By the Word - Yes, which again, is "...alive and active". But also the intuitions of the Holy Spirit unto our own spirit (and not the mind, that comes into play as a secondary tool to serve the spirit accurately in Him), which we must exercise to sharpen in hearing it, from the Holy Spirit, and in real-time no less.
The problem for many is that we think "I have already died on the Cross with Jesus! It's Over!" And that is the first revelation, a wonderful revelation that helps us then go on to battle and change our transformed life and mind into action....hence, putting to death the things of the flesh.
But what satan evokes is a message that suggests, "Well, if it is finished then this ebb (falling back away from God) and flow (the joy of the Lord, and maturing in Character) in life 'is normal' and must be resolved to always be normal!" God graces us with His going alongside us, not making mature creators from a factory to do His bidding. He loves us and wants us to be apart of the Kingdom of Heaven, which appalls satan to think God has chosen such lowly creators to be so apart of Him.
We have maturing to do (all of us), but the power of God and His will means to destroy sin not to co-exist with it, in each and everyone of us. Eventually in His finished work over our life we will have the characteristics of Christ Himself evoking God's will over everything that is not of it.So, let us put aside satan's temptations, and listen intently to God. If the world has a death sentence which is irrevocable then lets think in our spirit, and heart...for a moment sit still and wait for Him to move you, we rush to want things handed to us in our timing, but instead rest in Christ sitting in things already accomplished in Him. And let's ponder somethings thru our spirit: "If I need a sin, crave a sin, and fall to that sin,"Why am I investing in death?" That's a powerful revelation isn't it?
Its because, we don't have that revelation attached to our understanding because we don't listen to His Spirit talk to ours is why we instead listen to satan and try to expunge our wrongs with God's help. This is a losing battle, and sooner or later we concede to satan's message: this ebb and flow is normal always, having nothing to do with normal spiritual growing up.. God on the other hand says for us to do something, given us by His spirit, to ours if we are listening, by way of acknowledging our death, and His resurrection to oust the evil that ebbs us.To use all the resources of His Kingdom to so bear fruit there. Our strongholds are not strong at all to Him. His empowerment to stand on solid ground in our spirit over the death sentence of our soul and flesh which again will never be redeemed- ever - will set you free!
We tend to think all men are notoriously good gone wrong. But Christ is telling us we are bad turned to death. we must make a drastic realignment and change in the way we live and by how we live. This area of Spiritual and spiritual awareness is vital, so I am glad you have posted it!
The knowledge most lacking among believers today concerns the existence of the human spirit and its function. Many believers do not know they have a spirit in addition to their mind, emotion, and will. Even after hearing that there is a spirit within man, they either think that their mind, emotion, or will is the spirit, or they are puzzled and do not know where their spirit is. This ignorance is a very serious matter. Because of this, believers do not know how to cooperate with God, control themselves, and fight against Satan, since all these three things require the work of the spirit.
The most important thing that a believer should know is that there is a spirit within him besides the thought, knowledge, and imagination of the mind; the feeling, love, and desire of the emotion; and the ideas, opinion, and determination of the will. The spirit is deeper than the mind, emotion, and will. A believer should know that he has a spirit; he also should know the feeling of the spirit, its working, its power, and the principle of its activity. Only in this way will a believer be able to know how to walk according to the spirit, not according to the fleshly soul or body.