The Christian life is a spiritual life. It is lived in the spirit, from the inside out. And this is why you cannot afford to downplay the place of investing in your spirit being.

 

As humans, we love to invest in so many things: real estate, expensive cars, jewelries, different business outlets that would bring returns, our bodies – physical appearance and the way we look, etc. But the only place we find it difficult to invest in or that we don’t even invest in at all is our spirit. It has been preached and taught a number of times on this platform that what makes a man is not his physical appearance. This body which houses our spirit being wears out, it perishes with time, irrespective of the amount of time and money invested on it. The part of our being that does not wear out or dies is our spirit. But many today neglect this vital part of them. What they are all about is how they would look good, how they would appear nice, how they would tone their skin and make it flashier.

 

“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”

 

“So, no wonder we don’t give up. For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day.” (TPT)

2 Corinthians 4:16

 

The inward man is renewed daily as a result of the things or the investment that is made towards it. The inward man is not renewed automatically, but as a result of efforts geared towards its renewal. It is an anomaly that a day would pass by and there is nothing that you do towards making sure your inner man is renewed. People eat daily, bath daily at least, wear makeup (for woman), clothe their body, but their inward man is neglected and naked. There is a saying that: an object would remain at the state of rest until an external force is applied to it to change its location or direction. Your inward man would remain the same way, unrenewed if there is nothing you do to it.

 

What then is the inward man? The inner man or the inward man; talks about who we are inside, the part of us that could not be seen with the naked eyes. It describes our exact spiritual state, how we are and appear before God.

 

It is funny that in our world today, people would go the whole length to, spend money, spend time, spend the resources within their means to making sure that they look good physically. I remember several years ago, a first lady of this country died in a foreign hospital while trying to make sure her body shape appears more beautiful than it was. It is quite amusing that a lot of investment goes into making our bodies good. The beauty industry is raking in billions upon billions every year across the nations of the world in people’s attempt to appear gorgeous.

 

But little or no attention whatsoever is being paid in developing the human spirit.

 

It is important we give more attention to our spirit being than we do with our body. The inward man is renewed every day as a result of the investment that is daily geared towards it. It takes effort to renew something, isn’t it? Your inward man is renewed by the daily efforts you put into it. Take for example, you have a car, you have used it for some years, and you want to make it look good again. What do you do? You simply take the car to a mechanic (which talks about effort) and then they would all the necessary things on the car to make it look good again. That is how it also takes effort to renew the inner man. It is not an exercise that you leave to chance, but to deliberate effort.

 

See how apostle Peter put it in 1 Peter 3:3-4. It says:

 

“Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— ⁴ rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.”

 

“Your adornment must not be merely external—with interweaving and elaborate knotting of the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or [being superficially preoccupied with] dressing in expensive clothes; ⁴ but let it be [the inner beauty of] the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality and unfading charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit, [one that is calm and self-controlled, not overanxious, but serene and spiritually mature] which is very precious in the sight of God.” (AMP)

 

Did we see that? The investment you make towards becoming a better spiritual person is what is precious in the sight of God and not the one you made towards your body. Now, I am not saying you shouldn’t take care of your body, you should as a matter of fact. The reason is because it houses your spirit and everything should be done to making sure it continues to have the capacity to be able to do so. But you should never at any point in time devote all the attention to the care of the body neglecting your core, your spirit being.

 

In Ephesians 3:16, apostle Paul prayed form the Ephesians church thus: “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man…” Now, why is this prayer so important that apostle Paul needed to pray it for them? IT IS BECAUSE WHEN GOD INVESTMENTS COME UPON YOU, IT COMES DIRECTLY TO IMPACT YOUR SPIRIT BEING AND NOT YOUR BODY. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

 

For example, salvation is God investments in your life and when you become born again, it is your spirit that becomes born again. John 3:7-8 says: “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

 

God’s numerous blessings are spiritual in nature and not physical. If God would bless you with money for instance, He blesses you spiritually. Ephesians 1:3 says: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” God’s blessings are spiritual and you must receive them in your spirit before they manifest in the physical.

 

The salvation of your SOUL occurs non-stop as you continue to renew your mind daily to the fact that your spirit has been born again. That is why apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:2 that we should not be conformed to this world be transformed by the renewing of the mind. Why? Because our soul is not the part of us that became born again. There was no exchange of soul when we became born again, it is still the same soul, the same mind that we have even after salvation. Now, because the mind has been conditioned to reason and think in a certain way, there is every tendency for it to still want to continue to live and behave in such manner even after salvation. So, what is being done to it is gradual renewal of it until it conforms to the image of God.

 

So, when will our body be born again? Is there a provision for the body being born again? Romans 8:23-25, the Bible says:

 

“Not only that, but we also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. ²⁴ For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”

 

So, when apostle Paul prayed that prayer in Ephesians 3:16, what he was simply doing was that you need strength in your spirit being to be able to carry all the investments of God upon your spirit until they are able to manifest in every other areas of your life. So, God investments is made manifest in our spirit and it is from there that every other parts of our being should take reference from. This is why you must pay more attention to your spirit being than to your body.

 

What to Invest in Your spirit Being?

 

- Time: Investing in your spirit Takes place in Time. Just like every other investment that we know, real investment takes time. Any kind of investment that promises you returns almost immediately is likely going to be a scam. Investing in your spirit being is not something that you do for a period and you stop, it is something that happens in time and it continues until the day of Christ, that is what the Bible says. Philippians 1:6 says: “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…” There should never be a time where you leave your spirit unattended to, not adding to it something that would make it better and better until the day of Christ.

 

- Investing in your spirit requires that you partner with the Holy Spirit. You know, there are certain investments that you go into in partnership with another. You have heard so much about the investment and the returns that it would bring, but you are not simply an expert in that field. So, what do you do? You go into partnership with those who are experts in that area. Likewise, the best way to invest in your spirit is by partnering with the Holy Spirit. Let me give us a definition of partnering with the Holy Spirit that I came up with by the help of the Holy Spirit.

 

Partnering with the holy spirit means that you are walking and working in tandem with the holy spirit in order to bring about the enforcement of the will of god on the face of the earth.

 

Now, this partnership happens in the place of COMMUNION. 2 Corinthians 13:14 says: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” There is no way we can partner with the Holy Spirit outside of this vital communion, sharing with Him.

 

How Do You Then Partner with The Holy Spirit?

 

Number one, by walking in the Spirit. Galatians 5:16 says: “I say then: “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Walking in the Spirit is an investment to our spirit. Another way to look at it is documented in Galatians 6:6-8. It says: “let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will reap also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” The word ‘sow’ there actually, is an investment term. When a farmer goes to his field to sow, he is actually doing that in anticipation of a bountiful harvest. So, when you sow to the Spirit, what you will receive is a harvest into your own spirit.

 

- The word: You must study and meditate on the word of God (Genesis 24:63, Psalm 119:99, 148)

Each time you meditate on the word of God and it sinks right into the very fabric of your spirit being, that word becomes an investment to your spirit life. In Jeremiah 15:16, Jeremiah said: “Your words were found…” Did you see that? This shows a man who deliberately went in search of the word and found them because whatever you don’t search for, you cannot find. Investing in your spirit being requires that you deliberately go for the word of God. The word of God won’t jump on you like ripe pawpaw; you must deliberately go for it. The Bible says in John 5:39a, Jesus said: “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life…” So, that shows a deliberate effort on your part to searching for the Scriptures if you want to invest in your spirit being.

 

Jeremiah said further: “and I ate them…” this does not mean that Jeremiah literally took the word of God and he was chewing it. What he meant by that is that he meditated on them. Each time you meditate on the word of God, what you are doing is that you are feeding or simply put, you are eating the word of God. Jesus said “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God…” In the place of meditation, what you do is that you eat and feed on the word until it becomes tangible in your spirit. Joshua 1:8 says: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” There is always and end result when you meditate on the word of God, something must come out of that exercise each time you do it.

 

But see what Jeremiah said further after he found the word: “And your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart…” The word of God to you is personal to you. The word of God to you is for your own personal consumption. And this is why you must go for it.

 

The investment you geared towards making your spirit life strengthened, better and positioned for the fulfillment of your God-given purpose and getting to your final destination is all that would matter in the long run, and not the investment you carry out on your physical outlook. Take care of your physical outlook, but let much attention be given to your spiritual life.

 

I believe you have learnt something.

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

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