God aims first to renew man's darkened spirit by imparting life to it, because it is this spirit which God originally designed to receive His life and to commune with Him. God's intent after that is to work out from the spirit to permeate man's soul and body.
Watchman Nee (2009). “Journeying Towards the Spiritual: A Digest of the Spiritual Man in 42 Lessons”, p.124, Christian Fellowship Publishers