Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Living in the Spirit Realm

You say you have problems? You're unemployed. You have relationship problems. You have been diagnosed with cancer. Your loved one passed away...

While driving home from Long Island the other day, I was thinking about some of my friends and family members who have asked me to pray for them because they are facing some seemingly hopeless obstacles in their life. I also started thinking and praying about some of the hurdles that I'm currently facing in my own life.

The apostle Paul wrote that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realm above the seemingly hopeless problems of the flesh; above the traumatic circumstances of this world (Col. 3:1-4; Eph. 2:5-6). We don't look up to or at our problems, we walk above them. We look down on them, knowing that from the heavenly realm, they are obscure and infinitesimal compared to the eternal life of love that we have in Christ Jesus. Even though we rest in Jesus (Mat. 11:28-30), we go forward in Him walking (Gal. 5:16; Eph. 2:10) not according to the dead man, who is no longer in motion, but according to the Spirit man, who lives, and breathes the abundant fragrances of love. We share in the divine life. We participate in Christ's life (spirit life, spirit man or life in the spirit). Walking is our participation in the Christ life. It is a restful walk, not a fretful walk.

Since we reside in Christ, the supernatural is a natural occurrence. I don't even like to refer to the supernatural as supernatural. I suppose if we are looking at a supernatural occurrence through our natural eyes we will call it supernatural. Yet if we look upon the supernatural in the spirit realm, that is through Christ, as he lives in us, and as he works in and through us, then the supernatural becomes the natural.

Jesus faced many seemingly hopeless circumstances when he walked in person on the face of the earth. In one instance there wasn't enough food to feed the five thousand plus that had gathered to be with Jesus. Philip thought that he needed a lot of money to feed them. But because Jesus lived in the spirit realm, he simply gave thanks, broke the  five loaves of bread and two fish, and the people ate as much as they wanted. They even had leftovers (John 6:1-13; Luke 9:12-17; Mark 6:33-44; Mat. 14:13-21).

In another instance Jesus healed a man who had been blind from birth (John 9:1-11). Finally, Jesus showed that death was likened to sleep in the spirit realm, when he raised a man named Lazarus from the dead - even while he was decomposing in his grave (John 11:1-44).

Solution? Christ lives, and we live in him not apart from him! Problems solved. Amen.