Little Red Book Ministry

2. The spirit is primarily controlled by the will (in the soul) and secondarily by the Holy Spirit of God 1 Corinthians 2:12

God asks us to wilfully reverse this order when we are saved.

“He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded [the will satisfies the body] is death; but to be spiritually minded [the will satisfies the spirit] is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:5–7).

We must come to the place where we make our will subject to the will of God to become useful and effective Christians. This is not something that just happens. It is the result of a willful decision in our soul. We do this by immersing ourselves in the things of God. We need to spend time every day reading the Word of God and in prayer. We need the fellowship of the saints. We need to listen to God-honoring music. We need to be under the preaching of a godly man. These things will allow the Holy Ghost to dictate what will be on our mind.

Philippians 3:15; Titus 2:11–13; 3:8; Ephesians 6:10–18; James 1:8; 4:8

3. The spirit is operated by the mind or “heart of hearts”
“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind [spirit] I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh [body] the law of sin” (Romans 7:25). “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:9–10).

We all have a place within us, in our “heart of hearts,” where we recognize that which is right or true. We may desperately want to believe that a thing is true or right and go so far as to live and act as if