THE FORMING OF CHRIST WITHIN THE INNER MAN – LAYING A FOUNDATION.
We are all on a journey of Christ being fully formed within us, in our inner man, within the soul. We all have struggles within and many things to overcome. Yet our goal as the Bride of Christ, is to have His image and likeness fully formed within us. To become full overcomers in Christ.
Although we have physical bodies on the outside, the real us is on the inside; the apostle Paul refers to it as the ‘new man’ which is a real inner spiritual being. Our outer man is the visible reflection of the unseen inner man.
Just as the outer man has different members (the head, the eyes, the ears, the mouth, the hands, and the feet) and each has its function and role, similarly, the inner man also has the same members and they also have the same specific functions. Yet, these functions are related to the spiritual realm, not the natural one.
In fact, if you were able to see your spirit being, you would see that your spirit man looks similar to your natural body.
For us to mature, grow and develop, the inner man needs to grow up and develop. Let’s look at some scriptures that speak about the development and growth of the inner man.
Romans 7:22
For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
Ephesians 3:16
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
Ephesians 4:22-23
22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old [a]self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
Colossians 3:9-10
9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him
The growth and development of the inner man comes through applying the covenant benefits of the grace that comes to us through the New Covenant; and through prophesying to the members of the inner man.
1 Corinthians 14:3 says
But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.
Therefore, prophesying helps in realizing Gods will and perceiving the correct picture that God has for our spiritual life. Speaking words of edification, encouragement and comfort to your inner man. When you prophesy the truth to your inner man, it helps develop the members of the inner spiritual man and the manifestation of this inner man as an integrated spiritual being in a wholesome form according to Gods plan and intention for us as children of God.
In the book of Ezekiel we see an example of prophesying:
Ezekiel 37:1-14
37 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out [a]by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord [b]God, You know.” 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause [c]breath to enter you that you may come to life. 6 I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a [d]noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.”’” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are [e]completely cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14 I will put My [f]Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,” declares the Lord.’”
At the time of Ezekiel’s prophecy, the people of Israel were in captivity in Babylon. God showed them to Ezekiel as dry bones in the grave. So we see there are two images of Israel.
- The actual visible image.
Israel as real people who are with the prophet Ezekiel in the land of their captivity.
- An invisible spiritual image (as seen by God).
Israel as dead dry bones.
God spoke to Ezekiel to prophesy to these dead, dry bones. That is to the true inner state of the people of Israel. When Ezekiel began to prophesy the situation started to change resulting in a different glorious image, that of an exceedingly great army. Therefore, they were no longer as they had thought of themselves as being like bones that are dry, all hope is lost and we are cut off from our land. But now by grace through the ministry of prophesying, they become an exceedingly great army.
God has called some as prophets to prophesy over nations, a people group, a land, a church, or to individuals. This is the grace and gifting that God has given them. Yet all of us can also prophesy to our own inner man and see similar results. We are all children of God and have the indwelling Holy Spirit and the anointing of God. Therefore, we can prophesy to ourselves, to see transformation take place in our own inner man.
2 Corinthians 1:21
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God
Ephesians 1:13-14
13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the
gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed
in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a
pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s
own possession, to the praise of His glory.
1 John 2:20,27
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.
27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
This leads to a good question:
How can a find and determine the verses suitable for prophesying and to proclaim them in prayer on my inner man, in the books of the scriptures?
So, we need to find scriptures that speak about the different parts of our inner man, and to find out from scripture the role and function of each part of our inner man. So that our inner man can be made whole and function as God intended each part of our inner man to function.
An example would be, about where the bible refers to having a good, single eye.
Matthew 6:22
The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
This means about having an eye that looks only in one direction, the right direction. That is to have pure and straight eyes that look towards heaven and eternity, to be reminded to fear God and keep ourselves pure. When the inner spiritual eye is fully formed and mature, it grants the person holy control over his physical eye on the one hand and grants him spiritual insight on the other hand.
1 John 5:21
Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
The bible speaks of the mouth which can be full of cursing and bitterness.
Romans 3:13-14
13 “Their
throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,”
“The
poison of asps is under their lips”;
14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
This scripture draws our attention to the need to cleanse and purify our lips and our words. To use self-control and be so careful about what comes out of our mouth. Taking dominion and bringing the kingdom of God is very much connected to what comes out of our mouths. Our words will manifest in the natural at some point.
So, we need to prophesy to our inner man, to the lips and mouth of the inner man, that these parts of the inner man may mature. So that we can come to a place of being as Christ.
Isaiah 53:9
His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
That we may mature and become Christlike so people will also say of us, “there is no deceit in his mouth”.
The bible also speaks of the hands and the feet.
Isaiah 59:7
Their feet run to evil,
And they hasten to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,
Devastation and destruction are in their highways.
Romans 3:15
Their feet are swift to shed blood,
This speaks of the need for our spiritual feet to be purified that we will walk in the right way before God and where ever we go. So that God can use our lives for His glory and kingdom.
Psalm 15:1-3
O Lord, who may abide in Your tent?
Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
2 He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart.
3 He does not slander with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
Psalm 24:3-6
Who may ascend into the hill of the
Lord?
And who may stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood
And has not sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive a blessing from the Lord
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6This is the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face—even Jacob.
As we prophesy to our inner man we can see our inner man changed into the image of Christ. The grace of the new life that we have received from Christ and in Him. We are on that journey of being conformed to the image of His Son.
Romans 8:29
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Galatians 4:19
My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—
This is the ultimate purpose of our journey through life is that Christ be fully formed in us, in our inner man, in our soul.
In the following parts of this series, we will look at each part of the spiritual body inside of us and look at scriptures that speak of each part of our inner man, so that we can begin to prophesy accurately to each part of our inner man, so we may be made whole and complete in Him and function the way he truly wants us to function as mature sons and daughters of the Kingdom.
We need to daily pray and prophesy for our inner man to be transformed into the image of Christ. We are not all prophets who have the gift to prophesy and preach about future event. Yet we can all flow in the gift of prophecy and prophesy over our very own souls and inner man, according to 1 Corinthians 14:3.
But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.
Praying and prophesying over our inner man, causes our inner man to be built up and transformation takes place. This is something we should be doing on a daily basis, because the goal is that out ‘inner Jerusalem’ our souls are fully sanctified into the likeness of Christ.
Prayer always starts with the ‘heart’ because out of it springs the issues of life.
Proverbs 4:23
Watch over your heart with all
diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.
It is vital that we keep our hearts watchful. So when we start to pray we watch over our hearts and what is allowed into our hearts.
Part of the heart is the ‘soul’ and it can also be called the ‘city of the soul’. The soul was created to be a throne for Christ. Christ desires to reign in us.
John 14:21,23
21 He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
Every king has a place or a ‘city of the king’. The bible calls the city of God the King: Jerusalem.
Matthew 5:35
or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or [a]by
Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Also Ezekiel 16:1-14 and Jeremiah 2:2
Jeremiah 2:2
“Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord,
“I remember concerning you the [a]devotion
of your youth,
The love of your betrothals,
Your following after Me in the wilderness,
Through a land not sown.
According to the early church fathers, the fully redeemed and sanctified soul is the ‘Bride of Christ’ and a place of His reign; it is the ‘inner Jerusalem’.
There are many references in the scriptures that speak of the need to be purified ‘within’ which speaks of the sanctification and purifying of the soul that needs to take place. The removing of idols from the soul the creep into it.
Genesis 35:2
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments;
Isaiah 30:22
And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to [a]them, “Be gone!”
Jeremiah 4:14
Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem,
That you may be saved.
How long will your wicked thoughts
Lodge within you?
So to summarize then: When we became children of God and received a new nature in Christ, the spirit of Christ came to dwell within our spirits and we were born again. Our spirit within became the Holy of Hollies within us. Yet even though we are saved, there is much yet to overcome within the soul, within the heart. This place inside of us can be referred to as the ‘inner Jerusalem’ or the ‘city of the soul’. This is the process that we all need to go through, the transformation of the inner man. The blood of Jesus, which is a powerful weapon we have to help us in the transformation of the soul, the grace of the New Covenant and the completed work of Christ. The other powerful weapon we have is prayer and prophesying over our inner man and see the metamorphosis of the soul take place.
So we can start by prophesying over our heart, and the city of our soul. Then we can move onto prophesying over the different members or parts of the inner man. Such is the eyes, ears, legs, feet, mouth, etc of the spiritual man within. There are also some unseen parts of the body; such as the ‘conscious and unconscious thoughts’ and the ‘inner rooms of the belly’.
Proverbs 20:30
Stripes that wound scour away evil,
And strokes reach the [a]innermost
parts.
There are also verses that speak about prophesying to the ‘joints’ as there are spiritual joints that correspond to the physical ones.
Ephesians 4:15-16
15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Colossians 2:19
and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied
and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is
from God.
As we are being prepared as the Bride of Christ, we notice that she also has ‘ornaments’ and the ‘weapons/armor’. We must not forget that the Bride as she is prepared is given ornaments.
Ezekiel 16:11-13
11 I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 12 I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty.
Song of Solomon 6:4
“You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my
darling,
As lovely as Jerusalem,
As awesome as an army with banners.
Song of Solomon 7:6
“How beautiful and how delightful you
are,
My love, with all your charms!
Notice how the Bride is compared to the lovely Jerusalem. The soul is the inner Jerusalem.
Part of us becoming full overcomers in Christ, requires us to do spiritual warfare, the enemy of our souls will constantly try to hinder and growth and development into Christlikeness. Therefore we must be aware of these schemes and arise and go to war and stand against the schemes of the enemy. Use the weapons that we have been given.
Ephesians 6:10-20
The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against [a]flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
1 Timothy 1:18
This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight,
2 Timothy 2:3
Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
Now we are ready to pray and prophesy over the different members of our inner man. In the following parts of this series, I will begin to address each part of the inner man, so that you can begin to prayer over and prophesy over each part and see transformation of your inner man take place. That we may be complete in Him fully molded into His image and likeness. Amen and amen.
I encourage you to buy this book by Dr. Atef Meshrenky which covers the whole topic. You can use the book in your daily prayers and prophesying over your inner man and along with taking communion on a daily basis.
