Session 1 | The Functions of The Human Spirit - Building a Strong Spirit School

Will that be right? And put your hands together and honor Apostle Mike Mike Connell. Thank you. God bless you. I'm great to be back again. Amen. Well, thank you. You're like another home here now. I got to know so many people. But we give Jesus the honor. And just welcome Him. Lord, we just give You all the honor tonight. We open our hearts to You. We celebrate You. You're the best. Come on, let's give Him a great clap and honor Him. Jesus, You're the best. You're the hero in our story. We honor You, Lord. We welcome You, Lord. We're excited to be alight and part of what You're doing. And Lord, we just ask that You would come and just help. You would, there'd be a flow of revelation that would touch our heart where we need to be touched. That we would open ourselves, Lord, to grow in our journey with You, grow internally. We want to grow. We want to become greater capacity, bigger people than we were before. And we just thank You. Thank You, Lord. And we bless Pastor W and Janet and their family and this church that is such an open place in the spirit for the move of God. We just give You all the honor, Lord. And we just commit tonight and tomorrow to You. And ask, Lord, that whatever we need to learn, we'll learn it and really learn it and put it into our life. Jesus, we give You the honor. Amen. Amen. God bless. Please be seated.

Well, so great to be back with you again. Thank you all for coming. I always think it's a great honor when people turn out, and I don't ever take it for granted. And, uh, we should never take it for granted either. And, uh, so, and tomorrow morning, I'll share on Sunday morning. I'll share a little bit about Pakistan. We've been up there and seen so many things happening, and maybe show you some pictures or photos of that. And then have another session that finishes off the weekend. And, uh, I want to, I, I never in my early Christian years, ever heard anyone talk about the spirit man and developing the spirit man. And I was a pastor for many years and never had any understanding of that. We just had the word and you pride and you pray through. So we didn't understand about the healing of the heart. We didn't understand about so much about deliverance. Didn't understand about building till I met a man called Clark Taylor, which I want to honor tonight, who was probably one of the best ministers in the world and could give language to things of the spirit and help impart to people things of the spirit realm. And, uh, he impacted my life tremendously. And we were under his ministry for a little while. And, uh, I learned things because he's able to give language to it. And, uh, so we've, in our own journey, had to discover and learn things that weren't available through his ministry. And so in the last few seminars, I've been able to share with you about deliverance and various aspects of deliverance and various aspects of the kingdom. Last one, we spoke about the heart and the transformation of the heart, one of the most powerful messages and the most important one for this season we're in right now. And so I suggested that we follow it up and, uh, do a, a series just on building a strong spirit. And I have learned how to do that. And so in the two sessions tonight, I want to just talk, and this is just kind of laying a bit of an understanding so we can just kind of get where we're going. Uh, the first session I want to talk about is to talk about the functions of your spirit. And if I ask you, what is your spirit do? What is it there for? Many people can't answer that. So we want to answer the question, how God has put us together to function. And, uh, what are the parts of that? And then specifically, how does our spirit function? And, uh, if you understand how it functions, then we can move to the second session. And we want to talk about, uh, the importance of building a strong spirit. When you understand why your spirit is there and what it's supposed to do, then you understand many things. Now, there's a lot more on this area that I could ever fit in the seminar. So I want to then move to just very practical things, how to do this, what do you do? And if you keep doing it, your spirit will grow in strength and capacity and ability to be able to flow with God. So tomorrow, we'll stick primarily around the practical areas and get you perhaps doing some things. And these are things that I've learned over time and put them into practice in my own life, and they work, and they've helped me. And so no matter, as you'll see later on, one of the great cap, one of the functions of your spirit is to give you capacity to arise when there's trouble and pressure and difficulties and not be crushed. And we need that capacity in these days. Amen.

Okay, then. Oh, well, well, let's just get started then. And, uh, I want to just throw out some, just some thoughts for you to think about. And, uh, so firstly, this session then is on the design and function of the human spirit. The designs and function of the human spirit. And, uh, so we just start with the scripture on our design in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. A familiar scripture. Now, may the God of Peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. There, He opens up in that scripture in His prayer of God sanctifying us or setting us apart or preparing us for the coming of the Lord in our spirit, in our soul, and in our body. So at least in that scripture, there's a clear, uh, description that we are made up at least of three parts. We're a three-part kind of person. Uh, in other places in the Bible, it suggests we're just two-part. We have an outer man and an inner man. And so sometimes it seems confusing. And you notice in that scripture, there doesn't even refer to the heart. So I've seen all these scriptures over the years and and found it difficult to get it clear what it all is and how it all fits together. The last time, I gave you a picture of the Temple of Solomon and showed you then the design of man, the overview. But remember, those are only pictures. They just help give you a bit of an understanding. But actually, it's, it's usually more complex than that. So we're designed to represent God in the earth and advance His kingdom. That's what the function of man on the earth is. So you're designed by God as a representative to advance His kingdom. And so we are created dual in nature. We can exist in the physical realm. Is where you are now. You're sitting in a tent. You exist in the physical realm. But there is a part of you exists in the realm of the spirit as well. So we're living in two realms. Now, you may not be very aware of the other realm, but it is very real. It's an eternal, invisible realm. There are angels in it. There are structured and layers and hierarchy. There are demons in that realm. There's darkness in that realm. There's light in that realm. There are many things in the realm of the spirit. I'd love to be able to spend a session or two on just that. But if we just understand, at least at the simplest level, while you are present physically in this room, you are also present in the realm of the spirit. So we don't have to try and do something to get there. You already exist in that realm because you are a part of you as a spirit being. God has designed the physical world and the spirit world to overlap because He wanted heaven to flow to Earth, and man is to be the channel. So man has to exist in the spirit and in the earth, connect with God, and connect with the earth so it can bring God into the earth. So I want you to understand that. So the physical realm and the spirit realm exist together and overlap one another. So your physical body, everything about your physical body is designed for the physical realm. Your physical senses, if you don't have those, you don't function well in this in the physical realm. Uh, but our spirit is designed to exist in the spirit realm. So your spirit man has spiritual senses as well. We'll come back to that a little later. So you're designed, incredibly, by God, you can live in the physical realm and live in the realm of the spirit as well. And that's quite unique. And, uh, so let's just look then at some aspects of what that looks like. So you can see a physical body, and we all got our own shapes and sizes and looks and appearance and and whatever. Some of us are getting a little older and hair and teeth are disappearing. But however, we have a promise from God that our vile body will be, uh, resurrected and become like His glorious body according to His divine power. So that's a great hope. Meantime, we need to look at other things. So your, your soul there now, you, when you think of your soul, our tendency is to pull it all apart and say spirit, soul, body, and not understand we are an integrated being. That every part affects every other part. And while it's helpful to pull it apart just to have a look at what we're made up like, in fact, everything works together as one. And, uh, so, so for example, your soul. So your body has a shape and form. So I can recognize when Ruth came and drove out there, I recognized Ruth straight away. I recognized her form, her outline. I recognized her facial features. We tend to recognize people by their face. Uh, in, in the, in the Book of Luke, Jesus taught about the spirit realm, and He said in Luke 16, there's a certain rich man, clothed with purple and fine linen, fed sumptuously every day. And a beggar, Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. And the dogs came and licked his sores. And the beggar died. He was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom, a place in the spirit realm. So these places there, the rich man died and was also buried. And he was torment. He was in torment in Hades. So he was another part of the spirit realm. So the spirit realm is very vast. It's quite different to the physical realm and it does not obey the laws of the physical realm. So in this world we live in, the physical realm, there's physical laws, gravity for example. But in the spirit realm, there's no gravity. So there's some things that are not there, where the limit, there's not the limitations in the spirit realm that we experience here. And so notice there, that being in torments and Hades, he lifted his eyes. And I want you to notice the characteristics of the man who's there. Now, his body has been buried on the earth by his relatives. So who is this that they're seeing there? He's being seen as an identifiable person. And, uh, so notice there, he lifted up his eyes and he saw. So he's got eyes. So, so when a person dies, they're in an existence, uh, in the spirit realm where they have eyes. They can see and, uh, recognize things. So he recognized and he cried, said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus. He may dip the tip of his finger in this water. So there's fingers and there's water and there's tongue. See, he said, and call my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame. And, and Abraham said, Remember then your lifetime you received good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. Now he's comforted, and you're tormented. So you notice there that the soul of man has a distinct shape or form. It's like the body. It can be recognized. So you could imagine your body then being like a glove, and you put your hand into the glove, and now the body, the glove, now moves. It's got life. But there's something inside it called your soul. So inside your body, as a part of it, is your soul. And they're like a, a hand and a glove. They go together. So if you were to die, you'd still be recognizable. All your features would be recognizable, just as if, just like you shed the skin. And now here you are. We can see you at last. And so the soul has a distinct shape that can be recognized, distinct form.

So what about the spirit? Well, the spirit gives life to the soul and gives life to the body. We'll look about that. The spirit originates from God, who is a spirit. And, uh, it's helpful to view your spirit. I'm sure it has a form and a shape, but it's not limited. It's probably helpful to view your spirit as like an energy source or a light source that you have a source of power that floods into your soul and floods into your body to keep them all alive and energized. So you can understand then if your, if your spirit, which comes from God, is a source of energy and life, you want to cultivate your spirit and develop your spirit because it affects every other part of you. So whatever happens in your spirit will affect your soul and body. But it's also true, whatever happens in your soul will affect your spirit and body. And whatever happens in your body will affect your soul and spirit. So, for example, if you, uh, have an accident and, uh, you, uh, damage, say, your leg, your soul feels it. It's not just your body feels it, your soul feels it, and your spirit can be deeply impacted by it. So whatever affects your body will affect every other part of you. Everything's integrated. We tend to separate things out and become dualistic, and that's not how we view life. And so, for example, if you're involved in a sexual relationship, hey, it wasn't just your body went there. Your soul and your spirit, they went there. And so your spirit is affected, and your soul is affected. It's not just a physical thing. It's actually engages every part of you. And what affects your body affects your soul, affects your spirit. So every part is affected by the other parts. So, for example, you lose a close friend and you're grieving. That's primarily in your soul, but it affects your body, tears, you get exhausted, you get stressed. It affects your spirit, prayer is hard. So, so we need to see that all parts of us work together, flow together. And, uh, emotions flow through your spirit, your, your soul, and your body. Uh, thoughts flow through your, your spirit, soul, and body. The will is expressed through your spirit, soul, and body. So you can't pull it all apart like we'd like to be able to do to make it simple. We are actually quite complex, and each part affects every other part. So, uh, we're quite wonderfully made.

Now, what about the heart then? Where do the heart fit in all of that? Well, if you just look at a physical heart, your physical heart is the core of it's like at the center of your chest. It's the center of your being. And the, the, the heart pumps blood to every part of your, of your body. So your body, physically, on a physical level, your heart energizes and brings life to every part of your body. So what about the heart of man? The Bible talks about the heart of man. As a man thinks in his heart, so he is. It's not the physical heart. It's not the physical heart. The physical heart not only pumps blood all around, but it also has capacity to think and remember. Your physical heart actually is quite astonishingly made, and they don't really understand all parts of it. When a person has a heart transplant, for example, often the desires and the, and the things that a person who now, at least liked, now become part of the person who's received the heart transplant. Hard to understand, except that the heart must carry do more than just pump blood around. So the heart is the core of your being. And we talk about the heart of a matter, the, the heart of an organization. So, so all pictures that, that we have a, a heart which is a spiritual heart. So, uh, in Proverbs 4:23, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. So the Bible tells us that we have a heart, not a physical heart, but a part of us called the heart. We talked a lot about this when we did the heart transformation ceremony. So I won't go back over that. But the, the heart is, is to be guarded or kept or protected. Why? Because out of your heart, there is a flow of life that affects every relationship that you have. And so the heart is the core of who you are. It's the seat of your identity. Your identity is not in your soul. It's in your heart. It's not in your spirit. It's in your heart. See, it's this, it's the seat of your desires. The things you desire, you desire in your heart. Now, your body has desires, your spirit has desires, but your heart has desires, and that's where the core of your identity is focused. And just as the physical heart affects all of your body, this, the heart of you, your heart, your spiritual heart, affects every part of you, spirit, soul, and body, every part of you. And your phys, your spiritual heart, as you'll see in a moment, your spiritual heart is incredibly important to being able to function and flow in the things of the spirit. See, whatever your heart draws to, the whole of your, you will open your life to. So if your heart turns to evil things, you will open your life to bring evil from the spirit realm into your life. And it won't, it'll stay there, it will express through your life. So wherever you turn your heart, you will open your life to that thing. Isn't that something? So wherever you focus your heart or point your heart, your life will move in that direction. So if your heart is pointed and focused on troubles and difficulties and anxieties, and that's what's constantly going on inside you in your deepest thinking, then troubles, anxieties, and things will be attracted into your life. If your heart is focused on God and the word of God and the peace of God and things of the spirit, they will be attracted into your life. So people often, people wonder, well, how come God has done this with this one and this with this one? And and they think that God somehow must be unfair. And they haven't actually thought that actually people intentionally direct their heart towards God and pursue Him. It opens a doorway in the spirit for things to enter the earth.

Very good. Just, just, I want you, just I want to stay here. We're going to move on to the functions of the spirit. But I just, you need to be able to see the bigger picture of because I used to get, I couldn't work it all out. Cu sometimes when the Bible's talking about one thing, it seemed to be referring to another, and I couldn't work out body, soul, spirit, heart, where they all fit in. Watch what, but now I got it figured. So look at this scripture here, Matthew 6:21 and 22. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Your treasure are the things you value. So whatever you value, place a high value upon, you will invest time and effort into it. Your heart will turn towards it. If it's your hobby, then your heart is in your hobby, and then everything else takes second place. Your money goes there, your time goes there, your everything goes there, and things from that area start to grow in your life. So wherever your heart turns or where you treasure, your heart will go. So, for example, for men, men go to work and they put a lot of time and energy and effort at work. When they come home, they're still at work because their heart has turned to the work. And they're home, but not home. They're only home physically. You got to turn your heart. So you can set your heart, as we saw in the last seminar, you can turn your heart, you can direct your heart in various ways. And notice what it says, the, the lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is good, the whole body is full of light. If the eye is bad, the whole body is full of darkness. If the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness? So whatever you focus your attention and desire, your heart will bring in, and then it'll express in your life. So, so the eye is the focus of your heart. So when it's talking about what the eye, what the lamp of the body is the eye, it's talking really about what your heart, what you see with your eyes, your heart longs after. And the heart and the eye are very connected. So whatever you turn your eyes towards, and you'll see this tomorrow when we look at one of the keys to building the spirit, one of the keys to build your spirit man is your eyes. Where you set your eyes, and setting your heart and your eyes in one direction can open things in the spirit to come into your life. And, uh, so Jesus connected then the singleness of the eye and the Heart together. What if you, if you focus your heart towards something, it will open your life to that thing, depending on what you make your focus. Think about that. And it doesn't just enter you, it leaves you and fills your, your world. So, for example, Jesus said in Matthew 5:28, I say to you, whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Now, just you know the scripture, let me just pull it apart. What He's saying is something spiritual entered the person's heart and conceived in there and will produce sin in their life. How did it happen? It was because they linked their eye to the desire of their heart. So when you set your eyes on something and desire and long after it, you open up the spirit realm for that to enter you. That's why pornography is such a problem. People look at it, they set their eyes towards it, they lust after what's there and set their heart towards it, and demonic spirits now enter their life. Sin is conceived in their heart, and it now overflows and pollutes their relationships. So where you direct your eyes or your heart will open a door in the spirit realm that will now bring things into the earth in your life. So you'll see when we come to building our spirit man, dealing with our eyes and our heart are an important part of building a life that engages God. Get the idea? Okay. I hope that.

So now, here's another thought. Couple of thoughts before I get on the functions of the spirit. And, uh, your spirit, as I say, it's, it belongs to the spirit realm. So it's not bounded by the laws of the physical world. So here's something to recognize. Your spirit can flow beyond your body and impact people. Your spirit flows. It's like an energy. It's like a river. It can flow and fill an atmosphere. And, uh, it's, uh, give you a couple of things. How many of you, if you've ever tried doing this, actually, you might like to try it just to see it happening. It's quite fun to watch it. Really. Memo said, eyes, heart, flow. Okay. So have you ever sat in a restaurant, McDonald's, and you're behind someone, and you just stare at the back of their neck? After a short time, the person will look around, and they don't know why they're looking around. They have no idea why they're looking around. And at that point, you don't want to stop staring at them because I wonder what you're doing. But you're staring. Somehow they have sensed something impacting them. What did they sense? Where you focused your attention, your spirit began to flow. They began to feel inside them uncomfortable and look around. I've done it a few times. That's just quite hilarious just to watch it. I remember being in another place, so another place, and I was in a pastor's gathering in a room. And a man who would have been one of the leading, uh, apostolic ministries in the world, walked in the room. The moment he walked in the room, I felt his presence. The atmosphere shifted. You can't see an atmosphere, but you can feel it. And it shifted immediately. You could feel straight away a sense of awe. I turned around, there he is, right behind me. Now, how did I sense that? It's my spirit. So how did my spirit sense it? Because something has filled the atmosphere of the room. How about that? So your spirit then can sense atmosphere, sense things in the spiritual realm that come from people and from demons. Have we walk into a house if people have had a row and then they try to be nice, somehow, you know that's not real. There's a ring going on. I can feel it. Now, you not hear a word, you didn't see a thing, and they're all being nice, yet you know there's a mess in here. Something's going on. What's going on here? And they say, well, how did you know? You know, they, you didn't hear anything or see anything. What did you do? You picked it up in the spirit because the focus of their emotions and their words, whatever had altered the spiritual atmosphere, and your spirit could feel that atmosphere and know something's up here. Yeah, that's right. See, so our spirit flows out. That's how it is.

So, so, so there's a difference between the spirit of a believer and an unbeliever. Unbelievers have a spirit which energizes it, fills the same functions in the body. But the spirit of a believer has become alive because now the Holy Spirit is in us. So the big difference now is in 1 Corinthians 16:6:17. The spirit of a believer, when you get born again, the Holy Spirit joins to you. Now you become one spirit. Now you really are a different person. So if we could look at people, and we could just have put on, we put on the glasses, here we go, now we see things, spirit things, now we could look and discern who's a believer, who isn't. Because so people who are believers have got the Holy Spirit joined to their spirit. There is now a massive source of energy, life. If you, if you've come to Christ, your spirit is alive because the Holy Ghost has come into you. Now you're not like just another person. You have access to life, spirit life, that can flow out and bring real refreshing and blessing to everyone else. But you got to cultivate that relationship and cultivate your spirit. So that's, that's the big difference between the spirit of a believer and an unbeliever. Now your spirit, because your spirit is joined to the Holy Spirit, it lives in the spirit realm and is able to access the throne room of God anytime. Now, because you're not conscious of it with your mind, doesn't mean you can't access. Tomorrow, I'll just show you how to do that. And then you become conscious of God, conscious of His presence, and then other things begin to fade away. Because you're made to live in both realms. It's just we haven't got used to training ourselves to do it properly. Okay, when you see the practical keys, it's not hard. Nothing in the spirit's really hard. So the life of the spirit can flow out from you. Jesus said, whoever believes in me, as the scripture said, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of Living Water. And He was speaking about the Holy Spirit. So your spirit is like an energy source that it gives life to your body, life to your soul. And once you're joined to the Holy Spirit, your spirit can flow and bring blessing and life to other people. It can literally flow out of you. So we're not trying to bring God down from heaven. We're actually able to release life from within us. That's why your inner life is important, that you keep it clean and not defiled, so life can flow out to minister to people, that the Holy Spirit can reveal He is in you by touching people supernaturally. Yep. Very good. I see you thinking about it all. Okay, let's, we'll just try and finish. I just go through now what the key functions of the human spirit are. Let's just look at some of the key functions of it. And function means some a reason for it's been designed. So here's the first one. The first thing about your human spirit, it's designed to keep your body alive because the body without the spirit is dead. So James 2:26, the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. But the, the first function of your spirit is to energize your body and keep it alive. So as soon as your spirit leaves your body, your body is dead. That tells you then your spirit's really important. Cuz if it leaves, you're done. They look, nobody home, he's gone, he's left, you understand. So the spirit, your spirit actually has a vital role in energizing and keeping your body alive. And the moment your spirit is withdrawn by God, you're done. You just drop to the ground. You're, it's over. Can't do in there. You've gone. You've, house is empty.

And second thing then is your, your spirit. It's one of its functions is to keep your body healthy. It's one of the functions of your spirit is to keep your body healthy and energized. And so here's a couple of scriptures. Uh, Proverbs 18:14, the spirit of a man will sustain him in his sickness. So even if a person gets sick, the spirit of a man will strengthen him, uphold him, he'll recover. Uh, what about this in Proverbs 17:22? A merry heart does good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. So now dry bones are a big problem, mean no life. Now notice what causes that. It says a broken spirit. So your spirit can be damaged by things you experience in life. You, if your spirit has been broken, you're, you walk around usually as a defeated person, and you become vulnerable to being sick all the time. Your spirit is damaged. So if our spirit's damaged, there are some things that damage it. We need to learn how to be healed in our spirit from those things. Okay. Another thing, number three. Your spirit, one of the functions, important function of your spirit is to engage in worship and an intimate connection with God, to engage God, to engage in worship. The Bible says God is a spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Uh, John 4:23 and 24. So because God is a spirit, our connection with Him is spirit to spirit. So therefore, in worshiping Him, in engaging Him, your spirit must be involved. If your spirit isn't involved, he's just having a great time singing songs and clapping. He could, you could be down at a party, you know, with the song. See, you're not engaging God. Engaging God has to do with my spirit becoming alive and connected and aware and conscious of Him. And we'll talk about that tomorrow, how, how to actually engage in that way. Because a lot of people come and do worship services, but but they don't, they sing, but don't engage. You can tell. You walk into a church, you can see people engaged there, oblivious of everyone else because they, they're with someone else. They got, they're in an appointment. But everyone else is, you can tell they're not engaged. So, so your spirit is the part of you that engages God. That's right. Now, of course, every part of us is to engage Him. We are to love Him with all our heart and all our soul and all our strength and all our mind. So actually, the spirit is what enables you to connect, but you need every part of you for that to work. Body, soul, spirit. You get all parts involved, then you engage. It's quite simple.

Okay, then, here's the, here's the number four. Number four purpose of the, of your spirit is to receive revelation and guidance. So God wants to reveal things to you, tell you stuff you didn't know, and He wants to guide you, help you make decisions. And so how does that happen? It happens spirit to spirit. Romans 8:14, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. So to be led by the Spirit means the Holy Spirit, which is connected to your spirit, gives directions. You, you can actually pick up. So you need to be able to tune into your spirit and know, recognize when you're receiving from God. Uh, here's another one, Romans 8:16, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, we are the children of God. So the Holy Spirit actually reveals to you that you're a child of God. And if you don't have that revelation in your heart, you'll always wonder whether God loves you next to you or not. It's foundational. I'm a child of God. I love God as my Father, my Provider, my Protector. That comes by revelation. See, revelation, revelation means you didn't figure it out in your head. Suddenly, you just knew it. How did you know it? I don't know. How did you know that? How do you know you're saved? Well, I know. How can you know? Well, the Holy Spirit has put a revelation and spoken into my spirit, and at the deep core of my being, I am at peace and rest and know I belong to God. And that revelation. So God has got many layers and levels of revelation. They all come spirit to spirit. You got to get your spirit activated. In 1 Corinthians 2:12, we've not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, that we may know the things that have been freely given to us. So God has got lots of things He wants to freely give you. How do you know what those things are? Well, you have to have it revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. Okay, we'll get into it tomorrow and show you the how. So I'm just trying to get you to see the importance of it, trying to actually understand why I need to develop my spirit. Because there's so much at stake on it. An undeveloped spirit doesn't hear God very well, and therefore you're left like an orphan wandering around trying to find your way in life. It's pretty tough, very lonely.

Also, here's another thing about your spirit. Your spirit, uh, one of its functions is to provide inspiration and ideas. Inspiration and ideas. Look at this, uh, Proverbs 20:27, the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching the innermost depths of his heart. There is a spirit and man, Job 32:8, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. Psalm 77:6, I call to remembrance my song in the night. I meditate within my heart, and my spirit makes diligent search. Now, what I've discovered is this, is that your spirit can be the source of inspiration. I'll just give you something simple you can all relate to. How many of you had a problem you couldn't solve, and someone said, why don't just go to bed and sleep on it? Now, what happened when you slept on it? Was you stopped worrying about it in your head and your emotions, and you gave your spirit room to figure out a solution. And then you wake up, oh, I know what to do. Where did it come from? It's, it's the role of your spirit to shine light and give ideas. And that's why you learn in prayer to be actually tuned into ideas that come. So when I get into worship, I have my phone with me to write down because ideas come because my spirit's active. Revelation comes, ideas and thoughts come. So I write them down quickly because they get lost. Just that quick. I, whether it's because of getting, we're getting a bit older, we just lose things really quick. If I don't write it down straight, it's gone. It's done. Oh, tell me again, one more time. I, I forgot. Not much happens when that happens. I just, just write it down. Okay.

And so here's, here's another function of your spirit. Your spirit, one of the designs of your spirit is to help you connect and engage and know people. Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:16, seen from now on, we know no one after the flesh. In other words, you don't relate to people on the basis of what they look like, what the color is, their gender is, whether they're this or that or gray or straight or whatever. We relate to people from the spirit. In other words, and women are quite good at this, you know that a guy comes and he says, honey, I got this great guy's come to me, he's got this great business idea, and here's the business idea, and we should go ahead and invest in it. And what do you think she says? I, no, we shouldn't do it. Why? He always asks why. I don't like the man. And the guy is thinking, well, you know, we've done all the things, we worked out all the details, whatever. And then you come up with, I don't like them. Now, she's operating from her spirit by intuition, and she's picked up something that the reasoning didn't pick up, that there's evil and a wrong motive in this person. So whatever was presented may have appealed to the mind, but the spirit made the person aware something is wrong. So one of the functions of your spirit is to know people. See, it's to recognize people of like heart and also to recognize people who have got agendas. So you need to listen to that first impression. If your heart is free of judging people and being judgmental, then your first impression is probably the right thing. So, for example, I went and met, connecting quite strongly with Apostle Mardo and, uh, have gained great access to him as a person. And it all happened with just one hug. I came, was introduced to him, I gave him a big hug and held him like this. And the moment I did that, he knew in his spirit what kind of person I was, and I knew what he was, and we got on just straight away like that, didn't you have to, you know, kind of play footsies and things, you know, we just straight away, you know, there's something here. So I've got people that I know by the spirit, they are my friends, they are authentic friends, they are people I can trust my life to. And that we know them after the spirit. And then there's others, well, they're different league altogether, you know. So, so we are to know people by the spirit, not by what they look like or all the fancy words they say, but by the spirit. And sometimes someone you'll be listening to will just give you away. They'll say two or three words, and immediately you know that person, that's a not a good person. I don't want to be with that person. And I, I've picked people up like that. I've been, I remember going to a, a pastor's conference, and there's this famous P minister came from America, and everyone thought he's wonderful. I didn't really want to go. And I thought, I better go, everyone's gone, I guess I better go too. Was younger days then. I don't do it this time that way now. And I went. And so he stood up and he did his whatever. And right in the middle of it, there was just a little flash of something he said and did, and I saw in his eyes, you're an angry man, who's a controller. Just like that. I don't want anything to do with him. And it didn't really matter what anyone else said about how great he was. I know that man, you understand. When you, when you flow in the spirit, you can know people. You really can know that you can know people in a good sense, that this is someone who I can care, connect with, and build a relationship. Or you can know people and watch that one. So that's one of the functions of your spirit is to discern and to show things that are not right. And so to help you be warned in relationships. Yea. I went quiet on that one. How many of you know you got warned one time and you didn't listen? It was a mess. Here, some many times. Yeah. Just, just one time. Many times. And that's why when it comes to romantic relationships, you want the witness of those you trust about whether this is a good relationship or not. Because your heart is too confused. You just hear, you hear what you want, not you don't necessarily hear God. You just hear what you want. I want, I want, I want. I can't see anything. I'm blind. Love is really blind, you know. So you look to what parents have to say, and what pastors have to say, or what people around see in the relationship. You need the discernment of the body, or the witness of the body. This is a good thing, or stay away. That's toxic. Okay.

So I'll just quickly finish there. So, so, so the, the purpose of your spirit is to empower you to pray and intercede. In 1 Corinthians 14:14, if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays. So your spirit can pray. So you can pray with your thoughts, and that's great. But you can pray with your spirit. So one of the functions of your spirit is to energize effective prayer and intercession. We'll get on to that tomorrow. That's an important thing. See, very important role. Here's another one is, uh, your, the function of your spirit is to discern the spirit realm. And so Elijah, 2 Corinthians 6:16-17, Elijah prayed and said, Lord, open his eyes, he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man. Now, did he have his eyes open? Was he walking around with his eyes closed? No, he wasn't. He had his eyes open, but he could only could see the physical realm. And God gave him an opening to see with his natural eyes, and he saw the physical and the spiritual in one together, and he saw the angelic realm. Now, they were always there. He just didn't see them. So the angels are always there. We just don't see them. God is always there. We just don't always see and feel them. We feel other things. So you got to learn how to intentionally direct your eyes and your heart so you can actually experience and counter and be aware of God. That's what we'll get into tomorrow in terms of the practical aspects of all this. We're just trying to give you the foundations. Okay. And then the last couple of things is to, to minister the life and power of God to others. So the spirit is given so you can minister to people. So out of your spirit, you minister, and the Holy Spirit empowers your spirit so you can bring the life of God to others. John 7:38, uh, whoever believes in me, as the scripture said, out of his heart, or in the man, will flow rivers of Living Water, speaking of the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive. Holy Spirit hadn't yet been given. And in Luke 8:46, Jesus said, somebody touched me, I perceive power going out from me. How about that? So power flows out from you in a way that you can feel it. You can literally at times feel power flowing. Now, most Christians don't even think that God would use them that way because they actually haven't kind of come to realize I'm meant to represent God. I'm meant to be a channel of God's life and power. The gifts are available to me, but I need to build my spirit and inner life so I can be available as a channel for Him to work through. Okay. So, of course, the, the trouble with that is your mind and soul can resist the flow of the spirit. Your body can resist the flow of the spirit. But when your mind and heart and body are all focused on the Lord, you become an open channel.

Okay. And then the, the last one, I'll just pop it down here, is another purpose of your spirit is to bless your spouse in sexual intimacy. Bless your spouse in sexual intimacy. Sexual intimacy involves more than just your body. It's your soul and your spirit. And God's purpose is that in sexual intimacy, it would not just be physical, but that your heart, your soul would bond with another person. Your, uh, spirit would flow to them and bless them through the sexual act. And you don't hear that that talked about, and people haven't got a clue and don't realize that actually in the act of sexual intimacy, God's intention is for your spirit to touch and bless the person. And since you're carrying the anointing of the Holy Spirit, that the intimacy they feel would be quite deep and satisfying. Our true heart connection and oneness, two shall become one flesh. So that can only happen if you're not defiled in your soul by pre-pre-sexual relationships or have things going on in your heart and mind that stop you giving yourself to your spouse. Amen.

So functions of the spirit, important functions of the spirit, there you've got an idea what they are. So it's important then we give attention to developing our spirit man. Amen. God bless. It's