Your Inner Man

Your Inner Man

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

By reading the above, we see that we need to be strengthened in our inner man in order to be rooted and grounded in love. Tribulations and difficulties of life have a bearing on our outer man which affects our inner man. This causes people to come out of love; they cannot bear it, and they bear a grudge one against the other, or they become discouraged, depressed, and quite often withdrawn. This, in its turn, affects the outer man; matters become even worse, and the whole thing becomes a vicious circle.

The reason for all this is that they have forgotten Jesus’ word that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” The outer man needs bread to live. God formed man of the dust of the ground; therefore the body has to be sustained by the things that grow up from the ground. God blew the spirit of life into his nostrils, and man became a living soul. Gen. 2:7. Spirit and soul make up the inner man. They came from God. They need to be nourished with God’s Word. If you forget to do that, you will not be able to bear the things that come your way—such as tribulations—and the evil will gain power in your life. That is why we constantly hear people making demands and uttering complaints. You can hear that they are not happy. They are suffering from a lack of nourishment for their inner man.

“Nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.” 1 Tim. 4:6. We read further: “And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Tim. 3:15-17. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Rom. 8:28-29.

We can see from the above that this becomes nourishment for our inner man. We receive light and understanding about how all our problems can be solved in a way that serves us for our good. Then we are not broken down by all the tribulations that meet our outer man. Read 2 Corinthians 4:7-11. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Vs. 16-18.

In Ephesians we read that we can be filled with all the fullness of God if we are grounded in love. “Who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us . . . .” The condition is that we love God and that we abide in love. Through this nourishment all things become a joy to us. If we read in James 1:2-6 and 1 Peter 4:12-13, we will be convinced of God’s guidance and salvation. Then we are not broken down by the things that befall our outer man, but we are renewed in the inner man who delights in the law of God. Rom. 7:22.