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Slumbering Spirit


This lesson helps us understand the functions of our own personal or human spirit. If we are not awake in our spirit, we will not be able to function in various areas of life. We will learn what causes the spirit to slumber; how to identify the symptoms of a slumbering spirit; and how to distinguish between soul and spirit, and between true conscience and remorse conscience.

Our loving Lord has made provision; no one need remain asleep. Definite steps can be made to awaken slumbering spirits. Especially in this area, we need the Church to be the Church (the family of God)

...The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed Romans 13:11

A Key to Knowledge:

Knowledge of the slumbering spirit is one of the most powerful and incisive keys given to believers. It reveals a primary cause for the powerlessness and sin we see in the Body of Christ today.

What is a slumbering spirit?

A condition in which the personal spirit has not been fully awakened, so that certain facets of the person's life simply lie dormant. We may be a believer, and yet there would be areas of our life where unbelief or the lack of emotion can present itself While standing in the middle of praise and worship we watch everyone crying or expressing some emotion and we can't feel anything; or agitation rises up in us when everyone around us seems to be experiencing peace during a service.

How do we recognize this condition?

When there is no strength of character in certain areas of life, for example when a Christian man or woman can't seem to control their lust. They seem to some how justify their sexual activity whether it is fornication or adultery. It is almost as if they don't have a conscience in this area.
People with slumbering spirits can be spirit-filled born anew, Bible-believing, and church going. They may even be attempting to love and serve in the ministry. How many times have we heard of or seen ministers fall from grace, or Christian musicians travel from city to city bless people with their music and right after the service they pick up a date and have sex,

Key Definitions

Spirit: (Hebrew: ruach; Greek pneumtz) Eternal; that which God breathed into us from the beginning and which will return to Him. Ecclesiastes 12:7

SOUL: (Hebrew: nephesh; Greek: psyche) those structures of the heart and mind, character and personality which we erect, and build as our spirit encounters life and reacts, setting up coping mechanisms.

The soul is both temple and prison. In some areas, the soul is a beautiful temple through which the spirit can express itself wholesomely. In others, it is a prison, or an armored warship for attacking others.

Evidence of a slumbering spirit in scripture:

o Isaiah 52:1-2
o Isaiah 56:10
o Romans 13:11-14
o Ephesians 5:13-14
o I Thessalonians 5:4-8
o Revelation 3:3; 16:15

It is in the following nine areas that the slumbering spirit cannot operate. Use this list to determine whether you are dealing with a client whose spirit slumbers.


1. Corporate worship I Corinthians 2:14
Awakened personal spirits sense the presence of God. Slumbering spirits can only believe God is present.
2. Private devotion with God Job 32:8
Awakened personal spirits can be with God and feel His love. For those with slumbering spirits, devotionals and the Word runs dry.

3. Listening for revelation from God is difficult for the person with a slumbering spirit, and in some cases they feel that those who say they hear from God are fooling themselves. Those Christians whose spirits are awakened have spiritual dreams, see visions and hear from the Lord.

4. Maintaining health Proverbs 17:22; 18:14
An awakened person quickly recovers from illness; if the condition is serious or terminal, the spirit can still thrive. Those with slumbering spirits heal slowly and despair when illness strikes.

5. Original insight and inspiration is not uncommon to the awakened spirit. These individuals are inspired to creative acts. Those with slumbering spirits tend to mimic, rather than to create. One person goes to art school and graduates, yet when they paint or draw the picture appears flat and uninspiring. The awakened one graduates from the same school and paints a picture that moves the soul.

6. The ability to relate to time, past, present, and future is the capability of the awakened spirit. They can remember good times as well as bad. However, those with slumbering spirits have a tendency to be confined to the pain of the moment. The couple with a struggling marriage that have awakened spirits can remember the joy that they once experienced, and this gives them hope for the future. The couple with the slumbering spirits is confined to the pain of the moment; they cannot muster the hope to see beyond the immediate problem.

Like the man who hears the sermon concerning the judgement of God, and agrees with the pastor and the congregation that we will all stand before the Lord and be held accountable for our actions, yet upon the completion of the service goes out and commits adultery. His spirit slumbers in this area. It is like the person who puts a coin in a vending machine and it drops straight through. There is nothing there to catch and hold the information.


7. Empathetic communication is that ability to sense the meaning behind the words of another. An awakened spirit has this ability, where the person with the slumbering spirit can track only with the mind.

The wife has worked hard all day. The children have worried her last nerve; she is exhausted and needs a break. Her husband comes home from work feels compassion for his wife and he says, "come on, I'll call the babysitter, and you and I will go out, have a nice quiet dinner and you can relax." The wife thinking about the budget and knowing that he worked hard as well, says "That's alright honey we probably can't afford that expense." The man with the slumbering spirit says "well OK dear, we can stay home if that's what you want." He heard her words, but not her spirit! He can only track with his mind. If his spirit was awake, he would have heard her spirit say" I'm trying to be considerate, and let you know that I know money is tight, but I want to hear you say that I'm more important then the stinking budget!!!!

People with a slumbering spirit have a very difficult time sustaining relationships, due to the fact that they cannot hear the spirit of their mate, they can only track the words.


8. Glorious marital sexual union Proverbs 5:15-19; I Tkessalonians 4:3-S
Awakened lovers meet whole being to whole being. The Holy Spirit sings through Sharon into me and He sings through me into Sharon. Our whole being comes together in concert to create a symphony. This is what God intended sex between a husband and a wife to be. Her spirit flows into me telling me truth about myself and my spirit flows into her doing the same. That is why no other person could come between us. They could only speak lies as to who we are. A husband and a wife can make love in the spirit.

If you have ever been to a concert and listened to the orchestra before the concert begins, you would hear these awful sounds coming out of these instruments. The novice would say why didn't they tune those things up before they got here? The reason is that they must be tuned to each other in order to make those beautiful harmonies, and melodies. This is what the minister is doing during the marriage ceremony. He is allowing God to flow through him to tune the bride and the groom's spirits together.
Sex with those who have slumbering spirits
are reduced to physical titillation.


Women should hug their husbands, chest to chest. This brings your husband's spirit to life. Husbands need to hug their wives chest to chest. This brings your wife's spirit to life. We need to be calling our slumbering spirits to life every day. I can be warn-out, and Sharon simply has to hold me and she can speak life into my spirit in a way that no one else ever could, and I can do the same for her,because God tuned our spirits together.



9. Mature conscience I John 3:9
Awakened Christians possess a true conscience, which works powerfully before the event, to keep them from sinning. Those with slumbering spirits have only remorse conscience. They are angry for the sin that they committed, but not true repentance. They do not want to be confronted with it, nor do they want to be reminded of it. "I'm over it! Why aren't you?"


Two kinds of conscience:


o Remorse is not preventative. This conscience is activated once the sin has been committed. It does not empathize with the heart of the wounded one. It convicts us by the law, after our sin.

o True or mature conscience works to prevent trouble or sin. It is capable of feeling the pain of the wounded one. There is a mechanism that says, "If I do this thing, or say this thing,
how will it affect the other person?"


The awakened spirit knows the love of Jesus for the other, thus is constrained from doing that which would hurt another or grieve the Holy Spirit. John 3:9 The awakened spirit warns us before we sin, or convicts and empowers us to true repentance.

How can baptized and born anew spirits slumber?

It happens when we are not called to life through

o nurture,
o affectionate touch
o parental guidance

Picture the Holy Spirit like a river flowing down into a person. As the Spirit flows into his mind he is able to preach or teach wonderfully, with anointing and power, as the Spirit flows into his heart and emotions, he is able to evangelize and exhort. As the Holy Spirit flows into his body he can lay hands on the sick and know that they will recover. Now picture the man's personal spirit like a rock in the center of this flowing river. It is flowed over and around, yet it does not get penetrated. We see the Spirit flow through him, and yet he isn't touched. How many of you have seen God flow through you, yet you feel dry as a twig? It doesn't mean that God can't, or won't use us, it is simply that we don't benefit from the moving of the Holy Spirit as He moves to heal those saints which are capable of receiving.

Jesus was the ultimate example of what a human being truly is. One who has an
awakened personal spirit, by which he/she identifies with others and also cherishes
what is in the other more than his/her own life. It is one who has become like Jesus, fully human, fully spiritual, and able to love in both realms. None of us are fully awakened.

The parents' role is to nurture children into their humanity.

The parent is to show plenty of wholesome affectionate and appropriate love. They are to draw the spirit forth to life, as well as to provide limits and boundaries, with appropriate discipline. They are to build strength of character into a child through example, not lectures. They are to raise a child in the way the child should go, and through this affection and love true conscience will be developed.

It is the father who is the primary parent responsible
for wakening a child's spirit

And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord " Ephesians 6:4

"Elijah will turn (restore, NAS) the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; lest I will come and strike the land with a curse." Malachi 4:6


Although a mother's nurture is essential, it is a father who is the primary person outside the womb whose love is designed by God to draw the spirit forth to function in the world. Mothers hold children to their breasts; fathers hold them safely and lovingly but with arms outstretched to offer children the possibilities of life. Without a father to hold him/her, a child's spirit withers and dies to the ability to function.


The results of poor fathering prophesied II Timothy 3:1-5


o Rising crime rates: The lack of fathering has produced children with slumbering

spirits who lack true conscience.

o Rising divorce rates: Since those who have slumbering spirits cannot sustain
relationships and lack consciences, they are prone to committing
more infidelities.

o Men and women sacrifice families to the idol of career. Not having received nurture, they neither know how to give it nor recognize the importance of it.

o Many Christians relate to forms about God, but can't find a satisfying experiential relationship with the Lord. They relate to liturgy, theologies about Him, forms in worship such as clapping or raising hands, and to the plan of salvation, but not to Jesus personally.

Healing ministry to the slumbering spirit

o Recognize the problem using the nine primary functions of the spirit. When you ask those nine questions, you should get a pretty good idea if his/her spirit is slumbering.

o Determine the quality of nurture. Asking questions about Ms/her interaction with parents, especially dad.

o Pray aloud, enabling him/her to forgive parents,
especially father.

o Pray life into them; focus on affected area

The needs of a person with a slumbering spirit

o One-on-one counseling

o The family of God

o Unconditional love from several people

o Affection from those around them

Personal disciplines

o Praying daily, inviting the Lord to awaken the spirit

o Choosing life, choosing life each day. Saying the words out loud so your spirit can hear it.

Recommended reading "Healing the Wounded Spirit" chapter 5

A Wolf Boy to the End
From "Page from the Past'
Compiled by John Dikkenberg



Lucknow, India, February 1985 -Ramu, a boy of about 19 who had been raised by
wild wolves, died at a home for the destitute run by Mother Theresa.

The boy had been captured in 1976, after he was found scampering on all fours in a remote forest clearing with three wolf cubs.

He barked like a dog, his fingernails had grown into claws, his hair was matted, and his palms, elbows and knees bore calluses like the pads
of d wolf's paws.

Raum put up a fierce fight against his captors and never adapted to "civilization preferring to eat raw meat and often sneaking out at
night to steal chickens.

The nuns taught him how to bathe and wear clothes, but Ramu never learned to talk and died at about the same age
as would a normal adult wolf.



Every other species in the entire animal kingdom becomes like its own kind, even if not raised by its own kind. We do not become human merely by being born: if we are raised by wolves, we become like wolves. We must be talked to in order to talk, loved to be loving, held to give affection, and nurtured and guided to be awakened, drawn forth into life and established spiritually.


OLD TESTAMENT

Job 32:8 NAS - But it is a spirit in man, And the
breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 - . . -And the dust returns to the ground it came from../ and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Psalm 27:10 NAS - For my father and my mother have forsaken me, / But the Lord will take me up.

Psalm 52:1-2 NAS - Why do you boast in evil, 0 mighty man? The lovingkindness of God endures ~ all day long. /Your tongue devises destruction, Like a sharp razor, 0 worker of deceit.

Proverbs 5:13-19 NAS - Drink water from your own cistern, and fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be yours alone, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a 2oving hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts 3atisfy you at all times; be exhilarated always with her love.

Proverbs 17:22 NAS-A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

Proverbs 18:14 NAS -The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, I But a broken spirit who can bear?

Isaiah 52:1-2 NAS- Awake, awake, clothe yourself in your strength /Clothe yourself in your beautiful garments/ Shake yourself from the dust, rise up / loose yourself from the chains around your neck.

Isaiah 56:10 NAS - His watchmen are blind, All of them know nothing. All of them are dumb dogs unable to bark/Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber

NEW TESTAMENT


Luke 11:52 NAS - "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered."

John 4:24 NAS - 'God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth."

Romans 4:17 - As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed-..The God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

Romans 13:11-14 - And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

I Corinthians 2:14-The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them.

Ephesians 5:13-14 - But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible
Ephesians 6:4 RSV - Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lard.

I Thessalonians 4:3-5 NAS - For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God.

I Thessalonians 5:4-8 - But you, brothers are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self~controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

II Timothy 3;1-5 NAS - But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these.

I John 3:9 - No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

Revelation 3:3 - Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wakeup, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

Revelation 16:15- "Behold, l am coming like a thief. Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and men see his shame."



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