At the time of Numbers 14:24 most of the Israelites were quite rebellious toward God, but Caleb was different. He didn’t have another mind, another will, another heart, or another decision. Caleb had another spirit. Then it says that Caleb followed the Lord fully. We have no other way to follow the Lord. If we are going to follow the Lord we have to use the proper organ, our human spirit. Caleb followed the Lord by another spirit, which is different from all the other spirits.
Deuteronomy 2:30 says that God hardened the spirit of Sihon the king. It doesn’t say God hardened his heart, but his spirit. God’s dealing with man is always through the spirit. Even He allows a person to be hardened in his spirit.
In Ezra 1:1, 5, at the time of God’s recovery of His people back to Jerusalem, God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, and stirred up the people in their spirit. This again shows that God’s dealing with us is through the spirit. It doesn’t say that God stirred up the heart of the king of Persia, because the recovery is altogether God’s dealing, and this dealing was absolutely in the spirit. On the one hand, God stirred up the king’s spirit. On the other hand, God stirred up the captives’ spirit. Then something could be worked out for God’s recovery.
Haggai 1:14 refers to the same thing. God stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the spirit of Joshua, the high priest, and the spirit of all the people for the completion of the building. Ezra 1 tells us about the beginning of the recovery, but Haggai tells us about the continuation of the recovery. The beginning and the continuation of the recovery were altogether matters in the spirit.
Then how about today’s recovery? Surely it could never be something outside of our spirit. It must be something absolutely in our spirit. If God is going to recover His church in so many localities, surely you and I must have our spirit stirred up by God.
Jeremiah 51:11 says also that the Lord “stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it” (lit.). This is the vengeance of the Lord, even the vengeance of His house. Babylon destroyed God’s temple. Now God stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes to destroy Babylon. That was a kind of vengeance God rendered upon Babylon, the vengeance of His house. Though we are not the kings of the Medes, God still has to stir up our spirit for the destruction of Babylon and for the vengeance of His house. All of this is in the spirit.
Job 6:4 tells us that to Job’s realization what he suffered was not just something outward, but something inward in his spirit. According to our spiritual experiences, Job 6:4 is rather deep. Job says, “For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit.” It shows that although all the sufferings which happened to Job were outward, he realized that God was dealing with him, not just outwardly, but inwardly. God’s dealing with him was not just something outward in his surroundings, but something inward, deep in his spirit.
Job 10:12 says, “Thou hast granted me life and favour.” That means God has granted me to live and to enjoy so many good things. In addition, “Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit” (v. 12). Have you ever realized God’s visitation? In Job 15:13 it says that “thou turnest thy spirit against God.” All these verses show us that the relationship, the fellowship, between us and God, is absolutely a matter in our spirit.
Psalms 31:5 says, “Into thine hand I commit my spirit.” Remember that this is a word spoken in the Old Testament by an Old Testament saint. Have you, as a New Testament saint, ever said something like this? I commit my spirit into Thine hand. Mostly we say we commit our heart into God’s hand. Psalms 32:2 says, “Blessed is the man...in whose spirit there is no guile.” Again, all this portrays clearly that the fellowship and the relationship between us and God is absolutely in our spirit.
Home | First | Prev | Next