But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1Co 2:9-14 KJV)
It is such an interesting question of what spirit is influencing you. Have you ever had a time driving around a mall during a busy shopping season and you hear a voice telling you to turn here? You turn and lo and behold there is someone 3 cars in from the door that just flipped into reverse? That happens to me all the time, I call it favor, but I know it is the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Other times I “hear” a voice telling me to do something and when done, did not get the results expected. Now what spirit is that from? What Spirits are out there to influence my walk with Jesus (Yeshua)? Now I am not talking about those nasty demons like greed, fear, lust and so on, I am talking about the spirits that the Bible says can influence us.
What spirits are available?
According to 1Corinthians 2 we have several spirits going on within us or just outside of us. They have a restricted influence over us, but we still must make a choice of whose influence we follow. These three spirits that Paul wrote about to the Corinthians are:
- The spirit of man
- The spirit of the world
- The spirit of God
Let’s take a further look into each one of these that Paul writes about.
The spirit of man
Who knows the nastiness of our thoughts except for our own spirit, the spirit of man. For the spirit of man is in tune with the things of the flesh. Our spirit senses hunger, thirst and pain and acts accordingly with a response.
Anyone who has fasted runs into this fact. We allow the spirit of God to take over, thus yielding our hunger to Him. By this we become an overcomer or overcoming the spirit of man. This is the reason it says in 2Cor 10:5 that we are to be taking every thought captive and bring it into submission to God with our obedience to what Yeshua (Jesus) taught us by word and deed.
The spirit of the world
The spirit of the world relies upon what things man teaches, not the things that God teaches. This would be what Yeshua (Jesus) called the traditions of man, which were nailed to the cross (where we should leave them.) The spirit of the world would be concerned of the things of the world, and we read last week that we are ambassadors for our precious Messiah.
We read a bit more about the spirit of the world in Ephesians 2:2:
Ephesians 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. (Eph 2:2 NAS)
We see that the spirit of the world (course of this world) refers to the prince of the power of the air. Where is this spirit working? It is working in the children of disobedience. If we read further we see that the spirit of the world wants to work with the spirit of man to yield to the lusts of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath…
NAB Ephesians 2:3 All of us once lived among them in the desires of our flesh, following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest. (Eph 2:3 NAB)
So we can safely say that the Spirit of the world seems to want to influence the spirit of man to act according to the desires of the flesh and the thoughts of the mind. This goes completely against putting the flesh to death and taking thoughts captive making them obedient to our Messiah.
The Spirit of God
The spirit of God, known as the Holy Spirit or in Hebrew the Ruach Kodesh, is the spirit that knows all things, even the depths of God. This is the same spirit of goodness that compelled David to write in Psalms 51:11 begging God not to take it away from him as David saw it to be so precious.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. (Psa 51:11 KJV)
We know that the Holy Spirit only speaks what He hears from God (Joh 16:13) and has the same attributes of God (In Hebrew YHVH) Let’s explore some of these attributes that the Holy Spirit, the Spirt of God, has so we can get a better understanding of Him:
- Does not change (Mal 3:6)
- Is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:6)
- Speaks only what the Father says (Joh 16:13)
- Searches the depths of God to help us learn about Him. (1Co 2:10)
- Is the same spirit once given to Abraham, Moses, David, The Prophets, Yeshua (Jesus) and the Disciples. (1Co 12)
- Teaches us all truth. (Joh 16:13)
- Show us what is to come. (Joh 16:13)
Answering the question, what spirit is influencing you?
Based upon the above study one can draw the conclusion that the things of the spirit of God come from God, who does not change, searches the depth of God, teaches us all truth, and shows us what is to come. Any other spirit, whether of the world or of man is outside of the Holy Spirit because the natural man does not receive the things from the Holy Spirit (1Co 2:14) because they can only be received by the Spirit of God. The things of the Holy Spirit can only be spiritually discerned.
This is why it is important to start the learning process to hear from the Spirit of God, who shows you things to come. Yes, even finding a parking place in a busy mall parking lot can come from the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. He speaks to us all the time, the problem is that we have not learned that one voice among all those voices from the spirit of man and the spirit of the world.
I surely can tell you that there was a single teaching that I took part in that made a difference for me. I studied How to Hear God’s Voice and that one 4 part series functionally changed my life. I was one that never heard (so I thought) God’s voice before and even thought many others made it up, until I followed the simple exercises outlined in this teaching. So at least for me, I know the voice and get great parking places.
Book version Link
DVD & Book Link
Surely . I learnt to do the will of God. By trust! That’s- When you completely give in your doubts & fear to God. He actually will show up for you. It’s simple, if your hand is on sth God cannot come to that thing till you place your hand on Jesus. The Holy Spirit speaks only to those whose heart’s door is open. Father open my heart more… So the King of glory can come in.
Thank you for the comment. I agree that your heart needs to be open to him. Ask and you shall receive, knock and it will be opened to you. He is waiting for us to turn to Him. Amen.