A Strong Spirit Will Sustain You
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You have to keep saying it. After you’ve said it two or three times, your head will say, “We’ve
said it. Go on to something new.”
Say, “Shut up! I’m not saying this for the benefit of my head; I don’t believe God with my
head.” It’s not knowledge that gets you through bodily pain and trouble. It’s a strong spirit. Faith
is of the heart. How would you know it’s working in you? Oh, you won’t have to ask. If you
have to ask someone, you need to close your eyes and keep saying it. When it starts working in
you, when the Word of God that is quick, alive, and powerful starts working in you, you know it.
Immediately you begin to feel stronger.
How can you tell if you’re weak in your spirit? Your spirit is fearful and anxious, and you dread.
Your spirit is depressed. You feel dragginess. When you’re weak in your spirit, you don’t want
to do anything; you’re lazy. You have no incentive, and you have no excitement. Is this
describing any conditions? You’re weak. All you think about and talk about is what’s wrong and
what’s bad. You talk about quitting. You think about giving up. There’s no use in going on. That
is all the fruit of a weak spirit.
Let me tell you how you are when your spirit gets strong. When your spirit is strong, there’s
peace. Peace and joy is the evidence of a strong spirit. If someone is really depressed, they’re
weak spiritually. The Bible says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10) When
you’re strong in your spirit, you have a freshness about you. You have a confidence about you.
You’re ready to take on a big job. You’re ready to clean out the closet. You’re ready to tackle the
garage and look behind the shelves where no one has looked in years.
When you’re weak, you look at it and say, “I will wait and do it another day.” But when you’re
strong in your spirit, you’re confident and ready to tackle it, and you say, “Yes I can! Yes I will!”
A weak spirit sits in the tent and cries, “They’re big. They’re too big, and the wall is too tall.
There is no way...” What does a strong spirit say? Caleb and Joshua said, “Yes, we can! Their
defense has departed from them! God is with us! Come on, let’s go get it!” It’s a strong spirit
compared to a weak spirit. It’s obvious. You don’t have to have a word of knowledge or have a
vision. It’s obvious when you’re strong or when you’re weak.
What if you’re so weak you just have no vision? That’s why people get mad when someone who
is full of faith and vision comes along saying, “We’re going to believe for jets and ships, and
we’re going to believe for big properties...” It makes them mad because it shows how weak they
are. Your vision and your faith is so out beyond theirs that they don’t want to put forth any effort
to get strong. They just want to come up with a new doctrine about why it’s not for everyone,
and why it’s not the will of God anyway. That’s why it is so popular—this “no-fault” religion.
No matter what happens, it’s not your fault. It’s the mysterious, unknowable will of God. All the
weak ones say, “That’s right. It’s not our fault. That’s right. You just never know.”
Psalm 29:11 says, “The L
ORD
will give strength to His people; the L
ORD
will bless His people
with peace.”