The Principle of Mind Aiding the Spirit 395
“Pray (ing) with the mind” (1 Cor. 14.15) can activate the spirit.
Although at the outset we may appear to be praying with empty
words, divested of any meaning, nevertheless as we pray along with
our mind and resist with prayer our spirit soon will ascend.
Whereupon the spirit and the mind will work together. And as soon
as it comes in, prayer becomes meaningful and quite free. The
cooperation between these two elements delineates the normal state
of spiritual life.
Spiritual WarfareShould a believer in spiritual warfare neglect the law of spirit and
mind working together, he will be waiting continually for God’s
burden instead of warring constantly against the enemy. Because he
presently has no sense of war the believer concludes he must delay
until he has that sense, and that only then can he begin to pray
against the enemy. He does not perceive that if he starts to pray with
his mind his spirit shall immediately sense the war. Since we know
how wicked the evil spirit is and how he molests the children of the
Lord as well as the children of man, and since we should realize also
that we must pray against him in order to send him as early as
possible to the bottomless pit, how dare we tarry to pray until our
spirit acknowledges the urgency? Even though we still lack the
consciousness of war, we must pray anyhow. Begin to pray with the
mind: curse the evil spirit with the words we have learned already:
and our spirit shall soon be activated and shall add its .power behind
those words of curse. To illustrate. Suppose the Holy Spirit in the
early morning anoints you mightily so that you can curse the enemy
with your spirit, but at noon you seem to have lost this spirit. What
should you do? You should do by your mind now what your spirit
had done in the morning. The spiritual principle is that whatever is
obtained in the spirit must be preserved and employed by the mind.