Desk of Tonya

Since my slogan is Providing food for the Spirit Man, I thought this would be an appropriate topic to start my monthly commentaries. The carnal man is very receptive to the suggestions of satan and his imps. The carnal man thinks that he is strong enough and smart enough to deal with whatever comes his way. The carnal man likes to be in control, and when he feels like he is losing the grip; he retaliates against the Spirit and against the Word of God. In other words, the carnal man rebels against the Spirit Man. The carnal man hates to feel threatened at any time by the Spirit Man; for instance, when God alerts the Spirit Man that it is time to fast, the carnal man will begin its plans to keep the person from fasting. The carnal man will try to entangle itself with the cares of the world to keep from making time to start and finish the fast. The carnal man is tricky; he cannot be trusted to feed the Spirit Man. The carnal man is also a liar at times; he will agree to feed the Spirit Man but fail to do so. The carnal man will tell the Spirit Man that tomorrow he will spend time with the Lord, and when tomorrow comes, the carnal man will find a million and one things that need to get done before the day is over with. When I think about my other half; my Spirit Man, I see him lying on the couch; waiting to be fed. I see my carnal man walking over to the couch and assuring the Spirit Man the he would return later to feed him. My carnal man will make promises to my Spirit Man and then go about his busy day. Once in a while, my Spirit Man would raise his head to speak to my carnal man, requesting to be fed. My carnal man would assure my Spirit Man that he has not forgotten about the promise and that he (carnal man) will return. Before I realize it, the day is over and I have not fed my Spirit Man at all. As the days go by, my Spirit Man grows weaker and weaker; yearning to hear from The Heavenly Father. The carnal man has made it very hard for the Spirit Man to receive from the Lord. When I get into a Spiritual battle, I call on m Spirit Man to prepare for battle, but my Spirit Man is too weak to get up from the couch; he is suffering from malnutrition. Now I am left to battle the Spiritual war alone. Yes, I call on The Lord to fight my battles for me, but I can not understand the instructions or the battle tactics that God is revealing to me because my Spirit Man is not strong enough to relay the messages. I can't express how important it is as believers to feed your Spirit Man. There is nothing worst than dying a Spiritual death. There are so many Christians who are walking around as dry bags of bones; just going through the motions of life but never really experience the fullness of life. Jesus came so that we may have life and have it more abundantly. When your Spirit Man is dying, everything in your life is thrown out of whack. You find yourself depressed and you don't even know why. You feel like giving up on the whole Spiritual thing; be aware; it is an attack of the enemy. The adversary wants you to give up; he wants your Spirit Man to stay in that dying state for he knows that he is the prince of this world and he basically has control of the carnal state. That's why God hates flesh for it is wicked, and we can only worship Him in the Spirit. As long as we continue to allow our carnal man to be in control and lead our souls through this life, the adversary will always have a hold on us. Our flesh is like a child; it kicks and screams until it gets what it wants. It is so demanding, and it will retaliate if you don't give in to its request. How do you feed your Spirit Man? Well, it is quite simple yet it takes great discipline on your part. Fasting feeds the Spirit Man, so does reading your Bible and Worshipping. Other ways to feed your Spirit Man; pull out those recorded sermons that you picked up at the last convention that you attended. Listen to more gospel music and less worldly music. Your Spirit Man loves to sing praise unto the Lord. Read, read, and read some more. It doesn't always have to be the Bible. I learn a great deal just by reading what God has revealed to other Christians, and what the Holy Spirit says to them. Last but not least , PRAY, PRAY and then PRAY some more. Your Spirit Man loves to Worship God. That's the only way that he (Spirit Man) can stay connected to his Father. Houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. (Deuteronomy 6:11-12). This is an excerpt from my new book It's Mourning Time: Fasting the Spirit Man that will be released in 2009. You will be able to order your copies here on this website. If you pre-order your copy today; I'll throw in a keep sake gift. Thank you for seeding into the vision that God gave me when I was just a little girl. I Love you for real!!!!!!