Knowing Your Spirit: The Foundation of Walking in the Spirit

**Living in the Spirit**

One of the greatest lessons every believer must learn is to recognize the difference between the recreated spirit, the flesh, and the self. This is not merely theological knowledge; it is experiential knowledge. Many Christians know these truths intellectually but have never learned to discern them in daily living. Until we recognize the source of our thoughts, desires, and actions, our walk with God remains inconsistent.

## 1. Know Your Recreated Spirit

At the new birth, your spirit was recreated and united with Christ.

*"He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." (1 Corinthians 6:17)*

Your recreated spirit is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Although your spirit is not the Holy Spirit, it has become one with Him in fellowship and purpose. The Holy Spirit communicates His life, wisdom, and guidance through your recreated spirit.

We cannot see our spirit with our natural eyes, nor can we know it through our physical senses. We know our spirit only because God has revealed its reality in His Word. Faith accepts what Scripture declares even when the senses cannot perceive it.

## 2. Speaking in Tongues Gives Expression to Your Spirit

One of the clearest activities of the recreated spirit is praying in tongues.

*"If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful." (1 Corinthians 14:14)*

When you pray in tongues, your spirit is speaking while your mind is not producing the words. This explains why you can continue praying in tongues while performing another simple task, such as writing, but you cannot do that if you were praying with understanding. Your understanding is not composing the prayer; your spirit is expressing itself through your mouth.

Speaking in tongues is the voice of the recreated spirit finding expression. When we pray in tongues, we are building up our spirit (Jude 1:20) and beginning to make a spiritual connection with God.

Imagine a baby crying in a house. The cry announces that the baby is alive and present. Though everyone hears it, the mother understands what the baby needs better than anyone, because she has learned to recognize its expressions. After a while, the baby becomes calm and quiet, no longer crying.

In a similar way, when your spirit prays in tongues, it is expressing itself before God. The Holy Spirit understands every expression of your spirit and ministers according to the Father's will. When you are done praying, you become quiet, and from that point stillness becomes important, as spiritual experiences may take place in that quiet awareness.

Psalm 131:2 paints a beautiful picture of quiet dependence:

*"Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother."*

Likewise, God calls us to stillness:

*"Be still, and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)*

As our soul becomes quiet before God, we become more sensitive to the voice of our spirit.

## 3. Learn to Discern the Flesh

The flesh and the spirit are completely opposed to one another.

*"For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh." (Galatians 5:17)*

They are as different as light and darkness. They cannot be mixed. Yet many believers mix them, though this should only be part of a process of spiritual growth and maturity.

Whenever a believer lies, hates, lusts, acts in pride, envies, or walks in any form of evil, that behavior is not coming from the recreated spirit. It is the activity of the flesh. The recreated spirit never produces sin because it has been born of God. Every sinful action reveals that the flesh has been allowed to govern the believer's conduct instead of the spirit.

## 4. The Fruit Reveals the Source

Galatians 5 provides a practical test. The works of the flesh include immorality, hatred, jealousy, selfish ambition, anger, and every form of evil. The fruit of the Spirit includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Whenever these qualities are expressed, the believer is walking in harmony with the life of the Spirit. Whenever the works of the flesh dominate, the believer has yielded to the flesh instead. The fruit reveals the source.

## Conclusion

The Christian life is a lifelong journey of learning, in real experience, to recognize and become conscious of your recreated spirit, and to refuse the influence of the flesh. It is not enough to understand this truth mentally; we must come to know our recreated spirit in our daily experience and learn to live from it consistently. Speaking in tongues helps us become conscious of our spirit because it allows our spirit to speak directly to God without the interference of the natural mind. As we remain still before God, meditate on His Word, and yield to the Holy Spirit, we become increasingly able to distinguish between the spirit and the flesh. This growing spiritual sensitivity enables us to live from our new identity in Christ and walk consistently in the Spirit.

In the same way that an unbeliever can become regenerated in the spirit by faith, a believer can equally become spiritually matured only by walking in the spirit through obedience to the Holy Spirit.

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**Hassan Thomas Nenger** Author, *My Divine Identity as the Righteousness of God*