4.11 Causes of Passivity of Spirit

from

Chapter 4: Passivity the Chief Basis of Possession

from War On the Saints
by Jesse Penn-Lewis

Scriptures Referenced in This Section:
          (Follow the Scripture links if you want to study the Scriptures for yourself.)
1 Ki. 19:4-5 π 1 Ki. 19:8-9

Passivity of spirit generally follows the Baptism of the Spirit, by the will and the mind becoming passive through lack of use; and the believer then wonders why he has lost the buoyant light and liberty of his joyous experience. It may come about through:

1) Ignorance of the laws of the spirit, and how to keep in the freedom of the spirit.

2) Wrong mental conclusions, or wrong thoughts. Mixing up feelings, such as physical, soulish and spiritual, not knowing which is which, i.e.,

1) putting the spiritual down to soulish and physical, or

2) attributing to the spiritual that which is natural and physical.
3) A drawing upon of the soulish life instead of the spirit, through lack of knowledge of the difference between them; also by quenching the spirit through ignoring the spiritual sense; for the mind should be able to read the sense of the spirit, as clearly as it does the sense of seeing, hearing, smelling, and all the senses of the body. There is a knowledge of the mind, and a knowledge in the spirit, hence a "sense" of the spirit, which we should learn to understand. It should be read, used, cultivated, and when there is a weight on the spirit of the believer, he should be able to recognize it, and know how to get rid of it.

4) Drainage and exhaustion of the body or mind, by constant activity of the mind in excessive use. In short, the mind and body must be released from strain, before the spirit can be fully operative. (Compare experience of Elijah in 1 Ki. 19:4-5 , 8-9; top )

Worry, or trouble over the past, or future, checks the free action of the spirit, by making the outer man and outer affairs dominant, instead of the inner man being at liberty for the will of God in the moment.

The result of all these causes is that the spirit becomes locked up, so to speak, so that it cannot act, or fight against the powers of darkness, either in their indirect attacks through environment, or in aggressive warfare against them. The rapidity with which a believer can sink into passivity, at any moment when the resisting attitude ceases, may be likened to the sinking of a stone in water.


[4.10] Passivity of the Spirit
π
[4.12] Passivity of the Body
4: Passivity the Chief Basis of Possession - Table of Contents
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