💪 The Health of Your Spirit

I sat under this teaching from Pastor Sungjoon Koh and it hit me like a two-by-four. Not new information—this is ancient truth—but the clarity of it, the bluntness, the way he laid it out: there is a healthy spirit and there is a sick spirit. And the difference between the two determines almost everything about how you live.

This isn’t metaphor. This is diagnostic. Pastor Koh gave ten contrasts—ten ways to tell whether your spirit is strong or weak. I want to reproduce them here faithfully, because I think most of us have never been handed this framework and desperately need it.

Ten Signs: Weak Spirit vs. Strong Spirit

1. Temptation When the spirit is weak, the soul and body take over—and you fall easily into sin. When the spirit is strong, temptation loses its grip. Obedience to God’s Word actually becomes easier.

2. Peace A weak spirit produces anxiety and inner turmoil. A strong spirit produces constant peace and joy. Paul said it plainly: “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). Pastor Koh made a point I won’t forget: your emotions are a barometer. They tell you what you actually believe is more real—the Spirit’s truth or your circumstances.

3. Fear vs. Confidence A weak spirit moves through life in fear. A strong spirit moves in confidence. People with strong spirits act from conviction. People with weak spirits act from dread.

4. Complaint vs. Gratitude A weak spirit complains—constantly. A strong spirit is marked by thankfulness. It really is that simple and that hard.

5. Emptiness vs. Fullness A weak spirit makes life feel irritating and hollow. A strong spirit makes life feel full and genuinely enjoyable. If you feel chronically empty, that’s a spiritual problem—not a circumstantial one.

6. Disorder vs. Order When the spirit is weak, the soul and flesh run wild—life becomes chaotic. When the spirit is strong, there is self-control and order. “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33). Disorder in your life is a signal, not a personality quirk.

7. Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit A weak spirit is dull to the Spirit’s leading. A strong spirit is attuned and responsive. The more you strengthen your spirit, the clearer God’s voice becomes.

8. How You Treat the Vulnerable This one cut me. A weak spirit tries to dominate and control people weaker than itself. A strong spirit shows mercy to the weak—and takes up the cross on their behalf. Spiritual strength doesn’t flex; it serves.

9. Fruit A weak spirit—with the flesh in charge—produces the works of the flesh. A strong spirit—with the spirit in charge—produces the fruit of the Spirit. What’s growing in your life? That’s what’s in control.

10. Power A weak spirit is powerless. A strong spirit has genuine ability. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). That verse isn’t a motivational poster. It’s a description of what a strong spirit actually looks like in action.

Pastor Koh was refreshingly direct about the solution: it’s not complicated. He made a point worth sitting with—working out complex spiritual truths through intense intellectual study is a soul function, not a spirit function. The spirit is fed simply. Two things: the Word and prayer.

1. Strengthened Through the Word

The principle of creation: you become what you eat. Biologically, assimilation is how food becomes body. Spiritually, it works exactly the same way.

What forms your spirit? What’s coming into you from the outside. If you’re feeding yourself junk—garbage media, toxic content, mindless consumption—and expecting spiritual strength, you’re lying to yourself. That’s not harsh; that’s just how it works. I’ve written before about going sober from certain media and this is exactly why. What you consume shapes what you become.

The best food for your spirit is God’s Word. Not information about the Word—the Word itself, internalized. I use a Bible app every day not as a habit-tracker badge but because I need the actual text coming into me, consistently. When the Word regularly enters you, it builds a healthy spirit. Feed yourself well.

2. Strengthened Through Prayer

Good food plus exercise equals a healthy body. Good Word plus prayer equals a strong spirit. It’s the same principle.

Here’s what Pastor Koh said that I keep turning over: reading the Word alone doesn’t make it yours. It stays at the level of knowledge. Prayer is what takes the Word and makes it real in you—what moves it from your head down into your spirit. Prayer is the exercise that digests and activates what you’ve read. Don’t skip it.

3. Strengthened Through the Words You Speak

This one surprised me. Pastor Koh’s claim: speech is a function of the spirit, not the body. Words are spiritual. God Himself is the Word. When you speak words of faith, your spirit comes alive. When you speak death and defeat, your spirit weakens.

The battle for a strong spirit is fought on three fronts: what you see, what you hear, and what you say. Guard all three. Speak faith. Declare truth. Your words are not neutral—they are either building or tearing down your spirit, every single day.

That’s the framework. Ten contrasts that diagnose. Three disciplines that heal. It’s not complicated—and that simplicity is itself a sign of its spiritual origin. Start with the Word. Pray it into your bones. Open your mouth in faith.

Your spirit can be strong. That’s not wishful thinking. That’s the promise.