, pressure increases. Yet peace remains steady, opposition appears. Yet confidence remains steady. The world expects fear, but faith responds. The world expects panic, but peace responds. The world expects weakness, but strength responds. Not because the believer is pretending, not because he ignores reality, but because he lives under a higher reality. He lives under revelation knowledge. He lives under the authority of God's word. He lives from the recreated spirit. This is true spiritual maturity. Not religious activity, not emotional excitement, not occasional enthusiasm, but consistent spiritual government. The spirit ruling as God intended. The senses serving as God intended. The believer walking in the order redemption restored.