Vitals: “that which is absolutely important and essential”

Welcome to week 1 of this new series entitled Vitals. This is really a series about health. It is a series about checking the vital signs of the most important facets of your life to make sure they are healthy. We will give one key for every area we discuss over the next four weekends. This weekend we will talk about having a healthy spirit.

Health is more important than wealth. Health is more important than growth. Health contributes to the optimum environment for success.

Today we are going to talk about your SPIRITUAL health.

Matthew 26:41 NLT — Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!

How to recognize a lack of health in your spirit:

1. You don’t have an appetite for God.

• Psalm 42:1–2, 4, 8 NLT — 1 As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him? ... 4 My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration! ... 8 But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life.

2. Your spirit isn’t in charge.

• Galatians 5:16–17 NLT — 16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.

3. Your spirit is unperceptive.

• 2 Kings 6:17 NLT — Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!” The LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

Prayer is the key that is vital for your spiritual health.

• It shows your humility.
• It shows your faith.
• It shows your dependency.

How to pray more effectively:

1. Pray without ceasing.

• Smith Wigglesworth: “I don't often spend more than half an hour in prayer—but I never go more than half an hour without praying.”
• Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 NASB — Pray without ceasing.

2. Pray with persistence.

• Matthew 7:7 NLT — Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

3. Pray with confidence.

• Mark 11:24 NLT — I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.

4. Pray in accordance with God’s will.

• 1 John 5:14 NASB — This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

5. Pray in the Spirit.

• Ephesians 6:18 NLT — Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.