The Spirit of Man Prov. 18:14 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
There are two types of spirits in this text – the type that will sustain a man’s infirmity and the type that is unbearable (the wounded spirit).
B. C. Goree had the type that would sustain his infirmity – C.A. Myers – Laura Selz “I’m going to fight this thing” 4th time survivor – the Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee” and so Paul gloried in his infirmities – that’s the spirit – Jesus said “not my will but thine be done” and endured the cross.
Then there are those who have the wounded spirit – they do not have as much fight and discouragement puts them under – a relative passed 5 days after learning that he had cancer – in combat, troops need morale [the news media constantly feeding negative stuff to the troops and families of troops is like enemy propaganda designed to demoralize our own troops] – the martyrs are encouraged in Rev 2:10 that they are going to be tried 10 days in prison so that they will not give up before their decapitation – otherwise they l could succumb to pressure like Paul applied causing the Christians to blaspheme
Harlan Popov survived 13 years of torturous imprisonment in Bulgaria and then traveled the USA giving his testimony which I heard around 1970 – he told his captors, “shoot me straight” – Adoniram Judson survived horrible confinement in Burma – yet he translated the scriptures into Burmese and led 15,000 to the Lord after having 7 years of fruitless labor in Burma – a fellow in sales said his manager called each morning at 6 am to pump him up to keep his spirit from being wounded and discouraged – David had to get his wounded spirit encouraged in the Lord to defeat the enemy that destroyed Ziklag
You’ll never give up when you have the spirit that will sustain your infirmity.
As it concerns the gospel though, don’t let your morale keep you in a fight against Jesus that will send you to hell – give up there – and then come out with the spirit of a soldier – endure hardness – put on the whole armor of God – Paul testified, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”