Spiritually speaking, if you are a born-again believer, you are already rich beyond imagination. Before you go to heaven. Right now. “You are rich” (Rev. 2:9). Paul echoed this same thought, telling the Ephesians, “God . . . has blessed us with every spiritual blessing” (Eph. 1:3). Whether you know it or not, you are rich. Whether you live from the treasure within, you have untold spiritual wealth.
Tragically, if you are ignorant of Christ dwelling in you and how He has transformed your spirit, you will continue living in spiritual poverty.
This reminds me of the story of Ira Yates, a West Texas landowner who became a millionaire overnight, striking oil on his property in 1926.
An Overnight Millionaire
Yates became an orphan at 12, forcing him to earn a living by hard manual labor. At nineteen, Ira started raising cattle, living frugally while saving money for the future.
In 1913, Yates traded over 200 cattle heads for a failing dry-goods store in Rankin, Texas. Though the business thrived under his leadership, Ira was a rancher at heart and wanted out of the business. Two years later, a West Texas landowner offered him thousands of acres in exchange for his dry-goods store. Ira jumped on this opportunity, eager to ranch again. But he quickly encountered economic challenges.
By 1926, droughts, falling cattle prices, hefty taxes, and a steep mortgage placed Yates on the brink of bankruptcy. Struggling to provide food and clothing for his family, Yates made a decision that would change his life forever. He invited an oil company to drill an exploratory well on his ranch. To his amazement, it produced a gusher.
Yates became an instant millionaire. His land, known today as Yates Oil field, has produced more than a billion barrels of oil since 1926.
You Are Rich
Think about this story for a second and apply it to your life.
Underneath Yates’ feet resided untold wealth yet he lived in poverty for eleven long, hard years. Why? Ignorance. Yates didn’t know the treasure that was buried deep in the ground.
Yates was a multimillionaire who lived in poverty because he didn’t know the treasure he already had. The eleven years he struggled to provide food, clothing, and pay the bills were unnecessary. He already had a vast treasure but didn’t know it.
In my 25-plus-year pursuit of Christ, one revelation has changed me more than any other—the revelation that the Spirit of Christ resides in my spirit. When it comes to the Christian experience, I’ve been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt. In all that I have seen and experienced, nothing compares to the revelation of the uncreated Christ dwelling within me and how He transformed my spirit at the new birth.
When I knew that Christ dwelled within me—not Scripture quoting, talking point knowledge—but revelation knowledge given by the Holy Spirit, it completely changed my life from the inside out.
It was similar to Ira Yates. I went from living in spiritual poverty—struggling with guilt, shame, condemnation, and defeat—to living in victory. Like an oil rig that goes deep into the ground, I began drawing from the treasure of Christ within. I exchanged spiritual poverty for spiritual wealth and started living from my spirit by Christ’s indwelling life.
This doesn’t mean I never struggle or sin. Just ask my wife and daughter. I still have to apologize a lot. But I can honestly say that nothing has accelerated my spiritual progress like the revelation of the indwelling Spirit and how He has transformed my spirit at the new birth.
I’ve discovered this is the key to an overcoming life.
Two Reasons for Spiritual Poverty
So, why do many believers struggle, live in defeat, succumb to various lusts, and remain immature for years? Why are many believers selfish, powerless, anxious, and proud, even decades after they were born again?
There are two main reasons. First, like Ira Yates, they don’t know how spiritually wealthy they are. The result: They continue living in spiritual poverty, drawing from the self-life in their soul rather than Christ’s life in their spirit. Second, they don’t meditate regularly on the indwelling Spirit and the transformation He has accomplished in their regenerated spirit.
Activate Your Faith by Meditation
Paul wanted our faith to “become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake” (Phm. 1:6).
The word effective means powerful in action. Wouldn’t you like to have faith that was powerful in action? How do we have this kind of faith? It’s “through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you.” Knowing and then meditating on “every good thing which is in you” is how your faith becomes powerful in action.
Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. If you lack this knowledge or fail to meditate on the good things Christ has already accomplished in your spirit, your faith lies dormant, inactive, suppressed, and unutilized. This keeps your spirit suppressed and your self-life in your soul as the leader of your life.
The key to living an overcoming life is knowing who dwells in you and what He has done to your spirit. Meditating on “every good thing which is in you” causes your faith to be stirred, activated, and energized to action, leading to victorious living and transforming you into an overcomer.
Meditation Is How to Walk by the Spirit
Meditation is how we transition from living in the flesh to living in the spirit by the power of the Spirit. Paul said, “Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:5-7).
If you struggle with doubt, depression, fear, anxiety, pride, jealousy, lust, or pride, examine what you are thinking about. Take inventory of what you are meditating on. If you are meditating on the flesh and the things of the flesh—the external—you will live in spiritual poverty. You will be like Ira Yates, a multimillionaire living as a pauper.
If you want to live from your spirit by the Spirit, drawing from the treasure that is in you, meditation on the internal Spirit is the key.
Meditate on the indwelling Spirit and the work He has done in your spirit. Think deeply about how He has transformed your spirit.
The Word Is A Mirror
All of us are familiar with our bodies. We can look in the mirror and see ourselves. We can touch our arms or legs and immediately feel it. When we are hungry and eat, we know what it feels like to be satisfied. We also know what it’s like to feel pain, have sore muscles, and grow tired.
We are also familiar with our soul. We know how anger, sadness, excitement, or happiness moves us. We know how reasoning directs us. And we know how our wants become the motivation for our actions.
But our spirits are different. Because we can’t see our spirits or easily discern our spirits, we often ignore our spirits to our own peril.
Because our spirits are invisible, we must rely upon God’s Word to know what our spirits are truly like. God’s Word is like a mirror that shows us what our spirits look like (James 1:23-24). Meditating on the Scriptures is like taking an MRI of our spirits. This shows us the glory of what Christ has already accomplished deep within us.
In the next post, I will detail the glorious condition of your regenerated spirit because the glorious One, Christ, dwells there. This will help you to meditate on every good thing which is in your spirit. Your faith will then be energized, enabling you to live by Christ’s indwelling life.
