Scriptural Truth concerning our Human Spirit

VII. Exercising the Human Spirit

In 1 Timothy 4:7, Paul charges Timothy, “…Exercise yourself unto godliness,” and in verse 8 he speaks of bodily exercise: “For bodily exercise is profitable for a little….” In these two verses Paul speaks of two kinds of exercise: the exercise of the body and the exercise unto godliness. But what is to exercise oneself unto godliness? To answer this question we must first see the Bible's definition of godliness. Godliness refers to the manifestation of God in the flesh [our created physical body, not the fallen flesh of sin] (1 Tim. 3:16). This applies to both Christ and to the church. Manifesting God in the flesh strongly implies that He must live in us. If this were not the case, He would not be able to express Himself through us. Since God does indeed live in us, more specifically in our spirit, an exercise unto godliness must refer to the exercise of our human spirit. The mere exercise of the soul, much less of the body, can never bring forth an expression of God. But the exercise of a believer's spirit indwelt by Christ (2 Tim. 4:22) surely brings forth such a glorious expression. (Witness Lee, The Stream 301) In the footnote for the word “exercise” in the Recovery Version, Witness Lee makes it very clear that this exercise is an exercise of our spirit.

As in gymnastics. Unto godliness means with a view to godliness. Godliness is Christ lived out of us to be the manifestation of God (see notes 162 and 163 in ch. 3). Today this very Christ is the Spirit dwelling in our spirit (2 Cor. 3:17; Rom. 8:9-10; 2 Tim. 4:22). Hence, to exercise ourselves unto godliness is to exercise our spirit to live Christ in our daily life. (983)

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In 2 Timothy Paul again charges us to exercise our spirit by fanning our spirit into flame: “For which cause I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and of love and of sobermindedness” (2 Tim. 1:6-7). We can say that the fanning of the gift of God in verse 6 is the fanning of our spirit in verse 7 because this spiritual gift is in our spirit. There is a fire burning in our spirit that needs to be fanned. To illustrate, an open door and an open window cause a small fire burning within a house to be fanned into a great fire by the addition of the wind. In the same manner an open mouth, an open heart and an open spirit cause our spirit to be fanned into flame. When we open our mouth and call “O Lord Jesus” with an open heart and an open spirit, the divine fire burns within our spirit. Thus, the more we call on the name of the Lord, the more we fan our spirit into flame. This is the exercise of our spirit. (Witness Lee, The Spirit 80-82)

Exercising by Praying

The most basic and most effective way to exercise the spirit is to pray. Ephesians 6:18a says, “By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit…” In the physical realm, the secret of exercising our feet is to walk—the more we walk, the more we exercise our feet. In like manner, as we pray we gradually learn to exercise our spirit. We might begin praying in the mind, but as we continue to pray, we pray ourselves into the spirit.

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It must be mentioned here that prayer is not just petitioning God to do something for us; even the more, it is to contact God and fellowship with God. (Witness Lee, The Four Crucial Elements 109)

Exercising by Calling

Calling on the name of the Lord is an excellent, scriptural way to exercise our spirit. In order to exercise our spirit we must recover in our daily experience the practice of calling on the name of the Lord. In 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul charges Timothy to call on the Lord: “But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” First, we must exercise our spirit to call on the Lord out of a pure heart. A pure heart is a heart with only one goal—God Himself. Such a single goal also purifies our calling on the Lord. Second, we need to call on the Lord “with those,” that is, corporately with the Lord's believers. Calling on the name of the Lord with others greatly helps us to exercise our spirit to receive more of Christ. (Witness Lee, Basic Lessons 147-148)

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Exercising by Pray-Reading the Word

Pray-reading the word of God is another profitable and scriptural way to exercise our spirit. In John 6:63 the Lord tells us, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” It follows, then, that to contact the Spirit in the Lord's words, we must use our spirit. In Ephesians Paul likewise encourages us to receive the word in spirit by means of all prayer: “And receive…the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit…” (Eph. 6:17-18). Thus, when we use our spirit in prayer to contact the word, the word becomes spiritual light and life supply to us..

		Main
		Scriptural Basis
		Historical Perspective
		Definition
		Regeneration
		Importance
		Knowing
		Exercising
		Real Christian Life
		Conclusion