Preparing Your Spirit - Kim McCoy
Preparing our spirit is a daily task. It’s just as important or even more important than preparing for our physical needs each day. We must be prepared both physically and spiritually to meet the pressures and demands that we face each day.
As Christians we know that this is true, and I’m sure that probably most, if not all that are reading this devotion, already practice this daily. Sometimes we need a little reminder, like I did, about a month ago when I came across this verse in Romans.
Romans 13:14 says, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”
I know myself, being a mom, Nana, a pastor’s wife, piano teacher, etc., I find myself so busy “serving” God that I, sometimes, neglect the most important things. Hardly a day passes that I don’t read my Bible and pray, but sometimes in the busyness of life that gets cut short. Preparing our spirit takes work and must be done several times throughout the day. Let me explain. Let’s look at the first part of that verse. “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ….” Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ involves preparing our spirit to be more like Him. Here are some ways to do that.
Prepare by praising.
Start your day by praising the Lord.
Psalms 5:3, “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” Psalms 92:1-3, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.” A good exercise to practice each morning is to thank the Lord for the new day, praise Him for his goodness. Too many times, I have been guilty of automatically reaching for my phone and scrolling through Instagram first thing in the morning. That’s not a good way to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” in the morning.
2. Prepare by making provision.
A spirit that is Christ-like is a spirit that needs provision. Just as the body becomes weak without food, so the spirit becomes weak without the daily nourishment of the Word of God. Jeremiah 15:16, “Thy words were found, ad I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.”
Joy does not come naturally. It has a source, and the source of joy is the word of God. Make provision for joy and for rejoicing by going to the right source each day. “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”
3. Prepare with meditation.
When we prepare a meal, we don’t just throw all the ingredients on the counter and walk away. The “meal” would not be fit to eat. The same is true with meditation.
Meditate on the Word of God. Psalms 119:97, “ O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” The word meditate means-To dwell on any thing in thought; to contemplate; to study; to turn or revolve any subject in the mind. One of the best ways to keep a right spirit throughout the day is to meditate upon the word of God. This takes a lot of practice. When I find myself thinking thoughts that our negative or wrong, I start saying verses over and over in my mind, such as Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”
Meditating on the scriptures is a good way to “keep” the Christ-like spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the day. It is the opportunity that the Holy Spirit needs to communicate with us and to teach us.
Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
4. Prepare with Prayer!!!
Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Psalm 145:18, “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.”
The second part of Romans 13:14 says, …..and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. The opposite of walking in the Spirit is walking in the flesh. Ways we provide for our flesh is by what we watch, what we read, what we listen to (wrong music, gossip, etc), what kind of thoughts we think.