There is a Spirit in Man
Writer Author Jerry Lee Kay Sr.
Christian Article
:
Holy Spirit
- Fiction No
My biological father died when I was very young. The word states we in the present see through a glass darkly so we don't always understand why these things happen, however, we know that eternity shall reveal all things to us. Some folks spend their lives seeking answers to things that shall never be answered until that day. Jesus told us to occupy until He comes, so I chose to get on with my life and not concern myself with things I couldn't change.
My mother remarried. The man she chose was as fine a man as ever lived and I loved him. He and I were as different as daylight and dark but it never interfered with our strong love and respect for one another.
God in His infinite wisdom sent a man my way that taught me how to hear and respond to what he called the Great Spirit. He was a full blood Cherokee, a devout Christian and a wonderful man of God. His name was John Wolf.
I want to share with you in this letter a few of the things John believed and taught me. He used to have a story he loved to tell, whether it was original or not I can't say, it's doubtful because he was full of Native American stories.
Grandfather told me a story when I was young about a proud young warrior who came to A Cherokee Chief called Walks Long, asking for knowledge. He walked up to the muscular Chief and said, "O great Chief, I come to you for knowledge." The Chief recognized a pompous numbskull when he saw one. He led the young man through the village, to the river and chest deep into water. Then he asked, "What do you want?" "Knowledge, O wise Chief," said the young man with a smile. The Chief put his strong hands on the warrior's shoulders and pushed him under. Thirty seconds later he let him up. "What do you want?" he asked again. "Wisdom," the young man sputtered, "O great and wise Chief." The Chief crunched him under again. Thirty seconds passed, thirty-five. Forty. The Chief let him up. The man was gasping. "What do you want, young man?" Between heavy, heaving breaths the fellow wheezed, "Knowledge, O wise and wonderful..." The Chief jammed him under again. Forty seconds passed. Fifty. "What do you want?" "Air!", the young man screeched. "I need air!" "When you want knowledge and wisdom as you have just wanted air, then you will have knowledge, wisdom and understanding and what it takes to get it."
I have another Cherokee friend that is also a brother in the Lord, Robert Greyeagle, and he has said many times; "There are two spirits in a man, whichever one we feed is the one that shall prevail. A wise man will hear and will increase his learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise councils."
Running Wolf as most folks called him, was a very Spiritual man, not in some far out weird way, rather a tender sweet sensitive way of communicating with God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. John told me on more than one occasion, the real battles are fought within and the struggle for mastery goes on in the soul, hidden in the mysterious depths of the spirit. Usually these battles are fought out alone, many times, when others are not aware that anything is going on. In the deepest innermost part of the spirit of man these are the battles that matter most, they are past the facade, the education, the happy face, often they are occurring with little or no conscious perception on the part of the child of God.
These battles of the soul against foes are real conflicts which leave their scars and marks on many a Christian. And there are spiritual powers in high places that challenge us to battle. Blessed is he who has the armor, the courage and the skill to win. John always told me there are too many people playing church, the victory will only come and the power that brings victory will only come as we walk in the Spirit.
I said, “John Running Wolf, I want to have that same Holy Spirit” and John said, “You are a Christian. You already are blessed with the Holy Spirit, however you have yet to loose him and let Him lead you. You are still walking in the flesh.” I got angry and told him he was crazy. I don't dip and I don't chew nor do I run with boys that do. I don't curse nor drink alcohol nor do I have extra marital sex and I go to church every time the doors are open. John said, “Son you are not listening to me. Those things you just mentioned should be adhered to, but any strong willed person can do that. There are those that are not of the faith that manage to refrain from those things. I am talking about walking in the Spirit. I am talking about living and breathing in the Holiest of Holy's, about entering into all that Father God has for His people. When Jesus completed His work on the cross the veil that prevented man from entering into that place was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Many preach and teach of salvation by grace, and that surely is the truth, however there are many Christians that struggle to keep the faith because they are not going on to know Him in all His fullness. I am not talking about a second blessing, I am talking about what has already been given them, however it surely will seem like a second blessing when their eyes are opened to what they have been missing.
Listen to me son!.."We are not human beings on a spiritual journey, rather we are spiritual beings on a human journey.. Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and be taught us of His ways!
" There is a Spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty gives Him understanding" Likewise: the Spirit also helps our infirmities;(weakness) for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groaning's which cannot be uttered. And He that searches our hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.(Romans 8).
This I did not receive from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.(Gal.) For strength to overcome and press on, only a revelation by the Holy Spirit in us will suffice - A revelation that is within. One that is deep in one's spirit and not a mental appreciation of truth, even though it may be truth about God.
With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. (Matt.19) Being led by the Spirit means more than enjoying the freedom, boldness, and victories He brings. There is no room for selfish or arbitrary expressions of one's own will. On the contrary, those who are called and led by the Spirit may find they are not only set free by the Spirit, they become His (willing) prisoners. They must accept the boundaries He sets.
John said there are all kinds of "ding bats" running around the world preaching, that ought to be plowing, they were not in the spirit when they saw that big "P" that appeared in the sky, it meant for them to get up and go to plowing not preaching. Some are even successful because they are good performers and, how the flesh does love a good performance. A man will deliver according to his personality makeup. But You can always tell when you are in the presence of someone that truly walks in the Spirit, even if they never open their mouth.
He also used to say, "Many are called, but most are frozen, You got to keep that fire burning so you don't get cold"
The Spirit is truly the Guide and Protector the Church needs. The Book of Acts thus emphasizes that the Holy Spirit in the very nature of things is closely bound up with every aspect of the life of the Church and the Christians. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is the Healer. Jesus is the Coming King. But the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus and does for us all Jesus promised He would do. We are empowered by the Spirit, taught to be disciples by the Spirit, guided and checked by the Spirit. And this is not limited to apostles or other leaders. In the Book of Acts, every believer is a witness. Every believer is filled. Every believer has the joy of the Lord. A picture of what the Church should be!
Oh, the power to be able to say "I KNOW," not I have heard or read, but "I KNOW". It is an experience nothing can rob us of. It is absolutely essential to have this revelation by the Holy Spirit because we have to meet forces of evil against which nothing can stand save that which is of God. "In pressure Thou hast enlarged me." How? Because of the constant uprising of the Life within.
Trouble, trial, sorrow... we are subject to these things, they are common to all men, but we rise above them through the "strength of His might" within. We are strong because of the Light given in the knowledge of God (Eph 1). This is a growing revelation. Paul is writing to the Ephesian saints, and what a wonderful history these had! See Paul's words to them in parting (Acts 20). To such he says, "that ye may be strengthened to apprehend," showing the necessity for the mighty power of God in bringing through revelation. The enemy mightily withstands revelation; to mar or hinder that, he'll stop at nothing!
Light and Strength go together; endurance is by revelation,"I know". Establishment in the truth by revelation of the truth, this brings an impact on Satan and his hosts; "light leading to might". When the Lord opens eyes you see what happens, "the eyes of your heart being enlightened, that ye may know" this is the result of opened eyes. "Knowing that He that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus" - 2 Cor. 4:14.
There are two ways of viewing the impossible. Everything depends upon where you put the impossibility - on the thing or on God. The things which are not possible with men are possible with God (Matt. 19). And He answers these impossible things in a normal way - because it "is" the normal way; the abnormal would be by signs and wonders and extraordinary stuff, demonstrations to our senses; but the normal way in the Christian life is the way of the continuous transcendence of His Life over the working of death. That miracle is far more general than we recognize. You have to live your life and do your work in a sphere of spiritual death where everything is against spiritual Life, and there is nothing to support you at all, and yet you go on there in the Lord, and are not swallowed up, engulfed and destroyed by that atmosphere and by those things. That is the miracle of Divine Life working silently. Yours, then, is a life - as is the life of everyone walking in the Spirit - set in the presence of death, spiritual death. We know it, and yet we are preserved alive spiritually and we go on. That is the great miracle. It is the miracle of every day. That is the testimony of one walking in the Spirit.
In the resurrection of the Lord Jesus - or let me put it this way - in union with the risen Christ our hopes are far greater than all our worldly hopes. We may in His death have to lay our treasure in the dust, we may have to let go much that is precious to us of hope and expectation and ambition and outlook. Our world may have to be placed with the stones of the brook (Job). In resurrection union with Christ something more is given back than what we formerly wanted. God is like that. You may say that is language and sounds very beautiful, but is it true? Well, I appeal to those of you who have any spiritual life and history at all. You have doubtless gone through a time of deep and dark trial in which you have had to hand everything over - you have come to a crisis where you have had to place on the altar something that was very precious and let it go to the Lord. If the Lord has not given that back to you, have you not come into some spiritual wealth, some spiritual good, something more in a spiritual way that makes you say, 'Well, it was worth it!'? The answer of God through the Cross to all disappointed hopes and expectations is, and in the very nature of God must be, something more than that which was laid in the grave. It is the very principle of Christ risen. Without His resurrection the cross would be worthless, and there would be no "Spirit in man nor Understanding nor inspiration from the Almighty".
Running Wolf passed away a few months ago near ninety years of age, I knew him for over sixty years and stuck close to him, but I can hear his voice in my heart and my spirit, as if he was setting on his favorite horse facing me. With a big smile, he told me just before he went home,"Listen to the Wind my Son and you shall Hear my Voice, even when I am no longer with You, but more importantly keep listening to the voice of Great Holy Spirit. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit, and only the Holy Spirit will bring victory"
Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in His paths!
Poppa
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About the Writer Author
State:
Texas
Country:
United States
Email:
jerryleekay@suddenlink.net
Website:
www.jerryleekay.net
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