There are many spirits mentioned throughout scripture that have been associated with mankind, some of them good while others are bad. Scripture clearly states that God gives us the good spirits and does not give us the others, yet we find those spirits, which we receive not from God, affecting or influencing our lives. We hear of this war that we are all involved in, where “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12), and though we normally do not think of our opponents in these terms, could altering how we view them us an advantage in this spiritual war that we are engage in?
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7 NKJV).
As we mentioned, we do not normally think of our opponents in such terms, but could “the spirit of fear” be one of those evil opponents that we wrestle against? We mentioned “the spirit of fear” because we know that it is one spirit that can cripple the mightiest of men and women, whenever it becomes dominant. Since it appears that God did not give us “the spirit of fear,” it does appear that he did give us others instead. It appears that we have been given the “the spirit of power” instead. Along with this spirit, it appears that God also included “the spirit of love” and “the spirit of a sound mind.”
“For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:15-16 NRSV).
It would appear that we have not received “the spirit of bondage or slavery” to be put back into fear like cringing, fearful slaves, but instead have received “the spirit of adoption,” whereby we have this deep inward conviction of having been adopted, as children, into the bosom of the family of the most high God.
What if these spirits are like the attributes we find in mankind itself? What if the qualities or characteristic, good or bad that we find in mankind are actually spirits? It would appear that God has given to us the good spirits like “the spirit of power,” “the spirit of love,” and “the spirit of a sound mind” to overcome the bad one like “the spirit of fear.” If God has given us spirits to oppose those spirits that come against us in our struggles, then they could be considered weapons, but if we do not recognize them as weapons, then we cannot call upon them in our time of need. While this is strictly our opinion, it is something we wanted to share as “food for thought” for those who have an ear to hear. Maybe there is a deeper understanding of these spirits waiting on us to discover.
As always, we give thanks and glory to God for his wisdom and understanding. We are so blessed to be able to share with you, those things that God has placed in our hearts. We continue to pray that our inspirational message will be a blessing to each of you and that you will be the better for having read it. If you are blessed by what has been provided, please feel free to share so that others may be blessed as well; for as freely as our Father has given this to us, we freely give so that others may share in the love and be blessed. Amen.
Enjoy your blessings - KW